Christine Manfield, Arkaba Homestead, SA and Kittawa Lodge, TAS
I save used tea bags for fire starters. You dry them out, dip in liquid candle wax to coat and dry again, I learnt this trick from the team at Arkaba Homestead when I was staying there last year. Three or four is all you need for a big fire and away you go. We always do a cook over the fire as one of the dinners on those trips – Spencer Gulf southern calamari, whole fish, quail, kangaroo. Auntie Pauline, a local Adnyamathanha Elder, stays with us and does some yarning round the campfire. I remember the first time I cooked kangaroo for her – rare, as I do it – and she said, “Oh, darl. Too bloody for me. I like it really well done.” That’s a bit of a funny inside joke between us.
Manuel Diaz, Nativo, NSW
You can slow-cook inside a pineapple instead
