My Life in OZ: Easter in Australia

On Good Friday, Ryan and I hosted our 1st six person dinner party to kick off the Easter Holiday. Howard, Marg, Marg's sister and brother-in-law all came over, and we used our new smoker to smoke pork shoulder, American style ribs and salmon. It was quite a feast. We made a hot artichoke crab dip as an appetizer, and we made "Big Pimpin' BBQ Shrimp Salad" for the starter. I spent the morning making a cold artichoke pasta salad to go with the smoked meat, and Ryan spent the morning getting the meat and smoker ready. After an entire day of cooking and cleaning it was all worth it. Our dinner party was a success!!

On Easter Day, we met the four of them for lunch two hours north of Brisbane at a Thai restaurant in the rainforest called The Spirit House Restaurant. Ryan and I got there early, so we wandered around the property. The restaurant is situated on about 2-3 acres of lush tropical rainforest where water monitors are plentiful. After roaming the property and taking pictures, we sat down to one of the best meals I've eaten in Australia. I can't begin to list the food we ate. For one reason, we didn't order it. Instead, we told the waitress how many starters and how many mains we wanted and she surprised us with a variety of delicious dishes. It was incredible. Expensive, but incredible!! Well worth another visit when my sister visits in August.

A Hidden Statue

Rainforest path leading to the Spirit House

Ryan standing next to some mammoth bamboo

Looking across the pond to the restaurant

Tropical Flower

Lily pad flower on the pond

Marg and Howard

A lunchtime visitor

One of our delicious mains

Enjoying Easter

After lunch Ryan and I drove to Noosa National Park and went hiking. We hiked the Coastal Track last July, and I was looking forward to returning. We checked out the map of the hiking tracks and decided to walk a 4KM inland path called Tangleweed Track that meets up with the Coastal Track. It was a perfect day for a hike!!

Tanglewoods