The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 49

Weather not en to Irish winter ampen an IAN HICKS braved a northern winter in Ireland to find the cosy accommodation and the scenery more than made up for the climate. HERE were times when I longea lor me son neat ot a Sydney summer. There were times, true, when the northern winter's cold cut so deep it holiday another, tamer place Achill. To get there, take the road around the gently curving coast of Clew Bay, through the angling resort of Newport. Two miles out of town are the ruins of Burrishoole Abbey, a 15th-century Dominican church, the gravestones of which tell the history of the region.

The road then winds across the Curran Peninsula and the short bridge linking the mainland to Achill; it is a gorgeous blend of mountains and sea, moors and sea-level fiatland. In summer, it is over-run by the youth of Ireland. Hotels and guesthouses are crammed and a good many more young people camp out with the oldies out-shocking each other with scandalous tales of the goings-on. Perhaps, then, it was better to see Achill out of season. There were huge banks of black clouds ranged behind the mountains but the coast was sunny all afternoon.

The strand was a broad sweep of yellow with seaspray gleaming golden in the air. Beyond the beach were tall cliffs of dark stone, a turmoil of Atlantic foam at their base. I had a closer look at those cliffs on the way back to the cottage. The sun had vanished and the breeze had become a gale. Rainstorms raced across fields, cliffs, surf and sea.

Never was the hearth of home more welcome. It's that blend of bleak harshness and warm comfort which makes the west of Ireland so absorbing in winter. Sydneysiders seldom see seasons; they blend so softly, one into the other, that you hardly notice the change. That's not the way of the west where seasonal changes are writ large, none more boldly than at the end of winter when the cold slowly loosens its grip. It must be grand in the spring.

Ian Hicks travelled to Ireland as a guest of British Airways and Aer Lingus. As for the town indeed, as for the west generally be prepared for culture shock. It's not that people are unfriendly. On the contrary, everyone I met was eager to put the visitor at ease, but the very attraction of the west, its isolation, harshness and sense of tight-knit community, unsettles. So does the cold.

It is no argument for staying home but the plain fact is that the Irish winter is fierce. Take stout walking boots, multiple layers of light, warm clothing, anorak, gloves and scarves. There was a time when all that wasn't enough but that's no reason for not going to the islands. I mean, of course, the Aran Islands. You can go by boat or by Aer Arann for SIR38 return.

I'd spent a while boning up on the area (A World of Stone, published by O'Brien Educational Press is the book to read) but still wasn't prepared for the islands" astonishing bleakness, the wind's force and chill, the way the landscape smudged into the sea, which in turn faded into the sky, all three in subtly-varying, sullen shades of grey. I was sorely tempted to stay by the parlour fire in Stephen Dirrane's Gilbert Cottage, one of the few guest-houses on the main island, Inishmore, to stay open year-round. Wiser counsel prevailed and my advice is that you should brave the wilds and walk to Dun Aengus, a fortress -stone, of course built in the 1st or 2nd Century, BC. The fort sprawls on the edge of 100-metre cliffs (there are no fences to spoil the impact of it all so watch your step). Even on a calm day, the heavy rollers of the Atlantic pound into the base of the cliffs.

It sounds like artillery and sends up spectacular sheets of spray. If the Aran Islands sound a little fearsome, the fact is, in winter, they are. But if islands are your passion, there is and set against a backdrop of tall mountains, the Twelve Bens. Lunch soup, sandwiches and a hot whiskey (or was it two?) was taken by a bright peat fire (don't believe that nonsense about smoky, smelly little fires; a half-way good firelighter can stoke up a peat blaze which will warm at 20 paces). Then it was back to the road for the last, loveliest lap.

The countryside, dominated by the Maamturk Mountains, is stark. But at Leenane, a small fishing community, the road swirls around a bay, then turns inland through snow-dusted hills, on to the village of Louisburgh, journey's end. Let my notes take over here "For the entire day, through black-water bogs, past quiet reaches of the sea, the light never stopped changing. Sometimes it was very dark, black even, and threatening: at other it was a pearly grey, highlighting the brown of the mountains. "The area is generally desolate with only an occasional farmhouse or pine plantation, a belated effort to repair past ravages when whole forests were laid waste and the land left in ruin.

"Sheep with ridiculously tiny feet teeter on steep slopes, picking at sere feed among the stones. "As the afternoon turned into evening, clouds seemed to dissolve away so that the light of the setting sun was as bright as it had been all day, golden clear across the hills." The changing light never ceased to fascinate me. Australians are so used to was painful. But for the most part, two weeks in winter in the West of Ireland was 1 knew it would be a journey worth the making. That view had been formed a year earlier when I'd spent two weeks on the road from Dublin to the south through the west and back to Dublin.

Even in tiny Ireland that is simply too much travelling. I wanted to spend the same amount of time in the area I'd loved the most, the west. British Airways and Aer Lingus, keen to encourage off-peak travel, threw their support behind the idea. I left Sydney on a sparkling summer's day arriving at Shannon 32 hours later. It was cold and damp but a warm welcome more than made up for that.

Galway. 501 years old this year, was just a short drive away, as was a light meal, a pint of Guinness and a plush suite at the Great Southern Hotel. And sleep. From Galway, the road west to the area's main junction Maam Cross starts in dreary suburbia but soon winds along high ground beside Ireland's most alluring lake. Lough Corrib, an irresistible magnet for the country's more talented fishermen.

Once the lake is left behind the road winds through peat-bogs and marshlands, flat country with the vegetation such as it is, burnt brown bv the cold The Aran Islands the astonishing bleakness is broken by idyllic scenes like this. the glare of Antipodean sunlight that it seldom occurs to us that much of the rest of the world would find it merely painful. Bright sunlight was not to be a problem in the west, certainly not in Louisburgh, one of the few towns in Ireland named after a New World community, the 1720 French fortress of Louisbourg on the St Lawrence River in Nova Scotia. There is modern housing on the modest hills around the town centre but home for me was a communal tourist which has placed 1 0 self-catering cottages close to the centre of town. They come with all mod cons for about SI21 a week and, given that the five smaller cottages sleep five people and the others sleep seven, that is quite a bargain.

Dressed for the address The new series for TV make Merino wool, dark blue with a subtle pinstripe, it will cost about 5745. alias and Dynasty look good A light blue all-cotton shirt with white collar is a popular style, preferably French, for S59. Add a classic St Ives silk tie with blue background and red diagonal stripes for S43. Black brogues will suit well for footwear, Italian Di Veroli's are all leather and all class for SI 35. URING the past couple of weeks in America, just about every newspaper and magazine has run a prominent piece describing just what we can all A leather attache case with combination lock is S205 and white Irish linen handkerchief S9.90.

Gucci splash-on cologne will smell very St Ives for Susan Anthony S50. Finally. Ermenegildo Zegna underpants, plain with no silly drawings or motifs, are SI 5.50. Accessories include: Walking stick which converts to handy seat for the Rugby S67. and a cotton Valentino shower coat in white with blue trim S250.

Total cost for him: $1,579.40. From Page 1 For the Mod woman a plain straight skirt to the knee and a twinset from Vestiphilia will cost about S30 but good originals are rare. A pair of black, fine-mesh stockings, a '60s pillbox handbag and a pair of black sunglasses will be another S30. Flat points or chisel-toe shoes (new from the city) are S50, and a bobbed haircut S25. A pair of '60s go-go earrings will finish it all off for SIO.

Accessory: Vespa motorbike S600. Total cost for her: $745. Chris Cherry of Vestiphilia says the Black Crow is another prominent look in Newtown. "It's the addicts who walk around dressed in black with pale, white faces," she says. The Black Crows and the Mods are worlds apart.

In appearance, the Mod look is sharp and smart, the Black Crow is scraggy and scummy. For a New town man with a habit the Black Crow look is cheap and simple. A scungy all-black outfit in a second-hand store is a snap for S20. Black, tight-fitting jeans are best, a touch short in the leg. A pair of black winkle-picker boots are S55.

A hairdresser is unnecessary black hair dye costs S5 a bottle. Accessories: Svringe and deal S100. Total cost for him: $180. JOIN THE CLUB St Ives TAKING AVENGE Paddington IHE Paddington look is pure pop culture EI tleetmg, tast and flashy. Its fashions explode, bubble and froth then go flat like cheap Spumante.

Walking along Oxford Street on Saturday is like walking look forward to in the period optimistically and officially known as "the new season." "The new season" is that annual cultural event that arrives at the end of every summer. In television, it's more realistically known as "the ratings In weather terms, it's known simply as autumn. It comes when we have finally put away our buckets and spades and beachballs, almost stopped sulking about the prospect of nine months without sand and surf, and returned from the cultural and of summer. It comes when we once again have the time and the inclination to trek to the theatre, the galleries and the museums, or to curl up on our couches enriching our minds through the wonders of television. One sure sign that "the new season" has arrived is that all the kids are back in school, and the "summer" movies have moved out of the cinemas to be replaced by serious stuff like Agnes of God, and Plenty.

You'll just have to eat your hearts out about what you're missing in "the new season" on Broadway accent will be decidedly says the Ah- York Times), in dance be much dance from in art man shows will enrich the and so on. After all, unless you're planning to visit, you won't be seeing them anyway. But when it comes to television, chances CITY: Best Cellars: Taltarni Cabernet Malbec 1982 $4.99 (by the dozen); Mildara Coonawarra Hermitage 1982 S2.99; Saltram's Traminer Riesling 1984 S2.89. Hyde Park Cellars: Louis Roederer non-vintage Champagne SI5.99; Louis Roederer vintage Champagne SI 7 49; Pol Roger non-vintage Champagne Penfold's St Henri Tyrell's Pinot Noir $29.50. EAST: Moore Park Cellars: Pen-fold's 1982 Kalimna Bin 28, $4.95 ($4.50 by the dozen); Yalumba 1985 Pewsey Vale Rhine Riesling $6.75 Wirra Wirra 1984 Chardonnay $11.25 Lindeman's Hunter River Burgundy 1982, S5.95 Pol Roger 1979 Winston Churchill $59.95.

Bronte Cellars: Freycinet Chenin Blanc-Semillon 1984, $6.99 ($77.88 a dozen); Morris Druix 1982, $8.99 Laurent Perrier non-vintage $14.99 (S167.88); Bailey's of Glenro-wan 1984 Rhine Riesling $4.29 Chateau Reynella 1980 Vintage Port $8.29 NORTH: Newport wine and Cheese: 1984 Geoffrey Grosset Chardonnay $12.90 ($11.85 by the dozen); 1984 Geoffrey Grosset Polish Hill Rhine Riesling $10.95 (S9.95); 1982 Rouge Homme Claret $4.99 (S4.49); 1984 Lindeman's Padthaway Fume Blanc S5.99 Normanhurst Cellars: Campbells Cabernet 1983 $9.50 (S8.50 by the dozen): Coleraine (NZ) Cabernet Mer-lot 1983 SI 4.95 Penfoid's bin 707 Cabernet 1977 Brown Brothers Semillon 1984 $7.50 Alkoomi Rhine Riesling 1984 $8.25 (S7.40); Best's Chardonnay 1983 $11.45 (S10.30): Henschke Botrvtis Rhine Riesling 375ml 1984 $12.95. hours of Sins, starring Joan Collins. Among the made-for TV movies, dramas, biographies and mysteries, there's Alice in Wonderland, Death of a Salesman (starring Dustin Hoffman), John and Yoko A Love Story, and The Times of My Life, Betty Ford's story about her battles with cancer and drug dependency. In the problem category, we can look forward to An Early Frost, the story of a family dealing with a son who has AIDS; From This Day Forward, the story of a recovering alcoholic; and Living Arrows, in which Farrah Fawcett comes to terms with her ailing mother-in-law. Want more? OK, there's The Return of Perry Mason, in which Raymond Bun-comes back to defend his former secretary Delia Street against (shock, horror!) a charge of murder.

There is a whole slew of people specials, featuring people like Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers and Johnny Cash, as well as awards shows like Miss Universe, and even the Grammys. Cable programming includes such sizzlers as Doris Day's Best Friends, which features the pets she has on her nine-hectare home; and The Dr Joyce Brothers Program, which, you guessed it, dispenses psychological wisdom on just about everything. It all sounds like a lot of heavy viewing, enough to make some of us switch right back to the familiar old mental TV anaesthetics we've already learned to live with. I know that Bobby won't be back on Dallas but I can cope with that, just as I can cope with still seeing Joan on Dynasty. The "new with all its deep and meaningful TV offerings, may be one way to woo us back to the box, and give us a sense that the times they are a'changing.

But plenty of people would have happily stayed with it anyway, and probably will, revelling in the love-hate relationship it provides. What can I say? You know who you are. on to Countdown. The Department Store deals exclusively in the Paddington look. In a slightly clinical atmosphere of gleaming white tiles, one can pluck the latest outfit from the shelves and instantly join the pop generation.

IHE name of The Club Shoppe in the St comedy queen Lucille Ball, of Love Lucy fame, playing the lead in a drama about a homeless bag-lady? It's really not quite that bad, though. The TV moguls have obviously made an effort this time round to woo us away from our video machines and back to advertising-land, and they have brought in some big guns to do it. They have also put their bets on mini-series and made-for-TV movies, no doubt mindful of the success these have had Down Under. Among the big guns who will be starring in new shows this season are Jackie Gleason, George C. Scott, Martin Sheen, Kirk Douglas, Faye Dunaway, Joan Collins, Candice Bergen, Shirley McLaine, Elizabeth Taylor, Gene Kelly, Liza Minelli, Jason Robards and Ava Gardner.

Among the directors who worked on the shows are Steven Spielberg, Martin Scor-cese, Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds, John Landis and Brian de Palma. And among the shows are a mind boggling array of specials long enough to take weeks out of your life. So here's some of the line-up. There's a seven-hour mini-series called Mussolini: The Untold Story (why was it never told there's a 12-hour historical drama starring Southern belles and so on called North and South; nine hours on Peter the Great; a 12-hour mini-series on Vietnam; and a 10-hour one called Amehka. Then there's six hours of Forever Amber, seven hours of Kane and Abel, and seven Occasionally, older folk wander in to The Department Store and buy something in a brave but ultimately hopeless attempt to rekindle a little youth.

But for the teeny-boppers, just being there is Ives Centre, home of the St Ives Look, says it all. To have won the privilege of a place in St Ives society is the equivalent of gaining membership in an exclusive half the thing. "It's the place to be seen," says Wally Herman with a grin, the store's owner. "It's very trendy to are that what's in store for us here now is in store for you soon. So don't say you haven't been warned.

First the good news: yes, there are some new shows. And now the bad news: they may not be things you want to watch. Are you, for instance, anxious to see Us roo eaters want equal rights with our dogs Sydney club. One goes to The Club Shoppe and Gentlemen's Outfitters" to buy the uniform. But this is no mere shop.

It is a shoppe. That quaint little afterthought, the and represent the hankering for tradition. Unfortunately, tradition can't be bought. The St Ives look is that of not-so-old-mcney dressing itself up in classic style and tradition. A walking ad for good taste.

"They like labels, they like names," says Elizabeth Huggett from The Club Shoppe. "They like people to know what it is they're wearing but with some subtlety. They don't like their label on the For the St Ives woman Prue Acton is very OK. A Prue Acton is easily identified, the St Ives equivalent of a pair or Levis. An elegant, classically cut cream linen dress with semi-puff sleeves, stylish but not trendy, will cost S330.

A navy blue cotton blazer from Prue, with white buttons and white cotton knit cuffs (a touch moderne) will match nicely for S250. A reserved pair of Christian Dior stockings ith a discreet pattern will add a little life to the legs for a mere S6.50 and a Christian Dior pair of court shoes in cream, to follow through the overall look, are yours for SI 50. For the spring and summer a straw Panama hat in 1930s style will be S66 and top off the elegance a slightly bold look. A cream shoulder bag with a subtle gold chain (SI 80) will add the final touch. Total cost for her: $982.50.

For the gentleman, St Ives is renowned cardigan country, but the suit remains the most important piece of clothing. A name suit is essential. Classic and conservative, a beautifully tailored Ermenegildo Zegna is ideal. Made in Italy from 100 per cent extra fine be seen here, a big pick-up joint very cruisey For women, the fluoro craze, a fashion cleverly introduced by a consortium of sunglass manufacturers, appears to be dimming. The new Paddington look (well not quite so new) is the Avengers style.

Someone dug through television's cultural mullock heap and felt there was a little more mileage left in that popular English TV serial of the '60s. The label is aptly named Prisoner of the Mother Country. The outfit comprises a lime green jacket and mini skirt, all tailored in a '60s cut. for S195. Of course, there is no harm in mixing and matching to prove your cultural diversity.

Heave on a wide leather and perspex belt, a la Dolly Parton, with rhinestone and other paraphanalia inlaid for SI 52. Patterned stockings (S29.95) are very Paddington. The store also has an exciting range of plastic jewellery from SIO to S70. A pairof glasses in '60s style from France will see you looking good at S59.95. Total cost for her: $506.90.

One of the few perennial unisex fashions in Paddington is the American Preppy look. "It's still the strongest selling look I've ever come across," says Wally Herman. "It's timeless and ageless For the male (and female) the latest line in this favourite American cliche is the Freega, a colourful fashion tracksuit with Play Ball USA emblazoned on the front. Hit home base with SI 68 and the outfit is yours. Top it off with a baseball cap for S10, some bubble gum for 50 cents, a pair of "original St Tropez boxer shorts" for S8 and a pair of top-line Nike joggers for S200 and he's looking pure Paddington for only $386.50 NE of the great problems with our coat of arms is that, in theory at least, both the supporting animals are edible.

Conservationists in Great Britain can have no possible argument with meat eaters in that country because the unicorn has never existed and anyone who had sampled lion meat would have to be both fairly brave and health regulations allowed us to export it to Europe as venison and feed it to our labradors we were prevented from eating it ourselves. I personally got fed up with this nonsense in about 1963. While on a brief revisit to my own country I spied a mass of it in Melbourne's Prahran markets sitting alongside a bunch of rabbits in a sort of mixed human-petfood booth, grabbed quite a lot, took it home and made a great game soup. I then concluded that both our health authorities and our bleeding hearts were lunatic. desperate.

Besides which, the lion isn't British anyway. One can go further: bald eagles have never been popular fare in the United States, and one gathers that the kiwi doesn't make a very interesting mouthful as far as most New Zealanders are concerned. (The only book I have ever been able to find on Maori cooking doesn't even mention it. although many other birds are listed). As far as delicacy is concerned, one can dismiss the emu.

Most of the early explorers found that not only was it extraordinarily tough but it also had brilliant yellow and This city animal soppiness was doubly driven home to me the other week when a Department of Agriculture spokesman in the central west gloomily reported that it appeared myxomatosis was no longer working on rabbits. Something else could be found to replace it, he stated, but because of city opinion and the opinion of the lunatic fringe of the animal liberation brigade it would never be allowed to be developed. Of course, what those fruit juice-drinking vegetarian lunatics (to use George Orwell's phrase) don't understand is that they will have no orange juice and no damned bread if the rabbits breed up again. Rabbits just love both tree bark and wheat. Still, to take a line out of that amusing novel of the 1960s, The Fan Man, about the alternative urban society, there is always the great Zen Saliva Diet.

You just have to lie very still all day so you don't use up any energy. What all this is getting around to is the fact that we got stuck into a great kangaroo ragout the other week. Beverley had one of her New Zealand cum American sisters up for a visit, and I thought what the hell let's give her a taste of the old hopper. Now there are not many of them around our way but a mate of mine from quite a bit further south-west had a friend who knew another friend and so on When she arrived I had a nice pair of boned-out legs in the freezer. Like the venison mentioned some columns back, instead of using the European red wine marinade technique I used dry white, plus bay leaves and garlic and blade mace, and once again some of our own apple juice vinegar which had been infused with French (as distinct from common garden) thyme for about a year.

It was left in this marinade in large chunks for 24 hours and then towel-dried and browned up with cubes of home-pickled and dried belly pork. The usual collection of chopped carrots, parsnip, swede, turnip, celery herb and so on was then added with a little olive oil to an iron casserole, and the whole thing left to get on with it in the oven. After about three hours of slow cooking the chunks were lifted out, the sauce itself (after draining the herbs and vegetables off) was thickened with a little flour and butter, enhanced with a dash of both sherry and brandy, and the whole reamalgamated. We didn't find it tasteless as did some of the early settlers. It tasted fairly much like a venison stew or ragout or casserole.

The meat is as lean as venison and because of this needs as much attention in regard to moisture. And if I do it again I'll add a large square of pig skin to give it more unctiousness. In other words it is a pity, despite the fact that every State culls the creatures, that there appears to be no way that the meat can be available to humans who would like it. It either goes to the dogs or rots. To me that is crass stupidity.

If you ever get hold of a piece of kangaroo and you are interested in more than this standard (or more or less standard) venison recipe, Edward Abbott, who signed himself, "The published a Cookery Book For The Many in 1864 after living in Tasmania for some years. Parts of this in a rearranged fashion were republished by Summit Books in the 1970s under the title of 77ie Colonial Cook Book. It is still around, and contains, among other things, such dishes as kangaroo steamer (a sort of colonial Scotch collops), kangaroo in pastry, kangaroo on the spit, kangaroo in milk, and so on. Quite worth the search, in other words. But if you can't get hold of that, spend a morning at the Mitchell Library consulting The Australian Cook and Laundry Book.

That should set you right. And at the same time ponder on the fact that our coat of arms is edible. We can't get anything right, can we? more than somewhat revolting fat beneath its grey skin. Only crazy old Ludwig Leichhardt expressed appreciation of the bird but then he would eat anything that walked or crawled. But now we hit the real problem.

The kangaroo and its relatives. Kangaroo basically is venison that hops. As to its taste, opinion always has been Richard Beckett This dual eating morality about the kangaroo still exists to this day. It is okay for the dogs to munch on the national emblem but it is not moral for human beings. It is, of course, a city attitude.

No one in the country gives a damn. For many reasons, such as destroying $10,000 of fencing in a night and destroying crops, kangaroos are hated. For instance, both grey kangaroos and wallabies, for reasons that no one can really explain, just love tiny fruit trees. They will burst into an orchard and eat the things down to stumps. Maybe it is the taste of prussic acid in the bark I don't know but it is a fact.

A couple of years back, some friends of ours lost their whole newly-planted orchard in this manner $500 of devastation in one night. We are close enough to the town of Molong not to have had that trouble so far. We have had the odd possum in the fruit season but that's about all. No kangaroos and no wallabies, thank the Almighty. AMCIEHI HISTORY STUDY TOUR EGYPTTURKEYGREECE Departs Sydney 28 Dec.

1985 Returns Sydney 25 Jan. 1986 Extensive Itinerary. Highlands include: Abu Simbel. Karnak. Aswan, Ephesus.

Pamukkale. Gallipoli. Delphi, Sparta Olympia. Fully escorted For further information contact: PARK LANE TRAVEL PTY LTD 6th FLOOR 88 WALKER STREET. NORTH SYDNEY, 2060 TEL: 929 5544 Lie.

No. B1018 divided. In the early days of the NSW settlement, while some were declaring that kangaroo hams were far superior to the pig hams of England, others stated that its flesh These pre-cambrian mountain ranges have, for over a cent- was insipid and had little nourishment. Nevertheless, whether fresh or cured it was eaten quite regularly as game meat until ury, capuvaien we vistiur mm men unmucucu. vuiuui, ma isolation; the quiet havens in the gorges and chasms are still a delight for nature lovers and photographers.

Bill King's 48 page brochure has many options, from a 4-wheel drive expedition overnighting in tents, to deluxe coaches staying in lodges and motels. Contact us today: AAT King's, 46 Kent Road, Mascot, Sydney W2020. For reservations and information telephone 008 334 009, the early days of this century. And then everyone forgot about it and got stuck into beef and mutton. Kangaroo flesh was not, however, forgot toll free.

Or see your nearest NorthernTerr urn yraaiu ten by either the game export trade or the pet itory Govt Tourist Bureau. Or. see vour a tooa people in this country. The curious Travel Agent. thing about the animal was that while our SMH Good Living.

Tuesday, September 17, 1985.