Poor Snoopy!
When I left you last Sunday, we were preparing for our week's holiday. By the time Wes arrived back home from dropping Morse at Eureka Kennels, it was 11am and we decided to head to Melbourne & find somewhere nice for lunch on our way. We had hoped for Chinese but our pick in Carlton was fully booked, so we walked on & found Criniti's where we enjoyed chili prawn risotto (me) and butterflied King Prawns (Wes).
We drove on to Cremorne, near Richmond, to our accommodation, where we have a lovely light corner apartment with views of Gosch's Paddock. It took Wes 22 minutes to walk to the MCG and be admitted, which was probably the highlight of his night as Carlton were totally outclassed by Essendon after a promising start.
Meanwhile I was rejoicing that all 10 of my favourite instruments made it into the ABC Classic 100, although I prefer the violin to the cello, which was voted number 1. I started watching the footy, but moved across to the cricket where Scott Boland removed Virat Kohli, the biggest threat to an Australian win, and then Jadeja, who always digs in. It was a good win for the Aussies, who had made a sporting declaration to give the Indians a chance to win. However, being crowned International Test Team of the Year means nothing if we can't beat the Poms in this Ashes series.
The next morning, we went for a long walk around the area, which is not somewhere we often visit these days & eventually found ourselves at Riché, where we had a breakfast worthy of Daylesford's best - chili scrambled eggs with feta, crispy shallots & chili jam on toast. Wes had the chorizo with his. The dish is called Had a Big Night Out!. We went for a further walk around the parklands and spotted Wes's nephew, Leon, sitting on a bench near the Punt Road Oval. It was great to spend 20 minutes with him before he headed off to catch up with mates at a nearby pub, and we went back to our accommodation for me to get ready to go to the MCG.
Although we didn't manage to beat Melbourne, who dismantled our game brilliantly & should have won by a few goals, not 4 points, I had a great day at the footy. I started by spending time with old friend, Margaret Nolan, and her daughter, Judith Ward. Margaret & I first met in the 80s at Collingwood and we've kept in touch ever since. Then I was able to have a short chat with Gayle Gibson, who was looking very comfortable on a Long Room couch, but was, like me, nervous about the game. Finally, after the Big Freeze slide, I spent time with David Lazzaro, and caught up with some of his news. I had a great seat with an excellent view and was very proud of our fightback, which made the Demons supporters around me turn pale!
Wes and I headed off at 8.15am the next morning to drive to Canberra and had a pretty good run, although we encountered rain for most of the trip. We arrived at our accommodation in Kingston around 4.30pm, where we spent the next 4 days. Our room wasn't as large as I had hoped, but it was clean, serviced and all the staff were friendly & helpful.
That night, after a rest, and while it was still early, we walked back to the Kingston hub and enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Portia's Place, where Wes indulged in a dish of shredded duck, and I tried the seafood with mustard sauce.
The next morning, we walked to the shopping area & chose Penny University café as our breakfast spot. It was very popular, without being memorable, except for our waitress, who answered yes to every question and then had to backpedal - perhaps it was her first week.
We had timed entry into the Australian War Memorial so headed off there, where we received amazing assistance from the staff & were able to spend 2.5 hours mostly in the Vietnam & World War I areas. We haven't been back there since our visit to Gallipoli, and it was sobering to read about that campaign after being at the site of so much slaughter.
We hadn't made any plans for the afternoon, so went back to our accommodation for a rest and another early dinner, this time at Sammy's Asian restaurant by the foreshore.
The next morning, we met my sister, Pauleen, AKA Paun, and her husband, Brian, at Walter café, overlooking Lake Burley Griffin. We hadn't caught up for some time & it was wonderful to spend time together. The staff were very understanding, and allowed us almost two hours at our table outside in the sun. Brian went off to work & we took Paun home to their new apartment in Parkes, where we chatted for another three hours.
After an interlude at Kodiak bar, we had an early dinner at Bui's Vietnamese restaurant, where Wes ordered the roast chicken special & I had chili prawns. The food was great, the staff even better, and it filled up quickly with locals. It is BYO, which keeps the prices down.
Wes enjoying the roast chook, which was a huge, but very yummy dish
Paun was free again the next morning & booked us into a fascinating place called Tilly's Devine Cafe in Lyneham. This was originally a Women's Only place, but over the years the need has lessened, and men are allowed. It still feels like a comfortable & safe meeting spot for anyone, and we were able to sit and chat for ages without being asked to leave.
Lovely photo of Paun at Walter, with her birthday gift from her sister, Leanne
That afternoon we visited the National Portrait Gallery, which is always a great experience. Neither of us had seen Fred Williams' portraits before, and there was a small, but excellent section on aboriginal art called Thinking of Someone, Something. We still had lots of energy left, so drove to Mt Ainslie for stunning views of Canberra, and then to the Black Mountain, where the Telstra tower was closed for renovations and we couldn't do a tour.
We visited Kodiak bar again on our last night. It also felt like a safe space, and there were groups on women catching up both times we were there. Neither of us was feeling particularly hungry after all the wonderful Asian food, so we hoed into a dish of chips with parmesan & spring onions.
Yesterday morning, we set the alarm for 5.30am, left at 6.30 & arrived back here just before 3pm. We had an uneventful drive, except for mist & fog for the first three hours, stopped in Holbrook for tea & toasties, and changed drivers at Rest Places, which were all clean & equipped with toilets & seating areas.
After unpacking and getting three loads of washing done, we finished off our holiday with fish & chips for dinner watching the footy & cricket, both of which were riveting, and awoke this morning to find Richmond had won, and the Aussies had rallied, in particular, Usman Khawaja, who is unbeaten on 126.
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