Daylesford Christmas Dispatch - Saturday, 25th December 2021

 
Thanks to Judi for this lovely Christmas Snoopy

It seems like a good idea to send this Christmas Dispatch a day early, as I will be in Melbourne getting ready for Day 1 of the Boxing Day Ashes Test tomorrow morning. We've walked the boys & are heading out to Cliffy's for hot drinks & socialising with local friends. Around 10am we'll pack the car, give Lewis & Morse giant marrow bones, and drive to Strathmore to share Christmas lunch with Leanne. 

When I last wrote, we were leaving Adelaide & driving home in one go. We got away at 8am & arrived back here at 4.30pm to find that Judi had left tomatoes, cheese, croissants, juice & home-made shortbreads to welcome us. We unpacked, got the loads of washing started & watched the cricket with hot drinks & yummy shortbreads. By the time I went to bed England had lost 2 wickets & all three loads of washing were dry. 

Judi had left some purple flowers as well & I added some of our many roses to the vase

On Monday, after sleeping well back in our own beds, we were up early - me to do Coles shopping & Wes to visit Yvonne, who had our fruit & vegetables ready for us to collect at her home in Wheatsheaf. While I put everything away, Wes collected Lewis & Morse from Creswick Kennels, where there was a drama as our EFT payment hadn't showed up in Janelle's bank account. I printed, scanned & emailed a copy of our bank receipt from Saturday & she let Wes take the boys with him. Usually money transfers in a matter of hours, but this hadn't occurred for some reason. 

Lewis & Morse were delighted to be home & kept licking & kissing us both. They said hello to Rob next door, got stuck into bones & then fell asleep in their comfy beds with not a care in the world. That afternoon we had a most successful Zoom with Mike & Linda in Hope Island - we wore our cricket yellows & they were decked out in Christmas attire.  

On Tuesday life seemed back to normal - we got up at 5.25am, got organised & headed to Lake Daylesford for a walk. Barry the Pom fisherman wanted to avoid chatting about cricket with us after his team lost the Second Test in the final session the night before. We encountered a few runners, but Morse was more relaxed than usual & apart from growling at ducks (useless animals apparently), he didn't bark or get distressed. 

I had an early chat with my aunt, Jeff, in Lincolnshire, wishing her a happy family get-together, and then talked to Leanne, who had lots to tell me about her week & preparations for our day together. She was delighted to see Lewis & Morse, and even happier when they collapsed with exhaustion & snored 😴😴.

After those chats I met Judi for breakfast at Muffins & More. We enjoyed a good catch up before I set off delivering thank you gifts to the staff there, to Luke at the Post Office, to Tim at Bi-Rite & to Steve who delivers our papers. That just left the Garbos & I set a Christmas bag up on the bins on Thursday morning.

Wednesday was my usual busy morning delivering old copies of The Age to Spring Park Nursery; leaving jam jars, Epicures & The Local at Porcupine Ridge for Nick & Robyn, and visiting Daylesford Cemetery to put fresh rosemary on Annie's grave, which now has a proper cover & amended gravestone. 

Next stop was Lyndal for a haircut & I was delighted to see last year's Christmas gift (a hand-painted small plate with red poppies) was on display with a candle burning. We had a great chat while she tidied me up and then I headed to Hepburn to see Juls & have my last manicure for the year. We had lots of laughs, but I was exhausted by the time I arrived back home, where Sandra had cleaned everywhere beautifully. Wes had been working in the back garden - weeding, mowing & trimming with the help of Lewis & Morse of course.

On Thursday, after our walk, I made a big batch of brandy butter to go with the Christmas pudding, before enjoying a good catch up chat with Kathy Lazzaro. We were making plans to meet for breakfast on Day 3 of the Boxing Day Test & chose The European, only for me to discover that it wouldn't be open, nor would it be serving breakfast any more. How disappointing - it is such a classy place to meet before the cricket. So we decided to go somewhere even classier & are meeting at One Eleven@The Windsor instead. 

That afternoon we had a lovely neighbours' catch-up under Glen's cherry tree - Rob & Dene catered lavishly, we all brought bottles of sparkling shiraz & Glen provided the beautiful setting of her shady garden. We exchanged gifts, toasted the future & Wes & I promised to host next year's event. 

Wes took this photo of me, Rob, Dene & Glen

Yesterday Wes collected the King Island crays, oysters & prawns that we had ordered from Peter at Daylesford Fish Supply. We ate the oysters last night and are taking the rest to share with Leanne for lunch today. 

Adelaide Summer Dispatch - Sunday, 19th December 2021

Sally was way ahead of her time, wasn't she!

I forgot last Sunday to talk about a quick stopover we had in Port Fairy on our way to Robe. We decided to get out of Port Campbell after I had spoken to Leanne by Zoom to wish her a Happy Birthday, and picked out Bank St + Co as our preferred location. We easily got seated inside & enjoyed stunning breakfasts - Wes had a most beautiful muesli & I opted for a meal that made me think of our dear friend, Jan Pengilley. I am sure she would have approved of dukkah spiced butternut pumpkin with poached eggs, sauteed greens & Persian feta. 

We decided to have a quiet day on our Sunday in Robe. After breakfast at The Adventurous Spoon, we headed back to our apartment for a rest. I still had Saturday's Age crosswords to do & we needed to work out how to get clothes dry in our combination washing machine/dryer, as well as reset the air-conditioner which I had buggered up when trying to move from Heat to Cool! Those things all solved, Wes went for a swim at the little Chinese beach near the Marina, where there is a monument to the 16,500 Chinese who sailed to Robe to walk into Victoria & avoid paying the landing fee. 

Afterwards we went for a walk along the main street & found The Black Swan, a quirky bar, where we tried a couple of South Australian gins. Hendricks still has nothing to fear, although my flowery gin was served with slices of orange, which was very refreshing. We came home via the Robe Chinese Restaurant, one of those set with spoons & forks, and we had to beg for chopsticks. However, our meals were yummy - Wes had duck & I had salt & pepper squid. We've been eating early - 5.30pm, as we don't have lunch after our substantial breakfasts. 

When we arrived back at our apartment, Wes managed to get rid of the closed captions which had been permanently on display, and while doing so, found Channel 7 & we were able to watch the Stars & the Renegades in an exciting Big Bash game. Our TV had Foxtel, but not the cricket station, which is very frustrating. 

On Monday morning, we got up at 6am again and walked along a track that took us past the footy ground & the golf club. We met a man leaving his home, who told us there was plenty of bore water as he put his sprinklers on. Later, he drove past us, stopped & told us about some lovely walks near the lighthouse. Barry is a retired crayfisherman & a very kind man.

We headed to Beachport after a light breakfast at the Union Café and fell in love with the place. There are beautiful little beaches everywhere, water to view from spots galore & plenty of exciting walking tracks. Many of the homes are old & have been looked after, and most of the locals appeared to own boats! We'd like to come back & stay, perhaps with a couple of Labs who would love spending time at the beach. 

One of our walks - to the Lighthouse - took us to this delightful vantage point complete with comfy kitchen chairs

On Tuesday, our early morning walk was along the backbeach area of Robe, near the Lighthouse. We enjoyed watching the waves crash in & thought of our days owning a holiday home at Blairgowrie with Sherryn & Paul Danaher. Wes had a swim at the front beach, while I chatted to Leanne on Zoom and then he prepared a yummy breakfast of tomatoes & avocado on toast. 

For our last night in Robe, we went back to the Black Swan, tried two Tasmanian gins (better) and sampled their Thai fishcakes & Chilli Prawns. We couldn't fault the food & would definitely come back here.

The next morning we did another walk, this time to the Obelisk (built 1855) and back around the Marina, where work was being done on the paths. We are so impressed with Robe - clean, safe, beautiful & the walking paths are well-maintained.

Our drive to Adelaide went well, with a delightful stop at a town called Meningie, near The Coorong. We went to Freshies Café, where we had hot drinks & slices of ginger & walnut cake, sitting outside looking out to the water. The Comfort Meridien Hotel leaves a little to be desired, but it is in a great location on Melbourne Street, with off-street parking. We walked to our favourite spot, Lotus Chinese Restaurant, which we have been visiting since our very first trip to the Adelaide Pink Ball Test back in November 2015. Wendy was thrilled to see us - she & her husband have been running their restaurant in this spot for 24 years!

On Thursday, we got up at 6am & drove the short distance to the nearest COVID testing station, as we had to have a follow up test on our 6th day in South Australia. It took 90 minutes from door to door & was very well organised. They only test one nostril here, so not quite as much pain as in Victoria. 

We had breakfast at The Flying Fig, a Jewish cafe nearby & enjoyed it immensely. We walked back to our hotel and prepared to set off to the Adelaide Oval. I thought I would check our tickets & they had all been cancelled! By the time I told Wes this news I had calmed down & decided we wouldn't be the only ones suffering this glitch. When we arrived at the ground, everyone was having trouble checking in as the sun was so bright. The attendants couldn't see the green ticks & the green vaccination certificates on our phones. After about 20 minutes of panic, we made our way to the turnstiles, only to discover a friendly young man ready to believe what happened to our tickets & let us in. We learnt later that both Ticketek & Medicare had crashed, making life very difficult for everyone. 

The cricket was slow to start with, but then Warner & Labuschagne got going & it was most enjoyable. We were amazed that Steve Smith got a standing ovation at the Adelaide Oval when he came out to bat - not sure that will happen at the MCG. The other surprise was the enthusiastic singing of our National dirge - taking hats off was not compulsory, but singing with gusto appeared to be!

On Friday we slept in after our long & stressful day and drove back to The Flying Fig for breakfast again, before driving to the Adelaide Market to get Wes a new pair of walking shoes. His boots had given up the ghost in Robe & he only had a pair of heavy boots to get him through. We were pleased with the lightweight, waterproof pair of Josef Siebel shoes we found that fitted perfectly. 

It was a stunning day at the cricket if you ignored the 38° heat. We cooled down with a Pimms at the dinner break and were grateful to be undercover and with the benefit of a slight breeze at the Riverview Stand end of the ground. 

Yesterday we made our final trip to The Flying Fig, where we both had the omelette & pots of tea, before heading to Rundle Mall to see if we could replace a few clothing items that were on their last legs. We were totally successful and came home to pack so we can get away early today. 

Our last day at the cricket was very entertaining, as,  after batting well for the first session, the Poms capitulated and were lucky not to be forced to follow on. We were surrounded by young men from NSW, none of them wearing masks unless they went to get drinks! Masks are mandatory but no-one was policing the rule except at the entrance & at food & drink outlets. Our SMS tickets finally worked, we had another Pimms to celebrate and thoroughly enjoyed our final hours in Adelaide.

A rare selfie taken under our favourite Moreton Bay fig outside the Adelaide Oval

Robe Summer Dispatch - Sunday, 12th December 2021

 

Another beauty from FB - I am sure that visitors to our place feel as though they are being frisked by our very friendly labs

We got ourselves in holiday mode last Sunday with a very yummy breakfast at Pancho, across the road from the Primary School. It is a tiny café with great service, a small menu & excellent food. I particularly enjoy their omelettes & Wes loves their bacon. We sat outside, which was OK as we were warmly dressed, unlike quite a few visitors to town who hadn't brought clothes for Daylesford's wintry mornings. Here are photos of Wes tucking in & me about to start!

That afternoon Wes took the boys to Creswick Boarding Kennels for their fortnight stay. Meanwhile I washed all their bedding, vacuumed everywhere & cleaned all their bowls in preparation for their return on 20th December. 

We spent Monday visiting Leanne to celebrate her birthday a few days early with her. She was delighted & we had fish & chips for lunch - a rare treat for someone who lives on their own. Wes helped her get her Christmas decorations up, while I did back-ups on her computer & reinstalled her printer which had gone offline.

On Tuesday, Wes cleaned the main & small deckings & applied two coats of the steel grey colour we think looks so good with our house. It was a big job & the weather wasn't helpful early, but the sun did come out & dry everywhere in time for him to get the second coat done. This is one of those jobs that is very hard to do when Labradors are trying to assist. 

We had a busy morning the next day before setting off - packed, cleaned up, put everything back on the decking, picked up prescriptions. filled up with petrol & had a COVID-19 test. This last activity was done very well - there is a category for Travelling Interstate, which means fewer questions, as neither of us had any symptoms other than my usual asthmatic cough. 21 hours later we had our texts telling us the results were negative.

Our drive to Port Campbell was very different from what we expected. There were roadworks everywhere in Ballarat and we follow the directions of our navigational guide. She eventually decided we must have wanted to travel on back roads & so we did, stopping for tuna & lettuce sandwiches & hot drinks at the Blue Yabby Café in Lismore. 

Our accommodation was OK - roomy everywhere except the bedroom, where the sliding door of the robes opened onto an ironing board, which promptly fell out. It was very French, with minimum space between the robes & the bed. We decided not to unpack & lived out of our suitcases on the floor instead, which I hate. The shower was hot & had good pressure, which made up for the dreadful bed with squeaky sheets.

We had a lovely walk around the town, ending up at the famous Port Campbell pier with its crane & long history of shipwrecks & rescues. All the while we were keeping an ear on the cricket - an amazing first day of the Brisbane Ashes Test with the Poms all out for 147.

That night we had dinner at 12 Rocks Beach Bar & Café, oysters followed by seafood pasta. The service was excellent & we tried a local
Timboon whisky & gin before enjoying prosecco with our meals. 

Our wonderful waitress, Lily, is in the background with our proseccos

On Thursday, we decided to go for a long drive on The Great Ocean Road. We had breakfast beforehand at Grassroots Café, which has rhubarb, nasturtiums & artichokes growing in its front garden.

We loved seeing The Twelve Apostles, as well as Loch Ard Gorge, and benefitted from small crowds everywhere as we are travelling before most people go on Christmas holidays. Unfortunately, I suffered from car sickness after a few too many kms of windy roads, so we headed back (again on back roads as there were more roadworks) to Timboon, to visit the Timboon Railway Shed Distillery. This was a wonderful experience - COVID protocols firmly in place & a smiling, friendly young man to greet us. We started with hot drinks and Wes moved onto their single malt Christie's Cut whisky, which he loved!

We decided to have a quiet day on Friday after a lovely walk along the cliff's edge and breakfast back at Grassroots Café. We took advantage of the free time to catch up with emails & were shocked to open one from Sue Flight, partner of Dee Bonavia, letting us know that Dee had died back in October. We met Dee when we were Insurance Brokers and loved our time spent with her. I'm sure everyone who worked at Maloney Insurance Brokers felt the same & will be sad to read this. Dee had cancer, which settled down for a couple of years, but then came back with a vengeance. RIP Dee.

Yesterday we listened to the Test as we drove from Port Campbell to Robe, where we will be until Wednesday. When we reached the South Australian Border, we were met by a delightful young policewoman, who checked all our credentials, streamlined the COVID protocols & directed us to Mt Gambier Showgrounds to get tested again. We drove in there about 15 minutes later to find no queues at all. This was our first experience of drive through testing & it went very smoothly. We are still waiting for results, but don't have to quarantine while we wait. 

Last night we ate an early dinner at Sails, which is the best place for seafood in Robe. Wes had a flounder with broccolini, and I enjoyed Ocean trout fish cakes with a Thai salad. We drank a bottle of Mr Rigg's Montepulciano. This is a lighter styled red wine, very Italian & perfect with our seafood. 

This morning we got up at 6am for a walk around the Marina & jetties. We are staying on the Marina itself, which is a beautiful position, although we don't have a view of the water from our room. We'll be off to breakfast soon & are planning a relaxing day.

Daylesford Summer Dispatch - Sunday, 5th December 2021

 
Not Snoopy, but thanks to FB, good for a laugh!

We thoroughly enjoyed the start of our week - after the Sunday Market, we came home, put everything away & were ready when our friends, Kathy & Ged, arrived from Burwood. They had been via the Sunday Market too, much to Yvonne's delight! We had time for a catch-up coffee before I drove us all in Pearl to the Convent Gallery, where we were booked in for brunch in the Bad Habits Café. We could not have wished for more - Beck Walker greeted us with a smile & showed us to a quiet table in the corner with views of the gardens; Marija popped in to say hello & give Wes a kiss for his birthday, and even Tina Banitska, the owner, came past with a tray of coffees. 

Ged, Kathy, Karen & Wes in Bad Habits café, about to attack our yummy breakfasts

After finishing brunch we headed for a tour of the Convent Gallery & were pleasantly surprised to find it still peaceful & quiet at 11am. The previous evening there had been a small wedding, and the bride, who did all the flowers, left them for everyone else to enjoy. We came back home via Wombat Hill Botanic Gardens, where everywhere was looking lush & green. Kathy & Ged stayed until about 1pm before they set off to meander home. What a wonderful time we all had together again!

Lewis & Morse chose to have a very disturbed night, which meant we took it in turns to pacify them, until Wes finally got up & dressed & sat in the lounge with them for an hour or so until they relaxed enough to go back to sleep. We suspect a possum was wandering around - possibly in one of Rob & Dene's oak trees, which caused Morse much distress & barking in the wee small hours.

On Monday, we had our last School for the year and spent it learning how to embed a Jacquie Lawson e-card into our Christmas email, writing the email & sending them off. Of course, I got carried away with my new knowledge & forgot to attach our Christmas letter, so had to send it all again - my apologies to anyone who wondered what had happened.

A variation on a theme - Morse & Lewis in each other's bed!

We've enjoyed Zooming with various friends & family during the week - I spoke twice with Leanne, caught up with Terry Borg, and spent time with Kathy & Karen - all on Zoom; while Wes chatted with Barbara twice; joined an ALP webinar; spent quality time with cousins; listened to an impressive interview by the Lowy Institute Think Tank, and even met with a few local blokes over lunch at the Royal Hotel to celebrate David Hall's 90th birthday.

Judi & I met up to play Mah Jong - my last game for the year. Sadly Dot wasn't well enough to join us and I managed to twice win the game with the last tile. If we had been scoring, that is worth heaps 🤣🤣 

Can't play Mah Jong without our pots of Jasmine tea!

On Thursday, Judi & I met again at the launch by Emma Ford of EKO's new range of signature products. We were very impressed with the new signage as we walked in, where we were greeted with smiles, non-alcoholic punch & mince pies, while we looked at the new products. We both bought some Christmas gifts and vouchers & had our photo taken with Emma... a bit like visiting Santa!

The next morning I headed off to Spring Park Nursery to collect some beautifully wrapped pots of Queen of Hearts petunias to give as gifts back to Emma, Sam, Marija & Juls - four wonderful women who have looked after me in various ways this year. 

Meanwhile, Wes spent some quality time in our back garden, mowing, trimming & getting everything shipshape to be left for 12 days while we travel to Adelaide, via Port Campbell & Robe, for the first three days of the Pink Ball Day/Night Ashes Test. When we requested permission to travel into South Australia yesterday, we were allowed, provided we had a negative COVID test within 72 hours beforehand. So we'll do that here before we leave.

This morning we've had a good long peaceful walk around Lake Daylesford with Lewis & Morse, who go into kennels this afternoon, which is earlier than they need, but enables us to spend time with Leanne tomorrow without worrying, and also lets Wes put a coat or two of stain on the main decking before we go. 

Roses flanked by Christmas reindogs