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Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, April 9, 2014 - Page 29

Highly Recommended Azalea Cottage

Azalea Cottage is so pretty & clean More butterflies here than I've ever seen.

Sleep pink or choose blue, you'll love the decor Big bathroom & ensuite, who could want more.

Wheelchair & pet friendly built for our ease And the owners are happy, always ready to please.

Sit back & relax to enjoy a cold drink, Or step out the back door & test the golf link.

So whether you just spend one night on the way Or book for a week or two, enjoy your stay.

I wish you both well dear Brian & Jeanette For this holiday thank you, I'll never forget.

Speak with Jeanette at Azalea Cottage 84 Warwiba Rd, Old Bar, NSW 2430 Phone: (02) 6553 6636 www.azaleacottage.com.au azaleacottage1@bigpond.com.au

Page 30 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, April 9, 2014

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Craft

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Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, April 9, 2014 - Page 31

Craft

Page 32 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Antiques and Collectables

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Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, April 9, 2014 - Page 33

14 Allan St, Derby, Tasmania 7264. Ph & Fax (03) 6354 2464

Ask for free Catalogue

Page 34 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, April 9, 2014

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Pet Friendly Accommodation SKENES CREEK BEACHFRONT PARK ...

There are not many places in Australia where you can set up your tent, caravan or kombi right next to the beach.

Old School Skenes Creek is one of them - basic facilities and amenities on the crown reserve right on the foreshore ... no roads to cross to the sandy surf playground, chilled out atmosphere and we're dogfriendly too.

BEST LOCATION ON THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD Just 2.5 hours away from Melbourne, here is your escape to beach living for a while !

YOU CAN'T BEAT THE LIFESTYLE Powered & Unpowered Sites On-site overnight Caravans for hire.

RV / Campervan friendly dump point Indoor Communal Lounge TV games room Basic Camp Kitchen Hot Showers, BBQ , Laundry Internet Access Kiosk - Lavazza Coffee, Ice, Food, Camping necessities Camp Fires Hire Surf & Boogie Boards, wetsuits & paddle boards.

Fishing off the beach & creek Walks and Waterfalls nearby Mountain Biking Tours & Kayaking with Seals Learn to surf Argo buggies , Horse riding and more ...

Skenes Creek Beachfront Caravan Park No 2 Great Ocean Rd, Skenes Creek, Apollo Bay, 3233 Phone: (03) 5237 6132, 0418 788 156 Fax: (03) 5237 6124 Web: www.skenescreek.com E-Mail: info@skenescreek.com

PRESENT THIS VOUCHER FOR A FREE BOOGIE BOARD

Kilkivan Bush Camping

Known for its birdlife. Kilkivan Bush Camping Park is nestled in the foothills of the Oakview State Forest, next to Fat Hen Creek, where you can relax in total peace. Good riding and walking closeby.

The perfect place to come let the world drift away.

Campers, Caravans and Motorhomes, can find spacious sites with good shade, ppower and water if required.

We always give everyone plenty of room even at our busiest times.

You will find plenty of fireplaces and barbequie points at Kilkivan Bush Camping Park. Some wood is usually available.

On the range is ‘The Chimney’ a restored part of the Mount Clara Mine Copper Smelter with plenty of 4-Wheel Driving closeby.

A short drive takes you to Mudlo Gap National Park, Kinbombi Falls.

Take a trip to the historic Theebine Hotel, a true Australian Country Pub or ride ‘The Rattler’ from Gympie.

We can accommodate up to 24 in the camping huts.

We have a large undercover area, inlcuding camp kitech.

Self-cater or we can cater for you from our own commercial kitchen by prior arrangement.

Pets and Horses are most welcome.

Talk with Ralph and Antonija.

Kilkivan Bush Camping Rossmore Park, Rossmore Rd, Kilkivan, Qld 4600 Phone: (07) 5484 1340 www.bushcamping.com.au kilkivan@bushcanping.com.au

Elm Cottage, Tumut

Luxury Pet Friendly Accommodation River frontage Fishing Swimming Bird-Watching Bushwalking Tranquility Campfires BBQs Elm Cottage is your home away from home. Enjoy a drink on the balcony and watch the cows and sheep meander by. Why not take a stroll along the two miles of river bank, fish for trout, swim at our private sandy beach, and in the evening, with crystal clear skies, enjoy some stargazing, then curl up to sleep to the sounds of the river below.

Whether you're on your honeymoon, celebrating a special occasion meeting up with family and friends, perhaps a fishing or skiing holiday or just looking for an unforgettable spot to relax and recharge your batteries, then Elm Cottage is your ultimate holiday experience.

For those special occasions Elm Cottage will organise fishing trips, ultralight flights, breakfast or lunch baskets or a hamper full of local produce and wines.

All our luxury cottages are self-contained, positioned 60 metres apart for privacy and individually designed to cater for all occasions. Approximately halfway between Sydney and Melbourne, Elm Cottage is the perfect place to meet. Elm Cottage, the ultimate in Tumut Accommodation, is a year round destination.

Elm Cottage, Tumut Little River Road, Tumut, NSW 2720 Phone: (02) 6947 5818 www.elmcottage.com.au Speak with David and Deborah Sheldon

Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, April 9, 2014 - Page 35

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Melbourne People

Living Communities Hastings Official Opening

● First residents Shirley and Ray Nickles

● Bruce Carter and Todd Devine

● Sue and Bill McCreath

● Marion Wood and Meredith Ingram

● Monica Pilekic, Paula Newman, Chris Paranthoiene

● Gloria Owen and Margaret Gibbs

● Caroline Pearson, Catherine O’Hagan, Connie Coutts

● Gary Jamison, Maxine and Steven Sciluna

● Elizabeth Dribble and Marjorie Hueston

● Kate Bonin and Michael Imbesi

● Sam Cohen, Cr David Garnock

● Silvia and Hedley Tripp

Page 36 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Melbourne

Observer

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Travellers’Good Buys

with David Ellis

Taking steps of faith in Hanoi ■ Q: When is a footpath not a footpath?

A: When it’s in Hanoi.

There it can be just about anything else — a motorbike repair shop, a hairdressing salon, a restaurant complete with outdoor kitchen amid jumbles of tables and small blue or red plastic stools, perhaps a haberdashery.

Or maybe even a badminton court for the more energetic.

In many cases it’s occupied by the people who live in the adjoining houses or shops, and who simply prefer to spend most of their time out-front where it’s lighter and doubtless cooler — cooking, eating, washing up, playing cards, drinking tea or maybe something stronger, or just chatting with friends and passers-by.

It’s this shambolic sense of organised chaos that in-part helps make Hanoi one of the world’s great cities.

Try crossing the street and you soon realise just how frenetic life here can be, yet at the same time the Vietnamese capital also has a wonderful charm and poise about it – somehow retaining a French ambience from colonial days that melds with the local flavours to create a heady cocktail immersing the visitor.

Not that the French influence was always — or even mostly — a benign thing in Vietnam. Visit Hanoi’s cen-

● If it’s made from cane, this mobile trader seems to have it.

Melbourne

Observer Wines & Liqueurs

with David Ellis

Little known, but watch out ■ Roussanne is not a widely grown variety in Australia, but if other makers take a leaf out of Campbell’s of Rutherglen’s book and follow suit with one that they’ve just released, we could hopefully see a lot more on bottle-shop shelves in years to come.

An almost exotic wine with a nice depth of flavour that’s not unlike Chardonnay, Roussane’s home is France’s Rhone Valley, but it’s also grown widely in Italy as well, and to a much lesser degree in California.

Campbell’s 2013 Roussanne is an elegant drop with lots of finesse; on the nose it’s got nice lime peel, pear and herbal tea aromas, while on the palate it’s all about characters of pears, dried herbs, white pepper and even a little spice.

Colin Campbell says this wine is the result of an excellent vintage that gave it its intense varietal fruit flavour and firm acid backbone, but notes that Roussanne is one of those wines that requires a sensitive hand in both the vineyard and winery to capture the best of its subtlety and finesse.

And he says that while this is a great one to enjoy now, it will improve in bottle over the coming 3-4 years…

Colin suggesting enjoying it with cured kingfish sashimi. Priced at $25 a bottle it’s available only through the cellar door or www.campbellswines.com.au

One to note ■ Rymill Coonawarra winemaker, Sandrine Gimon has produced a cracker Shiraz from the outstanding vintage enjoyed in the region in 2012, this one being full of sweet red berry and dark fruit flavours, spicy overtones and beautifully savoury notes.

And while great to enjoy now, at $30 a bottle consider doing yourself a favour and buying a few for enjoyment once a year or so until well into the early to mid-2020s.

Sandrine recommends this as a wine that will make an ideal partner with rich wintry foods like roasted lamb with spices, crispy pork belly (oh, yeah!!!) wild duck, or goat’s cheese with figs on fruit bread.

Pictured ■ With its elegance and finesse, this little-known variety is great with cured kingfish sashimi.

■ Do yourself a favour and put aside a bottle a year until the early to mid-2020s.

trally-located one-time Hoa Lo Prison, now a museum complete with original blood-thirsty guillotine, and you realise how fervently the French liked to impose their colonial rule.

One of the main local opponents to that rule was Ho Chi Minh, a man revered to this day in Vietnam, and no visit to Hanoi is complete without a visit to Ba Dinh Square, location of both the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and the ultra-modernistic and very arty Ho Chi Minh Museum.

And if you are considering accommodation city-centre, the Hilton Hanoi Opera Hotel (www.hilton.com) is right there in the heart of the city’s chic, elegant French Quarter, where footpaths actually more-often are footpaths, rather than marketplaces.

Here in this Quarter is where to shop for genuine designer labels, stroll the tree-lined boulevards, and enjoy eating very well for no more than $1020 a head.

On “the other side of town,” right next to the main railway station, is the popular and comfortable Hotel Mercure Hanoi La Gare (www.mercure.com): whether you stay at the Hilton Hanoi Opera or the Mercure La Gare, both properties are within walking distance of two of Hanoi’s must-see attractions, the Old Quarter, and Hoan Kiem Lake (“Lake of the Returned Sword”) where the Golden Turtle God surfaced to reclaim a magic sword previously given to the emperor.

The 36 streets and laneways of the Old Quarter are the foundation blocks of Hanoi — and also the birthplace of the communist/nationalist uprising that emerged in 1907 as the Tonkin Free School Movement.

Hoan Kiem Lake is where the locals like to promenade, and provides a wonderful location to buy a coffee or a beer or three, and to leisurely take-in the passing parade.

And at the lake’s northern end, the Temple of the Jade Mountain on Jade Islet is somewhere you can gain at least some appreciation of the Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist philosophies that are the cornerstones of Vietnamese spiritual life.

Reasonably adept travellers can generally handle Hanoi pretty-much unaided, although crossing the road can have its challenges: the seemingly best philosophy appears to be to simply take a step of faith, walk slowly but assuredly, and let the traffic flow around you.

There’s also much to be said, however, for taking-on Hanoi with a smallgroup tour or as an independent traveller with your own guide and driver.

A recommended small group operator such as Wendy Wu Tours And using those with intimate local knowledge such as Wendy Wu Tours, ensures you also find such places as a characterful, and character-filled, student coffee shop that’s down an Old Quarter laneway, through a bag shop, up some flights of stairs, then past a couple of apartments — and where there’s great coffee and memorable moments that help elevate you from being just a tourist, to a true traveller.

There are numerous air-travel options to get to Hanoi: one worth considering is to combine Hong Kong with Vietnam, using Cathay Pacific (www.cathaypacific.com) to Hong Kong and its associate carrier, DragonAir (www.dragonair.com) onwards to Hanoi.