Roo Stew & River Swims, Off-Grid Adventures in the Blue Mountains
Where Kangaroo Stew meets starlit skies & city recipes get a bush makeover.
This weekend, we swapped the beach for the Blue Mountains and headed to 6 Foot Track Eco Lodge an off-grid retreat perched above the Cox's River. After a welcome hearty Kangaroo Stew we all settled in. The lodge is a favourite place to stay for bushwalkers and nature lovers. There’s loads of trail runners training for next month’s 6 Foot Track Marathon the same brutal race where I was heartbreakingly swept off at around the 35km mark a few years ago.
The weekend was filled with wildlife encounters, a pair of King Parrots visited us on the deck, red-bellied black snakes sunbathed on the track, completely unbothered by us. We slipped into Cox’s River wild swimming beneath Bowtell's swing bridge. It's pitch black at night perfect for stargazing, we were blown away by a meteor sighting while sitting around the camp fire leaving us feeling wonderfully disconnected from city life and a little more connected to each other.
I'm sharing two recipes from our trip, my hit Tuna Dip and a chunky Carrot Cake that perfectly pairs with a cup of bush tea (just avoid those scorching steel mugs and bring your own).
Both recipes are below, but first let's talk about how magical it is to disconnect. There's something special about swapping endless scrolling for stargazing, and trading online for off grid even just for a few days.
Tuna Dip w Home Made Mayo
This crowd-pleaser couldn't be simpler to make. The secret is making your own mayo, which is super easy all you need is 5 minutes and a stick blender.
Let's commit to making basic condiments from scratch, especially when they're so easy.
To Make The Mayo - you need just 5 minutes
Ingredients:
6 egg yolks (save the egg whites for an omelette)
50ml white wine vinegar
2 tbsp Dijon mustard - we love big dollops
30ml lemon freshly juiced
200ml Grapeseed oil
200ml Olive oil
Be generous with Salt & Pepper (good Salt like Maldon or Murray River)
Simply:
Put all the ingredients in the blender and mix until well combined (like 10 seconds) Refrigerate immediately until ready to use. Makes about 500g so plenty left over.
For the Tuna Mix
Ingredients:
2 x 425g tin Tuna in Springwater drained
1 x 300g tin corn kernels
6 x Green Spring onion finely chopped
1 x long stick celery finely chopped
2tbsp salty capers
1/4 cup Dill pickled cucumbers roughly chopped - be generous
1 x Green apple sliced and diced
Zest of 1 lemon
Method:
Combine the corn, onion, celery, pickles, capers, apple, lemon zest and then mix through the drained tuna.
Stir through the home-made Mayo until combined and check the seasoning, you may like to add more salt or pepper.
Make it the day before if you can, let it sit overnight - let the flavours become mates.
Tip! The tuna mix will soak up the mayonnaise, so just before serving, you might need to stir in a little extra to keep it wet.
Our family will devour this mix with a fresh loaf of white bread from the local bakery, for a quick snack, I’ll scoop it up with Vita-Wheat biscuits.
Carrot Cake - the best!
Always make two - one for the house and one for a friend.
Ingredients:
⅔ cup raw sugar
1 cup sunflower oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup wholemeal plain flour
½ cup SR flour
1 level teaspoon each ground ginger, cinnamon, mixed spice & bicarbonate of soda
¾ cup walnuts, chopped
2 cups carrot, coarsely grated
½ cup raisins
450 g can crushed pineapple (very well drained)
2 level tablespoons coconut
CREAM CHEESE ICING
30 g (1 oz) butter
30 g (1 oz) Philadelphia cream cheese
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
½ teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup icing sugar mixture nutmeg or cinnamon
Place in a large mixing bowl raw sugar, oil, unbeaten eggs and good vanilla, then sift in the flours, spices and soda. Add nuts, grated carrot, currants, well-drained pineapple and coconut. Stir enough to combine ingredients, but do not beat. Line the base of a well greased 20 cm (8 inch) square tin with greased paper. Pour in cake mixture and bake in a moderate oven for 1 hour. Stand for 5-10 minutes before turning out and ice when cold.
Tip! If you’re making 2 cakes (highly recommend) make separate batches at the same time. Something happens when you double a recipe, it’s just not quite the same as making them individually!
In a world where we're constantly connected digitally, there's profound beauty in disconnecting physically. Whether it's sharing a hearty Kangaroo meal, diving into fresh water rivers, or watching meteors paint the night sky, these off-grid moments remind us of what truly matters. They show us that sometimes, the best way to reconnect with family is to disconnect from everything else. So here's to more weekends of starlit conversations, shared recipes, and the kind of memories that no social media feed could ever capture. Because when we step away from the screens and into the wilderness, we don't just find nature, we find each other xxx
