T is for Tweets: Telex tweets from The Telegraph, Beechworth

If this was 2015 on the 11 November, a tweet would have read, #nedkelly, "Ned Kelly executed at Melbourne Jail, Saturday at 10.04", instead a telex was sent from The Telegraph in 1890.

Everything has changed but nothing has changed.

This chalkboard in Beechworth was fascinating, telex's about the amount of gold received at Melbourne in 1859, a temperature low of -10 degrees on the 10 August 1872 and the Cornish Miner who fell down a 250 ft shaft and survived, #nobrokenbones!

K is for Kookaburra: waking up to it's laugh

The iconic Australian tree kingfisher with its laughing call needs a blog all on his own. Here the Kookaburra watches us keenly. The morning's here at the Mansfield Country Resort start with the Kookies laugh, so nice.

H is for Hay: Bales dot the biscuit coloured rural lands

The dominant colours here in the High Country of the North East Victoria, are the biscuit shades of fawn, gold and brown and the fields are dotted with hay bales and flocks of Cockatoos and Corellas.

I have been looking for the 'perfect' spot for a photo of these huge perfectly formed circular bales.

Fred, in his usual enthusiasm for getting the best out of his photography, jumped a fence and was on his belly in the itchy mown field.

Got to love it! I used my trusty iPhone to snap him at the hay bales.

F is for Foodie: Farm fresh cherries and Gum Honeys

When the birding mojo deserts me, it is time to revert to a foodie day. I dragged the gang out late afternoon yesterday with the promise of wetland birding. I had done the research, the website looked good, the local tourist magazine carried an article too, so Winton Wetlands was the destination, over 50km north of Mansfield.

We arrived to a vast dust bowl, with an enormous kangaroo just managing to cool off on the little ground water over the boat ramp. The temperatures were mid 30's, birds scarce so we turned around and headed back.

High Country foodie highlights.

Fortunately Bev, a friend of Lee's who joined us, pointed us to a local farmer who has a good cherry crop and we stopped at his 'honesty fridge' and bought a couple of kg's. Plump and delicious.

'If Mansfield is the heart of the High Country. The Regional Produce Store is the heart of Mansfield.' 

This quote from a local cookbook is spot on, Fred and I found this little gem on day one in Mansfield and we have made it our local for the week, yummy baguette sandwiches with roast vegies, tandoori chicken and pulled pork, and of course loads of good flat whites.

Today we pottered along the King Valley road, via iNeeta's for breakfast of pies and pancakes and then onto Beechworth to partake in their Honey Experience. Beechworth Honey is an impressive business and we had the option to taste 30 different honeys, all influenced by which gums trees the bees frequented, like red gum, yellow stringy bark, coolibah, green mallee, grey ironbark and more.

I managed about 7 and was then honeyed out! But not enough to turn down ironbark honey ice-cream with macadamia nuts.

This recipe caught my eye and Fred is keen to make them once we get to New Zealand.