Adam has cooked food all over the world. From restaurants in England to eateries in India. He’s used to pressure. Catching a few lazy trout by Lake Mulwala is certainly a change of pace. That’s where he took his family last year, to the town of Yarrawonga on the New South Wales/Victoria border. It was a nice break from the ups and downs of Melbourne under Covid.
The family of five spent their days exploring the mountains, the country pubs, and of course the gorgeous reservoir. He rode along the top of the 100 year old weir on his small portable scooter. The kids spent hours by the pool, while he and his wife relaxed. The weather was beautiful, and the food hearty. In short, it was the quintessential Australian family holiday.
‘Everyone needs to eat, so you can go everywhere,’ Adam reflects on his working life. He’s done stints just about everywhere, cooking in just about every style. His favourites are the flavours of the subcontinent and South-East Asia, coconut curries and dals.
These days he’s left behind the heat of the kitchen and works 30 hours a week at a childcare centre. He incrementally introduces the children there to the big wide world of cuisine. He also helps them manage a modest veggie garden of cucumbers, zuccinnis, spinach – all the usual suspects that kids would otherwise be terrified of.
His own kids are his passion. ‘Their dreams are my dreams,’ he says simply. Just like he did at their age, they throw themselves at their sport. They don’t show any signs of wanting to pursue their own culinary Odysseys, but Adam doesn’t mind.
Adam uses a walker and a portable Luggie scooter to get around. The walker is for day-to-day things, and the scooter is for day trips and more ambitious expeditions. It lets him go 15 km in a day, often outpacing his kids who can’t always keep up. It handles the terrain well – footpaths, grass, even sand, plus it’s easy to get into the car. He often goes to nearby Chelsea beach and surrounding parks.
The family likes to dodge the Melbourne winters, perhaps to Bali or to Fiji, where once they took a speedboat up the river and saw villages up in the mountains. Adam says that in the future they’ll visit Queensland again, but he doesn’t seem too fussed about the specifics of the when and the where. He just knows it’ll happen.
‘I’ve always liked to see how other people live. It’s like a shock to the mind, a good one,’ he says.
To learn more visit scootersaus.com.au
This sponsored article first appeared in Travel Without Limits #7 (March 2022)
