Aug 2022, Mulambin, Qld

Last night halfway through cooking the prawn risotto we tripped the power again. After checking all the van fuses we realised that we’d thrown the park power pole switch and that was proof that it was our old hot plate that was causing the problems. It was quickly binned.

After a trip into Rockhampton, we eventually find an induction hot plate in Yeppoon which means that we’ll have to check our odd collection of pots and pans for compatibility as well as learn a new and very different style of cooking. If the pan base is magnetic it is compatible.

Dinner is leftover risotto warmed in the microwave along with chicken strips cooked on the new hot plate. The poor things cook so fast that I nearly cremate them. Now I know why the packaging warns not to leave the hot plate unattended! And there’ll be no more wandering about the park with a glass of wine in hand while dinner cooks!

Friday is a warm morning and lovely for sitting outside but we’re entertained by our neighbour’s TV which is beside their open window. They’re not watching it but sitting outside their van (on the other side).

We pop into Yeppoon for a few ingredients for our contribution to tonight’s BBQ, Carbonara Risoni salad. We also buy a new induction friendly wok (my magnetic phone cover sticks to it).

We donate our old wok and two non-induction pans to the campers who use the camp kitchen.

Cooking the pasta salad is a new experience. I’ve only used the induction hot plate once so I haven’t had a chance to play with the thing. I boil the eggs and it all happens so fast that I’m not sure whether they are done or not so back they go for a bit longer. Each time you lift the pot the hot plate beeps. Woody is shouting “Stop lifting the pot”. My fingers are crossed that the eggs will be done. Then it’s the pasta, but that’s easy. I come undone again with the bacon as I can’t seem to crispen it, then the pasta is finished off with the bacon. Totally stressed I have to stop everything for a cuppa partway through. I can’t wait to master this damned thing!

El Prado cooks our steaks on the Weber which really hasn’t been used much this trip, having been usurped by the air fryers. The wind springs up so we wind up eating indoors. Elle tells us of how she sent El Prado out for toilet paper and he came back with two rolls of one-ply. It’s so thin it looks like rice paper!