Thursday, November 17, 2022

Fine Dining, now Facing Poverty

Last week was an expensive time food wise. We lashed out dining at Chin Chin and then on the Saturday Ex Sis in Law's husband called and said he had won on the gee gees and asked if we would like to join him and Ex Sis in Law Sunday at a place called Wings and Fins. 

Damn, we the day before been to Mother's and taken her out for lunch. She had forgotten we were coming and was not dressed or made up. Tradie Brother was there to fix ABI Brother's garage roof drainage issues. Mother is much better when she is surprised by a visit from anyone. She doesn't suffer pre visit stress. We lunched at a local cafe and she later said it was the best afternoon ever. I managed to extract from her $50 for her meal, and the last one she did not pay for. Bills and paying for things has never been her focus. 

Anyway, the point of mentioning Mother's outing is that I had already driven Saturday on the Monash Freeway and now to visit Wings and Fins, it would be another drive on the Monash. I hate the road with a passion. Interestingly to local readers familiar with the area, rather than use the South Gippsland Highway through Cranbourne, Google suggested we use Cardinia Road from the Monash which becomes Dalmore Road, joining the Highway almost right at the restaurant gate. It was quick.

Wings and Fins sits over the Tooradin light plane airport, with a view over some seaside mudflats. It is not a cheap eats place but it was ok though rather noisy. It has a lovely outdoor partly shaded deck but hard to believe a few days later, it was a bit warm to sit out. 

This abandoned ship sits on swamp before the mudflats. Ex Sis in Law suggested we ask staff about its history. Her husband confidently said, 'It was one of the boats Vietnamese boat people used to arrive here in the 70s and then abandoned'. While waiting for our meal, I went out on to the deck to take some photos and also had doubts about the ship tale. I googled it and armed with facts I returned to the table. 

Now when you don't normally swear, you can very occasionally do so with great effect. "Vietnamese refugee ship my arse", I proclaimed. Here is the rather sad story of the ship.

It was owned by a man who was renovating the small steel ship. The swamp leading to the mudflats below our dining position was the only place he could find to store the boat while he worked on it with occasional help from his son. Between them they extended the length of the steel hull by six metres. The son was in Darwin in 1974 when Cyclone Tracy hit and was killed. The father was so distressed, he never returned to the ship. The ship has sat there ever since, slowly rusting away.



Are these passionfruit vine flowers? Interesting aren't they.


We didn't see any of these tiny planes land or take off but a light helicopter made a landing.


29 comments:

  1. That is a very sad story about the ship. Very, very sad.
    They are indeed passion fruit flowers. Lovely things aren't they?
    I am impressed (as always) at your socialising.

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    1. They are beautiful EC. I just looked at some photos of the blooms and there is quite a variety around the world.

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  2. The drive in that direction is becoming so challenging these days. Not only the congestion issue, but also the non-stop construction zones reducing lanes to one with a speed limit 40. Passion fruit is my favorite fruit in bubble cup lol. The flowers do look fantastic

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    1. Roentare, it is such a high population growth area. Whatever works are done, there are many more works needing doing. I prefer inner city driving, slow as it may be. At least the traffic normally moves. I've never tried bubble cup but I must.

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  3. I'm not sure what the flower is, but it's pretty. Sad story about the son and the ship. Sounds like your mom enjoyed her outing:)
    Take special care.

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    1. Very pretty flowers Sandra, and such a variety if you look on the net. Thanks.

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  4. I wish you had zoomed in for a better look at the boat. How was the food? Wings and Fins sounds interesting. Facing poverty? I almost choked on my porridge!

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    1. River, that was a decent zoom and any more the phone wouldn't cope with. It was a case of really needing my proper camera. Yes poverty and yes, I am prone to being a little theatrical at times.

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    2. This is the perfect platform for theatricality. ~grin~ I planted passion flowers for their amazing blooms but they didn't last here despite being supposedly hearty perrenials. ~sigh~ Best wishes!

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    3. I've forgotten which state you are in Darla. Passionfruit vines can certainly cope with our cold weather, which I suppose is not quite so cold.

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  5. I have always wanted to try Wings and Fins since it was on some restaurant reality show. It's not far from here so I really should suggest it.
    Those mudflats could tell a myriad of stories. There was an unsolved murder around there back in the 1800s I believe. The body was dumped never to be found - but of course it was.
    Passion flowers yield passion fruit.

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    1. Caro, I hesitate to recommend it. If you really like seafood, I think it is good on the food scale but value for money? Not so sure. Mind fresh seafood is expensive now. Ex Sis in Law and her husband shared a two tiered platter and did not quite eat everything but made a fair stab at it.

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  6. That flower looks like something right out of Oz...the Wizard of Oz! Very surreal. The ship story is sad.

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    1. It is a very nice flower Debby. Its texture reminds me of a hoya flower.

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  7. Eating out in restaurants used to be such fun every weekend when a] it was pre-Covid and b] everyone was fully employed. Pleasant places but not uber classy.
    Now eating out consists of a lunchtime sandwich and a coffee within walking distance of the house. Not very exciting, alas..

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    1. Hels, pleasant but not uber classy works for me. Honestly, you should go out. Don't go to crowded places and take precautions like masking except when eating and hand sanitising. We've been going out and so far avoided Covid.

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  8. Sad about that ship on the mudflats. Have to have passion fruit flowers to have passion fruit, now they can be expensive, sometimes over a $1.00 each!

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  9. Would love to ‘ave been a fly on the wall when you returned to the table. How long before the open mouths were closed?
    If you fancy another meal at a small airport try The Flight Deck at The Royal Victorian Aero Club. Right beside the tarmac

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    1. Cathy, they laughed at me. Ah, Moorabbin Airport. We would certainly see some plane action there. We took Little Jo to the airport once to see planes come and go and she was not the least bit interested.

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  10. Of course a stranded boat people sounds more dramatic than an old man who lost his son ! I think you have eaten enough now for the next 2 weeks ! Last time I went to a restaurant was a little Turkish one and we had a Giros plate, very good and very cheap !

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    1. We didn't eat so much Gattina. We shared a dozen Kilpatrick oysters and ate battered fish and chips with salad.

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  11. That's a sad story about the abandoned boat...not that the Vietnamese version would be any better. I don't like oysters but will eat the Kilpatrick ones, so yummi!

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    1. Sami, so many people say the same about oysters. I like them both ways.

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  12. Those are passionfruit flowers. That's a terrible story about the boat!

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    1. Steve, I can remember passionfruit laden vines in my childhood but not the flowers, which clearly had to be there before fruit.

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  13. Seems unlikely boat people would get to south Australian coast. Where did he get that story? I like fish and chips if not too much of them and they're not soggy in oil from frying. What kind of fish? Here, they're usually halibut, tuna or cod. Just the name Passion flowers makes them interesting.

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    1. Strayer, yes a boat on our coast was the first thing that made me wonder. Then 'leaky refugee boat' came to mind. Steel hulls don't really leak. Our fish was barramundi. The had salmon and barramundi.

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  14. Sound like a wonderful lunch.
    Coffee is on and stay safe

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