Little Plymouth

The Aussies, I’m told, love their pies, which is why it’s hard to understand why you can’t get a Cornish Pasty here. Or at least a local version using the same filling and pastry, given that since 2011 the Cornish Pasty has enjoyed protected status under Protected Food Names legislation; so only a pasty made to a specific recipe in Cornwall can be called a “Cornish Pasty”.

We’ll gloss over the fact that the earliest reference for a pasty in Devon or Cornwall can be found in Plymouth city records of 1509/10, which describe "Itm for the cooke is labor to make the pasties 10d".

As a Janner, then, it seemed only right that while I’m here I make some pasties one night. The focus here is taste rather than presentation given that my crimping skills aren’t the best. Please bear that in mind when viewing the inevitable photos. If it all gets eaten and everyone survives the night, I’ll take that as a win.

I thought we might have scones with jam and cream as well. You can buy jam here, and if you look hard enough you can find scones, but clotted cream seems unknown, at least in Port Douglas. So I made some, although we won’t know the end result until it’s been in the fridge for several hours and we come to try it.

The local chippy is open until 8pm today. Just saying!

Fortunately the chippy wasn’t needed. Six pasties made and all eaten. The clotted cream could have been a  bit thicker if I’m being critical, but it tasted right and went on the scones (rhymes with stones, by the way) before the jam was added. Proper job my ‘andsome!

I think there might be an opening here for me selling Devon-style food at the markets!

Anyway, moving on.

We’ve finished Clarkson’s Farm, so started watching Derry Girls. Kerry and Conor have seen it before, but I’d never watched it. My loss! I’ll watch more of it.

I went online this morning, as a result of which I’ve now got a blood test, Covid booster and flu jab to look forward to when I get home. Living the dream! On the plus side it all helps to ensure I’ll be able to come back here again!

After nipping into town I rode up to Mossman to meet Kerry for lunch. We walked down to a café we’d been to on my second day here, and had bacon and egg pie – a first for me. After that I rode up to Daintree Village. Again I’d been there before, but it was a good ride with twenty nine degree temperature, dry smooth tarmac, very little traffic on the road between the rainforest and the sea, and a cold tinny at the end of it. What’s not to like?

A walk on the beach followed by a drink at the Tav, and it was time for tea. More of an east-meets-west feel tonight, with asian-inspired beef stir fry, and scones with jam and cream available as a desert. A natural pairing!

Later we watched ‘Revealed:The Cape’, a documentary about the disappearance in 2003 of a father and son in Australia’s remote, crocodile-infested wilderness. Cape York, a large peninsula in the far north of Queensland is home to this unsolved double murder cold case, and also where we’re going camping next weekend. It is the largest unspoilt wilderness in eastern Australia and one of the last remaining wilderness areas on Earth. It is estimated to have a population of around seventeen thousand people in an area three quarters the size of Great Britain. There’s one major route, and once the tarmac ends we’ll have unsealed roads and creek crossings in the 4WD. The Queensland government has committed funding to improve the entire road, in apparent contrast to the UK where a lack of investment is allowing more highways and byways to become four- wheel-drive friendly.

Another couple of episodes of Derry Girls finished the day. I didn’t check the weather for tomorrow - I’ll take a chance on it!

Not many pictures today. Just showing one of the pasties, a scone with jam and home-made clotted cream, a cold tinny at Daintree village.