Daylesford Dispatch, Wednesday 16th March, 2011

Our bed in Trincomalee the day after the swans!

Dear Friends, my last Dispatch was written on Sunday and after our relaxing day, we had a wonderful seafood barbecue on the beach with our driver, Neel. The food was great – lobster, seer fish, prawns, octopus and we washed it down with a light French Shiraz and Wes gave Neel the wine lesson, which he really appreciated. The next morning we had a yummy breakfast of fish curry, string hoppers, egg hoppers, sambals and fresh fruit, followed by curds and treacle – no need for lunch! Neel took us to see a famous old Buddhist Temple, we stopped to photograph the deer, drove to some hot mineral springs (Daylesford has absolutely no competition as far as mineral water goes), and visited the Hotel Nilwali, where we stayed with Judi and Jane in 1979 and had a lovely time. It has been modernised of course, but we recognised it easily and were able to have a cool drink on the beach.

With one of the many friendly deer we encountered on our way to the Buddhist Temple

The rest of Monday was spent relaxing – Wes had hoped to take Neel out snorkelling but the sea was too rough and the boatman refused to go to Pigeon Island. We were very impressed with everything about our hotel – the staff is friendly, knowledgeable and helpful and one of them told us that the management is fantastic and everyone loves to work at Chaaya Blu. We had Sri Lankan curries again for dinner that night with Neel and arranged an early start in the morning for the big drive to Nurawa Eliya, the tea area.

 Neel & I

After another yummy breakfast we headed off with a few stops along the way – the Juice Factory is an oasis of wonderful juices made from organically grown fruits (although I had lassi to drink as it hadn’t been offered anywhere else we had been – Wes & Neel enjoyed avocado juice). The Factory is situated on an organic farm, which grows the fruit, vegetables and plants, as well as offering organic eggs and is on the outskirts of Dambulla. Shortly after that stop, we found ourselves at the famous Buddha Rock Cave and Golden Buddha Temple and Museum.  Neel had forgotten to mention to Warren that his knees needed to be covered, and told neither of us that we would be climbing 120 steps plus some steep inclines in the heat. We advised him that he should always warn his passengers of these things, especially as you pay 1,200 rupees for the privilege. Neel found a sarong for Wes to wear; we removed our shoes and socks and hopped over the hot sand until we reached the cool of the old Cave. There are plenty of Buddhas to see and it is well-maintained, which made visiting the 5 areas a pleasure, although we are both always delighted to put our shoes and socks back on again.

We stopped again in Kandy to cash some Australian dollars – an easy thing to do at the airport, but rigmarole at banks, then continued our big drive. The road was good for most of the journey, but the last 43kms were on windy roads, and our hotel was another 14kms beyond that on a goat track! We finally arrived at 6pm, where we were greeted warmly, given a sweet fragrant tea, anointed and allowed to go to our room, which has stunning views on 2 sides of the plantations all around us. We were quite emotional as we drove through Nurawa Eliya – it was a special place for us all in 1979 – we had our first massages at the Grand Hotel, which still stands, opposite the golf course, where we used to walk daily into the town to get short eats for lunch.

The Tea Factory Hotel this morning on our walk

Last night we decided to eat in the restaurant, which was quite OK, although the food was not as yummy as Trincomalee. Neel was born in this area, so he was seeing friends for dinner and we had an early night – not as early as we would like as hotel restaurants don’t seem to open until 7.30pm! Everyone is happy to talk about the cricket and they are all confident Sri Lanka will win the World Cup.

Today we gave Neel the day off to visit family as we have another big day of driving tomorrow, followed by a half-day safari and a drive to Colombo on Friday. So we awoke early to see the plantations shrouded in mist and enjoyed breakfast watching it lift. At 10am we joined three French people for a 2-hour walk around the plantations learning about tea-picking and spotting various birds. We all got soaked to the skin when it suddenly rained, but we have dried off again, after a refreshing pot of tea in the tea lounge. I drank organic green tea, which is easily the nicest green tea I have ever tasted, while Wes had orange pekoe, of which they are very proud. Even though we are in the home of beautiful teas, I am carrying my tin of Jasmine tea around with me as the tea that is served in the restaurants is not Ceylon’s finest and everyone is fascinated to watch me put the leaves in the teapot and stir them around before drinking. They all want to examine the tin and smell the leaves – it’s a good talking point.

Shortly we are heading downstairs to the spa, where I am having a 90 minute herbal massage and Wes is having a 90-minute Balinese special massage. Then we plan to sit in our room and watch Australia play Canada, indulge in G&Ts and perhaps have some of the many cricket flavoured snacks that are being offered by room service. We won’t have much access to computers over the next couple of days, so don’t be disappointed if we are not in touch. We will be thinking of everyone in Daylesford tomorrow and hope the sun shines for Averil’s funeral.

Dear Friends, my last Dispatch was written on Sunday and after our relaxing day, we had a wonderful seafood barbecue on the beach with our driver, Neel. The food was great – lobster, seer fish, prawns, octopus and we washed it down with a light French Shiraz and Wes gave Neel the wine lesson, which he really appreciated. The next morning we had a yummy breakfast of fish curry, string hoppers, egg hoppers, sambals and fresh fruit, followed by curds and treacle – no need for lunch! Neel took us to see a famous old Buddhist Temple, we stopped to photograph the deer, drove to some hot mineral springs (Daylesford has absolutely no competition as far as mineral water goes), and visited the Hotel Nilwali, where we stayed with Judi and Jane in 1979 and had a lovely time. It has been modernised of course, but we recognised it easily and were able to have a cool drink on the beach.

With one of the many friendly deer we encountered on our way to the Buddhist Temple

The rest of Monday was spent relaxing – Wes had hoped to take Neel out snorkelling but the sea was too rough and the boatman refused to go to Pigeon Island. We were very impressed with everything about our hotel – the staff is friendly, knowledgeable and helpful and one of them told us that the management is fantastic and everyone loves to work at Chaaya Blu. We had Sri Lankan curries again for dinner that night with Neel and arranged an early start in the morning for the big drive to Nurawa Eliya, the tea area.

 Neel & I

After another yummy breakfast we headed off with a few stops along the way – the Juice Factory is an oasis of wonderful juices made from organically grown fruits (although I had lassi to drink as it hadn’t been offered anywhere else we had been – Wes & Neel enjoyed avocado juice). The Factory is situated on an organic farm, which grows the fruit, vegetables and plants, as well as offering organic eggs and is on the outskirts of Dambulla. Shortly after that stop, we found ourselves at the famous Buddha Rock Cave and Golden Buddha Temple and Museum.  Neel had forgotten to mention to Warren that his knees needed to be covered, and told neither of us that we would be climbing 120 steps plus some steep inclines in the heat. We advised him that he should always warn his passengers of these things, especially as you pay 1,200 rupees for the privilege. Neel found a sarong for Wes to wear; we removed our shoes and socks and hopped over the hot sand until we reached the cool of the old Cave. There are plenty of Buddhas to see and it is well-maintained, which made visiting the 5 areas a pleasure, although we are both always delighted to put our shoes and socks back on again.

We stopped again in Kandy to cash some Australian dollars – an easy thing to do at the airport, but rigmarole at banks, then continued our big drive. The road was good for most of the journey, but the last 43kms were on windy roads, and our hotel was another 14kms beyond that on a goat track! We finally arrived at 6pm, where we were greeted warmly, given a sweet fragrant tea, anointed and allowed to go to our room, which has stunning views on 2 sides of the plantations all around us. We were quite emotional as we drove through Nurawa Eliya – it was a special place for us all in 1979 – we had our first massages at the Grand Hotel, which still stands, opposite the golf course, where we used to walk daily into the town to get short eats for lunch.

The Tea Factory Hotel this morning on our walk

Last night we decided to eat in the restaurant, which was quite OK, although the food was not as yummy as Trincomalee. Neel was born in this area, so he was seeing friends for dinner and we had an early night – not as early as we would like as hotel restaurants don’t seem to open until 7.30pm! Everyone is happy to talk about the cricket and they are all confident Sri Lanka will win the World Cup.

Today we gave Neel the day off to visit family as we have another big day of driving tomorrow, followed by a half-day safari and a drive to Colombo on Friday. So we awoke early to see the plantations shrouded in mist and enjoyed breakfast watching it lift. At 10am we joined three French people for a 2-hour walk around the plantations learning about tea-picking and spotting various birds. We all got soaked to the skin when it suddenly rained, but we have dried off again, after a refreshing pot of tea in the tea lounge. I drank organic green tea, which is easily the nicest green tea I have ever tasted, while Wes had orange pekoe, of which they are very proud. Even though we are in the home of beautiful teas, I am carrying my tin of Jasmine tea around with me as the tea that is served in the restaurants is not Ceylon’s finest and everyone is fascinated to watch me put the leaves in the teapot and stir them around before drinking. They all want to examine the tin and smell the leaves – it’s a good talking point.

Shortly we are heading downstairs to the spa, where I am having a 90 minute herbal massage and Wes is having a 90-minute Balinese special massage. Then we plan to sit in our room and watch Australia play Canada, indulge in G&Ts and perhaps have some of the many cricket flavoured snacks that are being offered by room service. We won’t have much access to computers over the next couple of days, so don’t be disappointed if we are not in touch. We will be thinking of everyone in Daylesford tomorrow and hope the sun shines for Averil’s funeral.

Above, we are soaking wet walking down from the tea plantation & the clever use of bottles to stop soil erosion

Daylesford Dispatch, Sunday 13th March, 2011

Our bed when we came back from breakfast this am in Trincomalee

Dear Friends, I thought I would try and get a Sunday Dispatch typed up and sent to you to let you know that all is well and that we are enjoying ourselves enormously on this trip. When I last wrote, we were heading off to visit Viva and arrived with a big bouquet of lilies from our local florist. We had a great visit, and, although Viva is still without air-conditioning, it seems as though her claim has made it to the top of the pile again and perhaps action will happen this week.

We spent the remaining days until leaving on Friday getting everything in order – Wes cleared his desk, we backed up everything we could and attended our last Rotary, U3A, Strong & Hydro classes for some time. We managed to eat nearly everything in the fridge, with a little help from the boys, and gave ourselves the whole of Thursday to pack. Sadly we discovered that our friend, Averil Dickenson, had died unexpectedly that morning, after recovering from a life-threatening issue. She had been in hospital since before Christmas, had fought to stay alive and when the battle seemed won, she suddenly died. Judi, in particular, is very upset, as she and Averil had formed a lovely friendship in a very short time. We had planned to have dinner that night at the Farmers with Judi, Michael & Glenn, so it gave us a chance to reminisce and give Judi some support. Wes is one of the executors of Averil’s will, but Jeff Bain will have to manage until our return.

On Friday Wes walked the boys early with Judi, then we closed our cases, packed them and the boys in the car and drove to Eureka Kennels, where Bilbo and Frodo did their best not to look too excited! Then off to Strathmore for a quick farewell visit with Viva and Leanne. My brother Peter and his wife, Anka, have been in Melbourne this weekend, so they were planning on seeing Viva today, which she was thrilled about. As well my sister, Paun, her husband, Brian, and their youngest son, Rohan, are all coming to Melbourne from Tathra and will be visiting Viva on Tuesday. It is sometime since Viva has seen them all and she is very excited.

We decided to put our car in Andrew’s Airport Parking and save ourselves $100 car parking fees. We used to use them all the time and it was lovely to be greeted with a smile, driven to the airport and deposited at Singapore Airlines with another smile and a cheery farewell. We were into the Business Lounge in no time at all and settled down to bubbles and sandwiches for late lunch and a read of The Age.

Our flight to Singapore of about 8 hours was most enjoyable, although the plane was an old one and not as comfortable as the next leg. We had a 2-hour stopover there, freshened up, and I took the opportunity to read about Collingwood’s win in the NAB pre-season Cup. The AFL had sent me quarter by quarter scores, but the game was well & truly over by the time I saw them. Danny had also sent me the final score which was very thoughtful, and the next day, he let us know about Black Caviar’s record-breaking win at Flemington.

We arrived at Colombo just after midnight (5.5 hours difference) and were met by our lovely driver, Neel, who is 29 years old and therefore was not born when we first visited his beautiful country.  The whole country is excited about the World Cricket Cup and we passed life-size cardboard cut-outs of each nation’s best player as we walked off the plane – Shane Watson was our representative. Unlike that earlier visit, the car is a brand-new Hyundai, and we couldn’t believe how good the roads are! Neel drove us to a welcoming hotel, Wallawwa, about 20 minutes from the airport. This was very comfortable and we were sorry to be spending only 8 hours there – no sign of a railway line and service was prompt and smiling, unlike our first hotel in 1979, where we couldn’t sleep for the noise of the trains and the discomfort of the beds, and where our request for orange juice in the morning took an hour to be filled. Wes enjoyed egg hoppers and chicken curry for breakfast, while I made do with an omelette as everything else had meat with it.

Our room was the first on the left and there were orange carp in the pond you can see

Neel picked us up at 9.30am and we drove all day until we reached our hotel, Chaaya Blu, in Trincomalee. We had various adventures along the way (250kms) including Neel being fined by the police for passing 2 vehicles, instead of weaving in and out and passing one at a time. We stopped by the roadside to drink coconut milk from King coconuts; we had a late lunch in a typical inexpensive restaurant with buffet offerings which we washed down with ginger beer. We were pulled up at a roadblock, but once the police realised we were Australians, here for the cricket, they smiled and waved us on. The last 43 kms of our drive were like the Sri Lankans roads of old and it took forever, swerving around potholes, all made worse by the floods last year.

Our current hotel is also beautiful and looks just like the photos on its website. Our room looks out onto the beach, there is a comfortable day bed outside the room in the shade, where Wes has spent most of the day since we enjoyed a long, leisurely Sri Lankan breakfast of string hoppers, fish curry, dhal and sambals, finished up with curd and treacle – yummy! Neel has the day off and we are meeting him at the seafood restaurant tonight for dinner. Wes has gone to have a massage, while I try to paint a picture of this lovely place we are in until Tuesday morning, when we drive to The Tea Factory Hotel in Nuwara Eliya. Apparently the road there isn’t too good either, but it will be worth the discomfort.

Our bedroom before the swans arrived

I was too tired and not hungry enough for dinner last night, so Wes and Neel enjoyed a quiet meal together while I did crosswords, read, answered the door to people wanting to clean the room, and finally fell asleep around 9pm. Wes was home shortly afterwards and we both slept through until 7.30am which was just what we needed.

I will put the link to this newsletter on Facebook, as so many friends are getting in touch that way. It has been fascinating to read David Castles’ descriptions of Sri Lanka circa 1986 when he travelled here and had a very different impression of Nurawa Eliya than we did. Tomorrow we are going out in the morning with Neel to see what should be seen here, then I think the afternoon will be free, so Wes can battle the waves again. There aren’t very many people here and our view of the beach is uninterrupted.

Thanks to everyone who has been in touch already – it is lovely to hear what is happening at home, or in New York if it is Jane and David Knox.

Daylesford Dispatch - Saturday, 5th March 2011

Dear Friends, another Saturday Dispatch, as we will be driving to Melbourne immediately after breakfast tomorrow to visit Viva. We had hoped to see her yesterday, but she was too tired, so we are making a special trip tomorrow instead. She celebrates her birthday on Tuesday and we can’t be there on the day, but a visit two days early will be welcome.

We are loving Autumn here – cool nights and mornings and beautiful days – the roses are flourishing, the fruit has ripened and been eaten by Labradors or birds except for about a dozen pieces that we rescued, the silver beet and basil are prolific and the zucchini are about to take over the garden. The tomatoes are ripening slowly, but the chillies are showing a reluctance to participate in all this activity.

Dinner at the Flower Drum with Ian & Robyn 2006

Since I last wrote we have been busy as usual and sadly spent too much time indoors booking footy tickets, answering emails, paying bills, reconciling bank accounts and backing up data. Wes gets into the garden a little more than I do, and he did tidy up under the house, filling our bin with rubbish and making it much easier to access everything. We discovered that we are completely out of still wine, so we will have to remedy that!

We have been to see ‘The Social Network’, which we loved and were pleased to see that it did well at the Oscars, as well as the play Apologia’, which we did not enjoy, although dinner with Ian & Robyn beforehand in the Curve Bar was lovely and made up for the play’s shortcomings. We had dinner with friends, Al & Elli Barnes, who have taken on parenthood of Bella, who is now 19 months. Her mother is unable to look after her and they are now her guardians and official parents. We shared an interesting evening chatting about all the obstacles they have faced and are overcoming, as well as enjoying some homemade pizzas. Bella, surprisingly, took to me – most young children much prefer Warren, but any thoughts I have of converting her to the Pies would be very misplaced, as the Bombers deserve her support in honour of all Al & Elli are doing for her.

Wes and I have both suffered bad headaches during the week – most unusual for us and took to bed with Panadol and managed to sleep them off. Sadly we missed Rotary, a Strong Class, and U3A Morning Tea. However, Wes was well enough to enjoy the Men’s Lunch at Sailors Falls Estate on Thursday in company with 25 other blokes.

Porcupine Ridge 2003

Yesterday was spent in Melbourne – we met up with Doug Walsh, Joy & Russ Dale, at the Fitzroy Garden Cafe, opposite the Exhibition Buildings, which was hosting the World’s Longest Lunch (try getting a park in Nicholson Street while that is going on). After a good discussion about the 2010 Premiership and the 1990 Premiership (you can imagine how delighted Wes was with this), we settled down to a serious chat about Rotary projects in the Philippines. Doug is now considered the Australian Rotary expert on the Philippines and he is finding that quite a burden, so wants to enlist Wes and Russ to help spread the load.

After lunch, we drove to Ascot Vale, where we spent a lovely afternoon with Robert and Marilyn, catching up with them and some of their news. We love spending time with them, as anyone does with old and true friends. Then home again where the boys were waiting eagerly for dinner. Judi and Michael had been away in Ocean Grove for three days to celebrate Judi’s birthday and it was great to hear from them that they had arrived home safely. As well, an electrician rang Wes to see if he could visit Viva, and she reported afterwards that all her wiring is OK, which should surely mean the air-conditioning can be fixed at last.

This morning we did the early shift on one of the best Farmers’ Markets we can remember – everyone was in good spirits, smiling, greeting friends or making new ones, complimentary of the produce available, understanding that Red Beard Bakery and Meredith cheese couldn’t be in two places at once (they are both in Melbourne for the Food & Wine Festival), reminiscing about yesterday’s Longest Lunch in Musk, which was held in the Musk Schoolhouse Gardens, created and owned by Stuart Rattle. We sold lots of bags, gave away plenty of leaflets on the Market and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Then Barbara, Warren & I went to Gracenotes Café for breakfast, before we headed back here to tackle today’s issues. I managed to delete the back-ups on Quicken, so have had to recreate the last month of transactions – eek!

Anthony, Jessie, Dante & Chiara Mammino at Dante’s 4^th birthday

The next Dispatch will come to you from Sri Lanka (I hope) as we are heading off on Friday for a month away. We haven’t been back to Sri Lanka since we were there in 1979 and missed the births of Heath Preston and Matthew Spiteri! We are hooking into the Cricket World Cup, but will spend a week in Sri Lanka ourselves before meeting our co-travellers and seeing Australia play Pakistan on 19^th March. Then we have a short break in the Maldives, back to Sri Lanka, then onto Mumbai for the Final and finally a few days at Raffles in Singapore before flying home. Wes is busy checking all our paperwork which arrived yesterday. We will spend the cricket leg of our tour with our dear friend, Norma Hutchins from Freo, and meet up again with John Schibli, the tour organiser, and Murray Holderhead, who we also met on our first tour. Keith Stackpole is the resident celebrity – definitely our vintage and we are looking forward to meeting him. Sadly Jane & David Knox are in Canada on a lovely holiday incorporating snow and New York, and Terry McDonald is off to New Zealand – we will miss all three of them, and hope to make new friends from the small group of cricket lovers we will be joining.

I will try and keep in touch via email and will upload my Dispatch onto the current blog - www.karenmaloney5.blogspot.com –so if you are not hearing from me and would like to know what is happening, please log onto it. We don’t have a camera at present, so unless we purchase one before we go, photos will be from our phones and intermittent in download ability. While we are away and the boys are in Eureka Kennels, Judi will look after our mail, the street bins, and check the house, as well as raid the garden for produce; Barbara will have spare copies of passport information and our ‘What to take in the event of a fire bag’; Ian Tinetti may do a new back fence; Jonno will mow the lawns and tidy the garden, and no doubt all the wineries we support will send us boxes of wine! This week will be spent packing, getting tidied up, visiting Viva and Leanne, sharing a last breakfast at Café 3460, as well as having cuppas with various friends to say goodbye. Enjoy your week and we’ll be in touch again as soon as we can.

Jane, Wes & Judi in Sri Lanka 1979



Daylesford Dispatch, Saturday, 26th February, 2011

Dear Friends, it seems like ages since I sat down to write to you and let you know what has been happening with us. We have had a trip to Tathra and Sydney, which we managed to do in ‘’Teddy5” – we decided not to pack much as the boot just holds a medium size suitcase, a laptop and a briefcase. Everything else needs to sit behind the seats or on the floor at our feet. Before we left on Tuesday, 15^th February, we spent time at Dot and John’s house, helping their wonderful family to celebrate his 70^th birthday. On Monday afternoon we drove to Ballarat and dropped the boys at Eureka Kennels, before meeting Judi and Michael at the Melbourne Theatre Company to see ‘’A Behanding in Spokane’, which was a mystery to me. Wes enjoyed it, Judi and Michael thought it was OK, but I couldn’t get onto the wavelength at all.

We drove all day Tuesday, through lots of roadworks, some the result of the recent heavy storms in Victoria, others regular maintenance. Wes spent a lot of time on the phone as we were still trying to get Viva’s water damage claim on QBE’s radar, with the help of Andrew Mengyel at OAMPS and John Smith, our friend and insurance broker. We got to Tathra at 5.30pm, checked into our  Tathra Beach House motel unit and went straight to Paun and Brian’s home to catch up with whoever was at home. We were in luck as Warwick and Rohan were both home as well as Paun & Brian and Warwick cooked a barbecue, which enabled Paun and Brian to sit and chat with us. It was lovely to see them all again and Brian was particularly pleased with his Tigers’ t-shirt that we brought him.

The perfect breakfast spot in Tathra

The next morning we slept in and had a late breakfast at Cliff Place Café where Paun was able to sit with us and chat most of the morning, which was wonderful. The view from the tables is stunning and it is hard to drag your eyes away from the changing scene. We relaxed during the afternoon by reading The Age, then had dinner with everyone, plus Brian’s brother, Jack, and his wife, Pauline, at a good Thai Restaurant in Pambula, where we were joined at 9pm by Liam, who had driven up from Melbourne. He was in Tathra for less than 24 hours, so we felt very lucky we were there when he was, as he is studying Environmental Engineering at Wollongong University

Rohan, Liam & Warwick – brotherly love!

The next morning we had yummy breakfasts at the Café again and Paun and I chatted, while Wes fielded more calls re Viva’s claim. In the afternoon we visited the Bega Cheese Factory, which was a fun thing to do and we were able to get some cheese for Paun that is only available at the Factory. It rained constantly, which was good, although we didn’t enjoy the humidity that accompanied the rain. I had washed some underwear which wouldn’t dry in Tathra, but did once we got to Sydney.

That night we had dinner in the Café – we had invited Warwick and Rohan to dine with us, and were joined by Jack and Pauline. Paun and Brian did the cooking, their waiter, Paul, made cocktails and poured the wine, and another table of diners came in while we were there. We were most impressed with the menu and enjoyed our dinners very much.

We checked out on Friday morning and had a last breakfast and chat with Paun and Brian before driving to Manly, which took us until 5pm. Once again we drove through lots of roadworks, but we got the good news that the tiler had been and fixed Viva’s roof, which meant the air-conditioner could be repaired as soon as the spare parts arrived. We stayed at ‘Q Station’, the old Quarantine Station, which was a stunning location with wonderful views.

Our bedroom which looked out onto bushland and water

Dinner that night was at ‘Whitewater’ restaurant in Manly, where we caught up with Terry McDonald and Jane Knox. The restaurant had a great location overlooking the beach, but lacked a maitre d’, as we discovered when we asked our waitress to tell us about the cheeses on our platter. She started reading the menu, then asked another waitress to take over. This waitress decided to get ‘Gary’from the kitchen and he arrived at our table with the announcement that  Í don’t like cheese myself’.

On Saturday, we decided to have a sleep in and low-key day as we were quite tired from all the driving. It was very humid, our room had no air-conditioning and we found it difficult to sleep. Breakfast was included in the tariff and served at the end of our ‘Second Class Patients’block. We caught the ferry from Manly over to Circular Quay, where Wes saw ‘True Grit’and I watched ‘Black Swan’. We met up afterwards for oysters at the Sydney Oyster Bar, where the service was delightful and we sat for ages over our cheese platter and wine. On the ferry, we met with 4 very interesting Yanks (Kentucky and West Virginia) and Wes gave them some great ideas for where to eat that night. When we got back to the Q Station, there was a breeze, so we sat outside our room reading Saturday’s Age and I was thrilled to solve both Friday and Saturday cryptic crosswords. We had hoped to watch the footy, but there was no Foxtel, so we saw an old ‘Jonathan Creek’ episode instead.

On Sunday, we were up early for breakfast and Wes had hoped to have a swim at the beach, but it was far too hot and humid, so we read Sunday papers at the Guest Lounge,where there was a good breeze and we could be in the shade.

Still not over the Grand Final it seems!

That afternoon we drove to Neutral Bay (thank God for the GPS), where David Knox’s 60^th birthday party was in full swing. We joined family and friends for drinks on the patio with stunning views of the harbour and bridge, before we walked down the hill to ‘Basil and Mint’ Thai restaurant for dinner. Terry McDonald joined us there and we enjoyed a lovely meal and some good speeches by David’s brother, a sister, his daughter, Emily, and finally David himself.

It was another hot night, so we decided to sleep with the doors open which allowed whatever breeze there was to get in. We had noticed another couple had done that the night before and decided it was the way to go. We certainly slept better.

We got on the road by 9am the next morning which meant we missed all the heavy traffic and had a good drive with the usual roadworks and phone calls, including one from Sam and Pam Esposito who were in Daylesford wanting to catch up with us. We had decided to stay overnight at Rutherglen, so headed straight for Cofield Wines, bought some Durif and Shiraz and booked into the Tuileries Complex, where we had a beautiful comfortable suite with a gorgeous view. We had dinner in our room as we were too tired and dirty to frock up for the restaurant!

Similar room to ours with view of vines

We drove home the next morning feeling refreshed after our good sleep and had time to put loads of washing on before driving to Ballarat to pick up Bilbo and Frodo, who had been washed and were waiting axiously for our arrival.

By  Wednesday we were back in the swing of things – I had an early Dr’s appointment, then caught up with Carol, Dot and Valerie for a morning of Mah Jong, while Wes took Barbara for a big shop at Coles and hot chocolate afterwards. That afternoon we held the first meeting for the 2011 Rotary Arts Show at our place, where we had a good turn-up and everyone seems keen to make a big success of this year’s Show. Then we went to Aperitif at Al and Kathy’s place, before heading to the Daylesford Bowling Club for Rotary, where we were addressed by a local artist, Jackie Gorring.

On Thursday morning I drove to Strathmore to visit Viva, who still is without air-conditioning, but the house was cool and she was in good spirits. We had a lovely few hours together while Leanne had appointments. In the meantime a technician from Hewlett Packard turned up at our place to repair my computer. What a relief – after nearly 3 weeks I have it back and nothing was lost. I spent most of the afternoon on the computer and then ironing, while Wes went to Woodend to the dentist. We had invited Judi to dinner as Michael was away in NSW, but realised we wouldn’t be able to feed her until late, so she and I met up at the Farmers Arms for a chat and had dinner with Wes when he arrived back. Beautiful meal and Catalina Sauvignon Blanc to accompany it.

Yesterday was very special – we had lunch at ‘Star Anise’in Kyneton with Ian & Robyn Robinson, and Gayle and Fraser Gibson. The Robinsons provided a wonderful array of special wines and Chris our maitre d’ looked after us as you would like to be looked after, while his wife, Emma, prepared a beautiful three course meal. This is a seriously good restaurant, small and refined and very interesting. We didn’t leave until 4pm, which was a sure sign of a successful event!

Chef Emma at Star Anise

Needless to say we had a very quiet evening trying in vain to get the footy on the radio and having to make do with the delayed telecast on Channel 7. It was worth the late night as the Swans played very well after a slow first quarter, but the Pies went up a gear in the last quarter and won in the end. Today Wes has spent all morning in the garden, mowing and trimming and getting everywhere looking under control again. I am supposed to be doing my bit by picking fruit that the labradors have left for us and restaking the tomatoes, but I have been on the computer after going shopping early. Must get out there and pull my weight!

Wes at 12 Scott Street on Christmas Morning 74 

Daylesford Dispatch,Sunday 13th February 2011

Karen & Wes in Hong Kong 1994

Dear Friends, apologies again for any glitches in this Dispatch, as I still don’t have my computer fixed. Wes has been complaining to Hewlett Packard and doing everything he can, but so far we haven’t been told where & when to take the computer. As well, Viva and Leanne are still waiting for an assessor to come and okay their water damage claim. At breakfast this morning, our friend, John Smith, who is an Insurance Broker, offered to expedite the claim and we were thrilled to take up his offer, especially as Melbourne is expecting warmer weather during this coming week, and we are worried about Viva being without air-conditioning.

Breakfast was a fun affair as usual with lots of good stories by John & Jan, who are having a camera installed in their ensuite (by the police) to spy on suss neighbours; Glenn is trying to get John to go camping and bike riding with him; Judi & Michael are hoping to get their driveway fixed after the recent storms; Barbara was extolling the virtues of MyStar; Wes, Karen, Barbara, Judi & Michael were all praising the virtues of Eureka Kennels to persuade John & Jan to consider them when they next go on holidays and are looking for a home for Gypsy.

There has been a big change in our little bit of Duke Street  - Lisa Lee, who lives at the start of the street has sold a large block of land behind her, which was full of pine trees. The new owners are planning to build units, so all this week, we have been listening to the sounds of trees being felled and now when you drive up Houston Street, instead of seeing forest in every direction, there is a big patch of sky. I guess a few units are going to increase the vehicle traffic as well, which is already too much for our street to bear. All the Lake House staff have taken to parking here,and today, when they are holding their Regional Producers’ Day, visitors have parked almost to our front door.

Banner provided by Daylesford Rotary to the UK Rotary Club

We’ve had a most enjoyable week – Wes played golf on Monday – I was feeling tired, so pulled out and had a sleep-in instead. He and Barbara played Chess in the afternoon, then he cooked us dinner that night. We played golf together on Tuesday with Michael, where Wes played very well, made 4 pars and won both trophies. That afternoon he and Barbara went to hydrotherapy, while I enjoyed a massage. Strong class followed by 10 holes of golf can be quite exhausting!

On Wednesday I played Mah Jong with Carol, Dot and Valerie, then had my nails done, while Wes spent the morning scanning photos, working on his family tree, and tried to expedite Viva’s claim. That afternoon he drove to Melbourne to collect Danny and go to see Jon Stephen’s partner, Justin, in a one-man show at Chapel on Chapel. Wes stayed the night at Danny’s place and the two of them watched DVDs and enjoyed a bottle of red wine when they got home from the performance.

The next morning I walked the boys after Strong Class and Frodo found a fishing rod and bucket of bait hidden in the bushes around Lake Daylesford. When the fisherman returns he will find the bait has vanished, but the rod is intact. Meanwhile Wes had breakfast at Abbotsford Convent with Anthony Starkins, our financial advisor, then visited Viva on his way home here. I had been to Rotary the night before,where President Lesley presided over a most successful Forum and we were able to air our views about the format and layout of Rotary meetings.

Justin, Jon & Wes after the Show

Judi and I had lunch together at Culinaria and enjoyed catching up – something that happens very rarely these days. She is on so many committees, just as I have scaled down my involvement after years of participation. Nicole arrived on Friday to give me a well overdue haircut and henna and that night we watched the first of the Round Robin NAB Cup games, where Melbourne beat both Adelaide and Port Adelaide to progress to the next round.

Yesterday  I drove to Melbourne and took Danny to see Carlton,Collingwood & Richmond play their Round Robin at Docklands. We had dinner at Westlake beforehand and enjoyed our night along with 40,300 other supporters. It was quite late finishing and we got to bed close to midnight. This morning I was up early to drive back here in time for breakfast, where Bilbo and Frodo were annoyed that their usual Sunday routine of market and celery-eating hadn’t occured, although they did enjoy spending the night on their mattress next to our bed.

There will be no Dispatch next Sunday as Wes and I are heading off to Sydney via Tathra on Tuesday morning. We are visiting Paun, Brian, Rohan & Warwick in Tathra for 3 days, then arriving in Sydney in time to help celebrate David Knox’s 60^th birthday. Fortunately, Jane’s father is much improved and will probably be living with them for a while, so we will get to meet him, as well as David’s siblings and other friends.



Daylesford Dispatch, Sunday 6th February, 2011

Lovely photo of Damien Murray holding Patrick – first grandchild for Squiz & Jan

Dear Everyone, apologies in advance for any inadequacies in this Dispatch – I lost the use of my computer during the recent storms, so am typing this on the laptop, which is Vista, and not quite compatible with all my Windows 7 stuff. However, if that is the worst that happened to us, we have escaped lightly. Wes has driven to Melbourne this morning to assist Viva and Leanne – they have water coming through a downlight in the bathroom, the ceiling is full of water, the flashings have disappeared and the air-conditioner isn’t working anymore. Wes is hoping to ring the OAMPS claims department from their place and get things going quickly without needing to complete a claim form. Fortunately the rain has stopped, which will minimise further damage in the roof.

We’ve sweltered in the heat most of the week like everyone else and are mightily relieved to be feeling cold again and needing the heater on this morning. Thank God for the cricket, which has kept me sane – I do enjoy listening to the ABC, doing crosswords and keeping an eye on the action – takes my mind off the humidity – and the Aussies are doing well. I am looking forward to seeing Cameron White captain Australia for the first time in a One-Day International Game in Perth, in the final game of this interminable series.

We have played golf twice this week – on Monday morning before the heat set right in, and again on Tuesday, with Terry. I was lucky enough to win both trophies that morning – I have a fair handicap, but we play skins which means I was the beneficiary of 4 drawn holes at one stage and I beat both boys in my own right on the 10^th hole, which was quite a thrill.

Carol and I spent a most enjoyable morning on Wednesday playing Mah Jong and chatting together, catching up on a few weeks of news. Dot was unable to join us as her mother, Cath, has been quite unwell, but I saw Dot this morning and her mother is much better. Valerie was in Melbourne seeing ‘Don Parties On’, but we all hope to be together again this Wednesday. Rotary that night was entertaining with an interesting speaker – Doug May, who runs Captains Creek Organic Wines.

Wes & the boys outside Café 3460

On Thursday Wes spent most of the day scanning old photos and sending them off to the friends who are in them – he has been putting them up on Facebook as well, which has attracted some amusing comments. I decided to try and finish the Book Inventory, which means carrying down some very heavy books from the Reference section of our library. Instead I discovered I had lost some of my earlier work on the Fiction section, so redid the bits that were missing instead.

That night Wes and Barbara went to Melton to the Trots, which was a Rotary District fund-raiser. They took Joe & Glenda with them and met up with Bronwen & John Scarffe and Lee & Russell Manning. It seems as though they had a great night together. Glenn Mack had invited me to dinner, so we went to the Farmers Arms that night, where we enjoyed a lovely meal and a good chat and met the Israeli parents of Clare, one of the owners of the pub.

The rain was pouring down on Friday, so there was no chance of golf with Michael. I stayed in bed reading the paper, then spent some time with Sheila Hollingworth, at a newish café in town called ‘Culinaria’. I was most impressed with the lively atmosphere, and it seems that it is filling a need for most of the Howe Street shop-keepers and visitors. That afternoon, Wes and I watched two Big Pond DVDs – ‘Defiance’ which dealt with a group of Jews who hid from the Germans in the forest during World War II, and ‘Alice in Wonderland’ with Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, which was beautifully shot and most amusing. I am glad we saw the films in that order, as ‘Defiance’ was a little more violent than I usually like to see.

Greta & Harry at Celia’s wedding

Yesterday we were due to be on the gate at the Farmers’ Market, but when we arrived just before 8.30am, we discovered the Market had been cancelled as everywhere was too wet. We decided to have breakfast and went to ‘Culinaria’ as nowhere else much is open at that time. We enjoyed a yummy breakfast of scrambled eggs, trout cured in vodka and beetroot, served on a homemade bagel. Wes was most impressed and we bought some Portuguese custard tarts to take to Glenn’s place where we had been invited for dinner. Of course, we rang all the other Rotarians who are involved in the Market to let them know that it had been cancelled.

On our way home, we did some shopping, met numerous friends in the street, and dropped in to see Joe Rozen, who had been briefly hospitalised the day before. He and Glenda are off to Vietnam for three weeks on Thursday, so he is under strict instructions to take his medication, drink plenty of fluids and be well enough to go. Wes then spent about an hour on the phone to HP providing proof of ownership of my computer and arranging for it to be repaired. We will have to take it to Ballarat tomorrow, but it looks as though it is purely the replacement of a part that is meant to bear the brunt of any burn out. Fingers and toes crossed!

Last night we enjoyed a lovely meal with Glenn – he had a surfeit of prawns,which he served lightly fried in a coconut flour batter, with coconut rice and a shredded cabbage salad, with a loaf of ‘no knead’ bread to start. We polished off the custard tarts, but agreed that Linda Gillies makes the best ones we have ever had!

Lauren & Travis at Celia’s wedding

Karen with Danny’s brother, Mick, talking about Collingwood!