Morse

Morse
Morse & friend

Sunday, 9 April 2017

Daylesford Autumn Dispatch - Sunday, 9th April 2017




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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