Dear Friends, it has
really felt like Autumn this week – cool nights & mornings, followed by
warm (but not too hot) days. The roses are starting to bloom again & I have
planted snow peas in the box that contained the cucumbers.
We have enjoyed a very
social week. On Monday, we had lunch together at ‘Jackie’s on Vincent’, where
we were beautifully looked after by Lisa & Jackie.
The next day was lunch
at ‘Boathouse Daylesford’ with Judi, Michael & Danny. It was great fun
& we sat in a table by the corner, eating, drinking & laughing for 3
hours or so. The mussels here are sensational, and Wes & I can’t go past
them, especially with calamari beforehand!
Judi, Michael, Danny & Wes
I also spent a night
in Strathmore with Leanne, as we had a few things to achieve together. Smokey,
the cat, doesn’t bat an eyelid when I arrive and apart from losing one of his
favourite spots on Viva’s bed, doesn’t seem to be inconvenienced in any way.
We were thrilled to
have a visit from Michael, Linda & Lauren Kirby at the end of the week.
They stayed at ‘Double Nut’ self-contained accommodation, owned by Glenda &
Joe Rozen, which put them right in the heart of things. Wes met them late on
Friday afternoon for a drink at ‘Wine & Country’, and returned home in time
for a most exciting game of footy, where Collingwood was fortunate to beat the
Sydney Swans by a point at the SCG. Unexpectedly, David Lazzaro was at the game
with Jessica & Daniel – what a game to see! Jane & David Knox were
there with their friends & Jane was kind enough to send congratulations to
me even though she would have been feeling quite exhausted & upset at the
end.
We started our morning
with a walk around the Wombat Hill Botanic Gardens, which Mike & Linda loved.
Bilbo was pleased to have their company as well. Here we are posing at the
iconic vision that was the opening of the show ‘Bellbird’ for so many years.
Our next stop was ‘Larder’,
where Martin greeted us warmly, congratulated me on the Pies win, and looked
after us with very yummy breakfasts. As we were heading to Tuki for lunch, Wes
& I were reluctant to indulge in our usual meals as we wouldn’t have felt
like eating until dinner time. I tried the rice pudding, which was delightful
& light, and Wes had the muesli, which he declared a winner.
Then we set off on a
tour through some of the villages of the Hepburn Shire – Eganstown, Blampied &
Smeaton on our way to Clunes. All three were taken with Clunes & in
particular the main street, which they could easily envisage as a film set.
Presently, a remake of ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’ is being partially shot there,
but there was no sign of the set when we drove through.
Since Wes & Brian
have been going out most Fridays looking for iconic images of the Hepburn Shire
villages, Wes has even more stories to relate & he drove us through some
amazing countryside, pointing out where aborigines had been massacred; where
large townships had existed briefly during the gold rush, and where families
had been farming for generations. Lauren was keen to see sheep and fortunately
we passed some alpacas & emus as well.
Fishing at Tuki –
Lauren, Mike, Linda & Wes
The Kirbys just loved
Tuki – we had a ball watching them fish – Mike caught 4, Linda 1 & Lauren
had a beauty on her line, but it got away. Rob & Jan Jones looked after us
brilliantly as usual & we had a perfect table behind glass with endless
views of sky, mountains, volcanoes & water. The trout were perfectly cooked
& everyone else tucked into the Tuki lamb & beef as well.
Wes drove us home via
Maldon, where we stretched our legs, wandered into a few shops & had hot
drinks in ‘Le Sel’, where those with room, indulged in a cake or pastry. It was
pouring rain by then, much to our delight, as we are desperate for rain &
there are 10mls in the gauge this morning.
We drove back home
through Franklinford, Mount Franklin, Dry Diggings & Hepburn Springs,
before dropping Mike, Linda & Lauren back at ‘Double Nut’. They had planned
to return to our place later for wine, bread & cheese; but when the rain
was pelting down, we all decided to cancel that so they could stay warm &
cosy where they were.
We watched the footy
until it was time for bed, and both evening matches were most entertaining. Freo
beat the Doggies, appropriately, as they were the last team to beat the Doggies
last year. Richmond had a good win over West Coast, Geelong were too good for
Melbourne and Adelaide prevailed in the Showdown against Port Adelaide, which
was a complete sellout at the beautiful Adelaide Oval.
Bilbo & I are
about to head off to the Sunday Market in the gentle rain, before going to
breakfast. Margot will be joining us again today after recovering from her
recent operation and David Castles is hopeful of getting there with Bam Bam as
well. The Kirbys have a 12.30pm flight home today, so we are not expecting them
to have time to join us, much as it would be lovely to see them once more
before they go.
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