Another house guest arrived this weekend, in the form of my Sydney buddy Tim. Because I've yet to get out to do any diving or snorkelling on the Reef, we decided to head out to Green Island for the day to take in some of the closest coral reef snokelling accessible from Cairns.
Both Tim and I were surprised at the amount / diversity of the coral life off Green Island, which takes in hundreds of thousands of (novice) snorkellers each year. Lots of sea cucumbers, reef fish and star fish to look at. Thankfully, no sharks. :)
We rented an underwater camera for the day, coming away with some pretty good shots. I follwed the below fish around for 10 minutes, trying to get a good shot. Got 'em!
Green Island has a 5-star resort on the island. We headed there for lunch in search of something satisfying to eat.
Lemon Myrtle is a bushy Queensland rainforest tree which flowers heavily with large bunches of small white flowers on the ends of the branches. It is a common garden plant across northern Australia, and about a million have been planted commercially for their lemon oil content. The essential ingredient is Citral, which accounts for most of the plantss essential oil. The leaves are used fresh or dried & ground and have a lemon & lime oil flavour. They can be used with baked fish, to make a lemon tea, breads and cheesecakes etc., chicken and rice dishes ... and salad dressings!
Ingredients:
For dressing:
1 1/2 cups (400ml) white wine vinegar1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp (10g) castor sugar
2 tsp (5g) ground Lemon Myrtle
1/2 tsp ground Mountain Pepper
2 cups (600ml) olive oil
(Note: Dressing will separate if left to stand, so give it a good shake or stir before using on your favourite dish.)
150 g of crocodile meat (or chicken)
1 handful of babe spinach
½ pink grapefruit
½ avocado
Preparation:
1. Combine the vinegar, salt and sugar in a stainless-steel pot and heat gently until the sugar is dissolved.
2. Remove from the heat and add the Lemon Myrtle and Mountain Pepper. The heat will help release the natural oils in the Lemon Myrtle and Mountain Pepper.
3. Once the mixture is cool, slowly whisk in the oil.
4. Wash baby spinach, discarding any leaves which are not fresh.
5. Segment grapefruit.
6. Cut out strips of avocado.
7. Pan-fry crocodile until no longer pink.
8. Toss all ingredients together in a bowl, with a few tablespoons of the dressing.
9. Serve on a plate. If desired, serve with fresh cracked pepper.
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