Another lovely day. Are they all like this in Australia I asked myself? It was a lazy start as our tasting tour guide was not due to arrive until 10.00. Sure enough, just before 10.00, ‘Roy’ drove up the hill to pick us up. There were already two young people on the minibus, Jess and Matt who proved to be knowledgable young companions for the day. The seven of us made up the touring party.

Roy took the oportunity during the drive to our first sampling house to be provide some background to the wine  making in the Hunter Valley which filled some gaps in our knowledge. The main wines made in the Hunter Valley are Shiraz, Saint Emillion and Chardonnay.

Our first stop was Mount View, where a young lady called Sarah encouraged us to sample the vineyard’s wine. I have to say my favourite taste of that on offer was the wasabi cheese which was excellent. The wines did not do a great deal for me, although to be fair they were much better than those experienced in the area previously! Roy was obviously well known to the vineyard owners and took us on a brief tour of the ‘behind the scenes’ wine making process. We saw shiny vats and new French barrels. I always feel this aspect of the wine making process makes one much more respectful of what it takes to produce a good glass of wine…….the vineyard itself was quite small and sold nothing to stores or retail outlets, relying solely on customers visiting the vineyard for its sales.

Our next sampling was done at the Ernest Hill vineyard. Here an older gentleman called Neville charmingly took us through the wines on offer. I found one of these much more to my taste and we learnt more about the taxing of wines which explained some of the issues about the reason the wines we were being offered in the Hunter Valley were so young.  To our taste they had reached no where near the maturity of wines available in England, France or Italy that we are used to.

Our next stop was for lunch at Emersons. Several of us opted for the prawn option which was better in the description than the reality! The wine offered was equally nothing to write home about. However we visited the delicatessen attached to the restaurant. They sold a number of prizewinning olive oils and dips and Keith bought some verjuice to his liking. It was then all aboard the bus for our next venue which was the champagne (equivalent) house, Petersons. Here a very sharp salesman took us through their range including a sparkling Pinot Noir which I though might have promise – I quite like a sparkling red – but sadly it did not match up to expectations. I did however purchase a pink diamanté trimmed ‘stubby’ for my personal use!

Bubbles were purchased for later in our journey and we were off to the Tulloch vineyard. This was by far the largest and most commercial vineyard we were to experience and it felt like it to a great extent. There was a much more prestigious party due to arrive and they were certainly taking precedence.

Leaving Tullochs we left wine for a bit and moved on the The Two Fat Blokes, which I understand to be something of a misnomer given that one fat bloke has sold his share and the other is no longer fat, merely a bit chubby! Here we tasted a number of local cheeses. They were ok but not exceptional. However, they did own a delicatessen what provided access to a good jar of humous which we purchased having no ‘whizzer’ with us to make our own!

Food buying over we struck off to our final vineyard. Gun Dog Vineyard. Here some brightly coloured plastic dogs made a rather startling appearance – in bright red and blue. Quite bizarre! However the wine proved to be some of the best of the day, so our tour closed on a high and with us all feeling very jolly, if a little jaded…….

It was then home with the various bottles (a surprising number!) that Roy handed over as the purchases we had accumulated, as we disembarked. Our post mortem revealed that we had all had a good day and that our view of the hunter wine region had exceeded expectations.

The brief evening was a little quiet and the house was in darkness by 9.00 pm.

We were off again! This time it was to start the trip that would incorporate a visit to Peter King, another of our Silk Road friends some way north west of Sydney.

It was yet another beautiful morning. Our sunny accommodation glowed gold with the sun pouring in. There was much gathering of equipment and Keith and I put the new bag together as our travelling luggage again. First stop was to be the Hunter Valley, the wine making region,  after we had stopped for supplies in the local shopping area. Supplies obtained we set off for the Hunter Valley.

It took quite a long time to get out of Sydney and its suburbs, which spread in an ever increasing span from the harbour. It is amazing to me how much the city has grown in less than two hundred years when you think how long London has been in existence! The other fascination is that every house is different. We saw no street of similar housing or the equivalent of the English ‘estate’ of housing by the same architect. The creativity in terms of design is remarkable. A number of the less exotic homes are in a sort of bungalow, single story style. However there is nothing of the home for the elderly about them which tends to be the English association with the bungalow.

Issues of architecture aside, we eventually left the housing and commercial buildings and we were out in the countryside again. We were back on the single laned highway, similar to that we had experience on our progress from Adelaide to Melbourne and Melbourne to Sydney.

a feature of the route to the Hinter Valley were the goods trains passing us carrying coal on the railway track running by the side of the road.  They seemed never ending   There are no nuclear power stations in Australia and surprisingly no solar panels  just coal powered electricity and miles and miles of coal trucks……..

Our first stop was for lunch. We had already passed a number of vineyards and passed rows of immaculate vines – scenes last seen in the Adelaide hills. Enzo’s the place we had been recommended for lunch had a cellar adjacent to it. Handy that! We set off for a wine tasting prior to lunch. This was surprisingly disappointing. The wines were very young and quite lacklustre. We tried white, rose and red. Nothing proved striking. All were very young. Keith and I began to realise that our northern palates looked for something more robust in terms of taste.  The lunch stop had some lovely flowers though!

We tried a couple of further wine houses through the afternoon. I passed on one or two but nothing compared to the wines we had tasted further south or those at home.

Eventually wined out, we arrived at the Cypress Lakes Resort an accommodation and golf complex right in the middle of the Hunter vineyards. It was ideal. We had a three bed roomed house complete with pseudo fire place with gas fire. We piled out of the wonderful people carrier with all the kit that Wendy and Sarah had put together ( they are amazing people to travel with) in addition to our shopping. We had anticipated buying wine from one or two of our tasting houses but this had not materialised, so we were lucky to have the supplies that had been put in ‘just in case’!

We had a jolly evening. Sarah and Keith cooked and we had a delicious variety of dishes. It was then off to bed. We had a serious wine tasting day ahead. A full day tasting tour!!

Our first day in Sydney dawned sunny and as I have already mentioned, Wendy and Sarah’s house is really sunny. We all had breakfast with almost haloes around our heads!

We then gathered for a walk around the Manly headland.  It was one of the most beautiful walks I have ever done – and I have walked one or two! We parked the car at the bridge and then set off. The harnbour area to our right was full of very expensive looking and exotically shaped boats.  They bobbed on the water with their metal bits sparkling in the sunshine.

We then gained the walk proper.  The route took us variously along tree lined tunnels and over gnarled tree routes, over laval rock and passed interestingly carved out boulders and then out on to promontories giving us superb views over the rich blue water beneath us that marked the entrance to Sydney harbour. The harbour itself was out of view around the bay.  It was glorious!

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Now again very healthy looking, bronzed ‘Yummy Mummy’s’ jogged past or rather impatiently stood back to let us get by. All were pristine in their white shorts and multi coloured tops, hair tied back, sunglasses looking skyward and talking excitedly about the issues of the day. Australia seems to breed a master race of long limbed lovelies who ooze vitality and fresh air.

Our route took us up and down – some of the path had been given concrete steps in other areas it was back to the rock   The spring flowers were beginning to be on show – most were new to us.  Some had wonderful perfumes.

Some of the trees looked very old and had bark that looked like elephants skin.

As we neared the town of Manly (named by a Governor who thought the aboriginal men looked manly can you believe) we could see the old ferry below us.  There is another one that looks like a dart and takes half the time but the older one got my vote,

The final few kilometres took us down on the sandy coves of Manly.   Designer houses reared up behind the beaches which we were told were full of people on sunny weekends.   There was an interesting incident when Keith used a rather exotic loo which played music to him and apparently gave him a time limit before it hosed him down in the interests of cleaning the whole loo – but I will draw a delicate veil over it  all I could hear from the outside was Keith chuckling!!!

the next thing to make us chuckle was the stencilled sign along the pavement telling us to beware of penguins……

There were of course no sightings!!

When we had completed the route we had walked about 10 kilometres and felt we had earned lunch on the waterside – we ate lobster and rolls with gusto!

lunch over we headed off to inspect the famous Manly beach which was quite beautiful with very few people on it and then headed off to the ferry.  Our journey took us across the bay we had walked around and then – incredibly – we were heading into Sydney harbour!  Ahead of us were the opera house and Sydney harbour bridge.  It was a bit difficult to take in.   It was awesome to be there – in the true sense of the word.

We landed just down from the bridge. As we came out onto the jetty a young man was playing a didgeridoo- hard earned busking if you ask me!

We wandered up through Sydney to the bus stop to catch the bus to where we had left the car.  With perfect timing the bus was just leaving and before long we were back I. The car and heading back to Curl Curl and home.

The evening saw us heading out again this time to Bangkok Betty’s for supper. It was excellent!  Another wonderful day on this amazing journey.

As the  breakfast in our accommodation sounded expensive we decided to leave Woollongon behind us and find something to to eat as we made our way to Sydney.  We were very pleased that we made this decision.  It was a beautiful sunny day and after driving not more than twenty minutes we came to Bouli Beach where the Cafe literarily on the sand served really interesting breakfasts. We tucked in to baked berlotti beans with chorizo in a pot with poached eggs and fresh orange juice. It was very good.

Thus revived, we set off to take the coast road to Sydney.  We had a lovely morning.  We stopped at several beaches.  Some were totally empty, others had a few people on them. At one we got out and wandered along the fine white sand and then sat on a rock and watched surfers – in one case a whole family – Mum, Dad and two small children with their own mini surf boards.  They looked totally fearless.  We saw a real collection of dogs of all shapes and sizes – all keen to please – just happy to be alive. There were children playing in the sand and retirees just strolling along the waters edge.  It was idyllic.   We then drove into the Royal National Park – the twisting road ran along the sea shore and then would turn away and become a tree lined road, gradually climbing up and then turning back to the sea.  It was beautiful.  At one point we came down towards a riverside.  We sat and watched the birds and the sun dancing on the water

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Then it was time to head to the city.

We were due to meet up with Wendy and Sarah at the airport and then we were going to wait for Helen to fly in from Alice Springs.  Luckily the airport is on the South east corner of Sydney so the drive in was not too onerous.  We just followed the airport signs. Thankfully the Hertz dropping off point was equally accommodating and before long we had abandoned the car and had all our worldly goods including a box of wine consolidated and with aid of a trolley headed towards the arrivals hall where, before very long, we met up with Wendy and Sarah again.  It was good to be together again.  We took our baggage back to the car – Wendy’s sister has donated her people carrier for our trip which is wonderfully large and comfortable – and set off back to the airport to await young Helen.  And then there she was!  It was great to see her again too.  The band was back together and ready for our next adventure!

The drive back to Wendy and Sarah’s house at Curl Curl took a bit of time, but also took us over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  There were people climbing up it!  Keith has said a firm ‘no’ to this opportunity so I guess we won’t be do it – not sure I would want to anyway!  Chattering all the way we eventually got to the girl’s house which is white weatherboarding and full of sunshine and light. From the top floor you can see the sea!  Fabulous!

A raucous evening ensued – aided by two bottles of champagne and several more bottles of wine………

The morning sunshine revealed that our upgraded status had provided a balcony in addition to our larger bed!  It was a shame we weren’t going to be staying long enough to use it! Nevertheless we appreciated the sentiment.

Our breakfast was perfectly cooked.  I ate my poached eggs, eyeing the mountain of food being consumed by the young man across the way.   The plate veritably groaned under the weight and it almost had to have extension boards on each side to hold it all up!  He was as thin as a reed of course!! I couldn’t help but have that ‘ah but wait until you are older’ thought pass through my head!! I am becoming Mrs Bouquet!

Breakfast over we left the good offices of Bateman Bay Manor and were able to see where we were – perched up on a hill with several other large establishments with drives as big as the lane we arrived down. This caused some initial confusion as we couldn’t get out of the area!! Stupid girl! When we found the correct route we crossed a rather attractive river with lovely reflections in it

Having overcome this early challenge, we wandered along to downtown Batemans Bay to see what it was all about.  What we found was a town with all the trappings of a holiday resort in a quite dramatic setting in that the sea appeared to come in through the town along a wide river.  A sort of huge inlet.  We drove up to a spot along the river side close two young men were fishing. The water in front of us was a bit odd in that it seemed to have fast moving wrinkles.  It took us a little time to realise that what we were watching were a ‘pod’ or a ‘school’ of Dolphins. (I had to ask for the collective term – my wordsmith did not fail me!) it was not very much later that our two fishermen starting packing together their equipment – the Dolphins were consuming all the fish in their path!

It was an amazing sight.  Another new experience on a trip that seems to give new experiences at every turn!

It was then back on the road.  Wendy and Sarah had recommended two possible stops on our journey as it is not too far in terms of Kilometres – what we had not legislated for was that it was Fathers Day in Australia.  This coupled with our getting closer to Sydney meant a lot more people around.  However the drive was delightful – the landscape more akin to Derbyshire than anywhere else we decided.  Soft rolling hills and green meadows.  Still the interestingly named creeks appearing at regular intervals.

Berry our first stop, was a very bustling town.  We arrived around lunchtime and it was buzzing.  We visited the bakers recommended and bought ourselves a couple of rolls and then, finding things too bustley we moved on to Kiama.  By this time the day had become overcast but we sat on the headland munching the rolls filled with delicious smoked fish we had purchased in Eden and watched some young lads practising their surfing manoeuvres in the bay below us.

Kiama being equally full of celebrating families we moved on to our last port of calll Wollongong  it was only a few kilometres away but we had the distinct feeling of getting towards the city.  We passed major road improvements, the highway had increased to two lanes and our creeks and tree lined roads were in the past.

Our accommodation was also back to ‘city fayre’ in that we had a suite of rooms with cooking facilities.  The good thing was that the sea was not far away and we wandered through a ‘family resort village’ to find the beach   Here we looked out on what tankers and container ships that must have been at anchor on the Sydney ‘roads’ waiting to berth in Sydney.   We were very close to the metropolis.  The sandy beach was empty except for a lone figure looking out to sea.

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We decided not to intrude on her contemplation and turned back to the apartment taking advantage of the limited supplies provided at the ‘resort’ shop for supper.

We then spent an entertaining of television.  The first Australian viewing we have done.  First a Grand Designs we had not seen and then the Australian equivalent of Strictly.  It was awful!!!!  We are going to have to report back to the Strictly Culture a club in Peckfam Bush that we have a far superior offering!!!

Les had already left when we got up, he had apparently just caught the 5.30 bus that would start his journey to Adelaide where he was to spend the next week doing some jobs around his daughter’s house.  At 8.30 when Darolyn arrived with her basket of breakfast goodies we had already been entertained by the Rosella parrots on the veranda – both adults and some youngsters who had yet to develop their red plumage. 

The breakfast was to the same high standard and magically produced in the little kitchen in the corner of the room. Throughout we chatted to Darolyn and heard more tales of the family and the highlights and one or two lowlights of running an establishment like Goldsmith’s in the Forest. While we were talking there was a lyrebird bathing in the pond just outside the window.  It was all fascinating and difficult to tear ourselves away from.   We must go back and stay longer – it is a real treasure of a location.  Sadly we had to move on.  There was a long drive ahead as our next stop was Batemans Bay –  the holiday location of the Canberra glitterati we were told, but it was nearly 400 kilometres away.

Reluctantly we said our farewells and after a brief call into Lakes Entrance itself with its black swans and attractive waterside, we were back on the Princes Highway, getting ever closer to Sydney.  The road continued its meandering, sometimes following the coast and sometimes somewhat inland.  We were constantly crossing creeks with very unlikely names, some recalling those early pioneers and some obviously in aboriginal language. The morning progressed into midday and then early afternoon when we reached a place called Eden where we had been told whales had been sighted.  It is apparently the time when they move up from their Antarctic habitat.  Eden is a big fishing port and we found a cafe where we purchased a fish sandwich a took it to the look out point on the headland.

As we were finishing our lunch overlooking the sea, a lady returning to her car next to us said that the white recurring wave just off the end of the promontory we were looking at was a hump backed whale.  Great excitement, but Keith even with his birthday binoculars was not prepared to commit himself to agreeing.  So we shall never know.  Perhaps we saw a whale, perhaps we did not.  Who can tell?  It was a lovely view anyway!

If you look very carefully you can just see a speck of white just off the end of the headland…….!

And so we drove on through the afternoon – the scenery was glorious.  As the afternoon progressed the tree lined road opened out and it looked more and more like the Lake District.  The drive is definitely a very close second to the Great Ocean Road for us.   It was beautiful – the route often crossing wider rivers as we got further north.  The sun was gradually setting to our left and the colours and reflections were amazing.  It eventually began to get dark and we were running through towns and more built up areas and around 6.30 we reached Batemans Bay but could see little of it in the dark.

Our accommodation was a hacienda style establishment a little way out of town.  I was pleased to get out and stretch my legs. Our hostess, Rhonda, greeted us enthusiastically (she had called at about 5.30 to confirm that we were going to arrive!) and was keen to tell us she had upgraded us at no extra cost – showing us our original room before taking us to our new upgraded ‘king sized’ location. Everything was absolutely pristine.

Knowing that the Batemans Bay Manor did not supply an evening repast, we had purchased some prawns at Eden and we dined on these with lemons helpfully provided by Rhonda.

The Bateman Bay Manor residents Handbook was an absolute hoot. It took the form of a book of regulations once you had read the ‘Welcome’ salutation!  Every situation was covered!  It was priceless – which the various items you could buy certainly were not. They came with a hefty dollar sign!

Nevertheless it was a lovely luxury after our long drive and our king sized bed even had a dual control electric blanket!

The day dawned bright over the city.

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We did did our final packing and George arrived.  Thank goodness for George!  We were able to stow our bags and, surprisingly, the still nearly full box of wine in his car and be delivered to the door of the car hire company and then to the tail gate of our hire car. Fantastic!  With big hugs of thanks and fond goodbyes (George is one of my favourites) he was gone and we were ready to start the next phase of our journey.

In actual fact we decided not to leave the city straight away but instead to take advantage of our close proximity to the Victoria Market prior to setting off.  It is vast and sells everything from crabs to racks of lamb, from bags of bones for the dog to spices and  from clothes to souvenirs – all were available if you cared to buy them   We wandered the stalls sniffed the spices, marvelled at the immaculately displayed meat and bought tahini paste in case humous is required in Sydney. All nationalities seemed to be represented. I think in the end we agreed with Paul about the South Melbourne market having the edge but The Victoria market certainly had its own charm.

Having had our market sighting, it was time to take on the Melbourne traffic again. In actual fact it was fine. A few twists and turns and traffic lights and we were out on the freeway and four lanes of traffic. Initially, as we passed the suburbs of Melbourne, business was brisk on the road, but as this was left behind the number of lanes diminished and the number of vehicles with it and we were soon bombing along the M1 merrily.

I have to say there is a lot of attention to driver fatigue here and even catnap areas to pull off the road, which as a great cat napper I find very sensible. Eventually the M1 turned to the A1 and it was just a single lane in each direction but still the enquiries about sleepiness continued. I was very impressed.

We must have pulled away from the car park in Melbourne at circa 11.30. Around 1.30 we stopped for our ‘snack’, the left over cheese and an apple from the apartment. Keith said we should have a ‘light lunch’ as ‘tea’ would be served where we were going. Now I am not sure why this was or proved to be so irritating, but it did. It might have been that ‘tea’ to me is cups of tea and cake. I do not like either. Although I was not happy and was irritated, I went along with it. Irritation, hunger and martyrdom are not a good combination. By 3.00 I was spoiling for a fight. By 3.30 I had stopped talking altogether feeling it was best for all concerned. By four I was ready to do a murder. Keith was unhappy with the silence but did not realise it was his best option….

Just after 4.00 we turned off the road onto a sandy track. ‘Harrison’s Trak’ as it was labelled.  Soon after a kangaroo hopped across our path we made yet another turn and arrived at the Goldsmith’s In The Forest. It was lovely. All irritation dissipated. Les and Darolyn (!) were lovely and met us as we drove in. In no time bags were removed from the car and we were ushered into their garden room that was their guest accommodation. We were to be the only ones there for the night. We passed the entrance hall with its internal log cabin sauna and the free standing bath tub and then were into the dining/sitting room, hexagonal with its four bedrooms coming off it. The view in front of us through floor to ceiling glass, was the tall natural trees of the forest with a grassy clearing in front of it accessed, through glass doors,  to a deck where beautiful red plumed parrots waddled and picked up seeds.

A true room within the forest. Aboriginal paintings and Les’s photographs of some of the birds and animals with whom they share the property adorned the walls. Chatting all the time Darolyn disappeared behind a screen to what proved to be a minute kitchen area and produced the ‘tea’. This proved to be biscotti and macaroons and buns, yes, but with tastes never experienced before. They were all from the forest or from her garden. Lemon myrtle, macadamia, orange and lemon. Nothing sweet or creamy. They were delicious and I felt totally ashamed of myself. Keith had researched and found this little bit of paradise, not wanting to tell me about it, but keeping it as a surprise and I had behaved like a spoilt child. Hmmmmmm.

Anyway, no time for dawdling and recriminations (anyway Keith was looking a bit smug!) we were whisked off for a walk around the forest with Les as our guide after Darolyn had shown us around the special trees she had planted and used in her cooking from her garden area. Nearly all had had their lower limbs decimated by deer, kangaroo, wombat and any number of creatures who had seen her efforts as an invitation to dine. Poor woman. She just laughed,  but it was the frustration of years battling with the wildlife. However, a solution was at hand. A huge area of the garden was in the process of being fenced and netted off and new trees were being planted. We have seen these areas before (Ross and Jenny had one in Adelaide). We were later to learn that a hard won inheritance had allowed this and other developments to take place on the property.   Previously they had just fought a daily battle.

It was a great perambulation as we wandered along paths paved with a soft but bright green moss and Les told us of the early settlers to the land who had found it so difficult to make it habitable. At every few yards he stopped to tell us about a tree or crunch a leaf for us to smell or taste. There were all sorts of wattle trees, laurels of different types and, I thought surprisingly, bracken that looked very British, but is apparently native. Les told us of how the aborigines had used the trees and plants, the issue of fire and trees that lose their bark, we had sightings of birds – there were a lot of owls and parrots – and we saw evidence of wombat burrowing – it was a lovely walk and very interesting.

Les and Darolyn have lived on the 60 acre property for 35 years and brought up two children there. They were both primary school teachers but gave this up to run Goldsmith’s in the Forest. Darolyn having taken herself off to Melbourne to train as a chef as part of the venture.

When we got back it was dusk and the logs that Les had thrown on the huge log burner in the sitting room had roared into life. Les withdrew and left us to a lovely sofa in front of the fire to read about wombats and look at the other interesting reading about the place. It was lovely.

At 7.00 they returned with a basket of supplies and while Les chatted as he lay the table Darolyn in an incredibly short space of time cooked us an amazing meal. John Dory with a potato stack of dauphinois potatoes, thin whole carrots, celeriac cream, asparagus and sweet potato crisp garnish accompanied by home made ‘music’ bread and soft rolls. This was followed by individual date and walnut pudding home made lemon mousse and macadamia ice cream with a sauce to die for. It was unbelievably scrummy.

Having eaten and chatted our way through this and Darolyn and Jenny finding themselves kindred spirits on the food stakes, our hosts adjourned as discretely as they had arrived and we were left to the cracklings fire and the sound of frogs…….. It was very special.

it was quite a bright morning first thing but quite cool as we headed off to the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground)  to meet with Helen and George. The boys were going for a tour of the ground (it is vast and holds 100,000 spectators!) and the sports museum while Helen and I did a tour of the young Australian designers fashion shops.  We left them very excited in the safe hands of a volunteer called Malcolm, decked out in a vey posh striped jacket, who was to be their guide and we scampered off towards the Fitzroy area.

We had a real girly amble along the designer shops. Mostly the shops were filled with everything in all shades of black and grey. We got very excited when we found someone with some colour in their collection.  It was a rarity. There were some marvellous designs – all made for the woman of 7 ft 6ins and above!  We visited a wonderful jewellery designer – as Keith says, we save a fortune because my ears aren’t pierced!  The other shop that really impressed me was the hat shop. Inside was an extremely dapper chap, beautifully turned out wearing a splendid hat.  We chatted hats with him and found that they made some of the hats at the rear of the shop. Apparently you just can’t get tricorn hats any more?!  I can only guess there is not so much call for them as there are fewer pirates about……  Always good to know where to get them wen you want them though, isn’t it?

On from here we headed back towards the city where I was chuffed to realise I recognised a few places!  We stopped for Helen to have a coffee and later I paid a lovely Irish man to clean my boots. He made a wonderful job of them – I felt quite ashamed of their dusty state before!

By then it was time to meet up with the chaps again.  We had agreed to meet at Movida as we had enjoyed such a great meal there earlier in the week.  Again we had lovely food there.  Unfortunately H has a very bad cold and I don’t think she got the best out of it.  I think George enjoyed it though and we certainly did. We felt rather abashed that they paid, but it was lovely of them

It was then time to say goodbye to Helen.  We will see George again as he has kindly offered to take us to pick up the car on Friday which is a real boon.  Helen and George are determined to return to Europe, but sadly at this stage they cannot leave her elderly mother, so it could be a few years until we see them again.

As it was still fairly early in the afternoon, after a quick visit to the information centre to get a map for the next phase of our travels,  Keith and I decided to go to the Ian Potter gallery to see an exhibition of Indigenous Art and were pleased we did. It was excellent.  There have been no sightings of any aboriginal people Melbourne.

The first picture is made of barbed wire and rusting bits of metal – and obviously a tribute to the aboriginal struggle  the second is a war mask –  a thing of beauty but no defence against the white man’s gun.

We we then set off for our last walk along the river to Richmond and it was home to get the dreaded bags and bags in order so that we can be as consolidated as possible for collection on the morrow.

We woke up to good news regarding the seat launching ceremony in Tollesbury in that it had gone well.  Curly’s perch has been declared open. An excellent result.

We were up very early to go to the South Melbourne market to purchase the ingredients for the meal Keith wanted to cook for Al For dinner.  I felt a little out of place in my bright orange cardigan amongst the blacks and greys of the city workers on the tram. However, despite being inappropriately dressed, we reached the market well before 9.00.

It is not the biggest market in town, but we were advised (Mr F again!) that it was the place to go for fresh food shopping. And so it proved. The meat, fresh fish and vegetables were superb and K was spoilt for choice in terms of what he should cook. In the end decisions were made, ingredients were found and purchased and we could stop for a bijou breakfast.

We found an even quicker tram route back and were soon swinging along Swan street with our bulging backs, with Keith itching to get his stock going. A rather domestic day ensued  in the apartment which was quite good as it had started to rain.  Keith cooked and I blogged and popped out for last minute purchases. Richmond feels very much our patch now.

by the time Al arrived (carrying what was very much a gamp rather than an umbrella) all was ready and we broke open the second bottle of champagne that he had very kindly bought on his first visit.

The evening took a very similar form to that of his previous evening with us –  except the food was much nicer!  More reminiscences of larks and antics and lots of laughter.  I think the pair of them were probably very naughty boys.  Al is still saying he is going to return to the UK but I wonder……

I adjourned early to leave them together. I wonder if we will ever see Al again……

We were up with the lark or perhaps it is the Noisy Miners here. George and Helen, friends we have stayed with frequently in Europe are looking for a new home in Melbourne and came to go out to breakfast and then go to see the house they are thinking of buying.   They are currently renting in the Fitzroy area so are not far away.

They came up to view our establishment which was showing itself at its best with sun pouring in all the windows. We then took off for the local bookshop cum Cafe in Swan Street around the corner where we all had eggs in various forms and with various accompaniments while we talked over what had happened since we saw them last.  There was a lot to catch up on!!

Breakfast over we strolled in the sunshine to their potential new home.   We had no arrangements to go in,  but Helen was keen to see whether it’s patio area would catch the winter sun.  We were able to see it from a number of angles, but it was difficult to identify exactly how much sun would be seen and when.  Having exhausted our speculation they came back to the apartment for some reviving water and for Helen to get a sighting of The Opal ring which I have not mentioned nor seen for some time myself.   It is beautiful!!

While we were discussing the house and it’s features, the estate agent rang to say that as a special concession she would be willing to let them visit the house again while the sun was shining (I think she is sweet on George!).  So Helen Keith and I went off to meet her.  I think George was sorely missed but he had a car registration issue to attend to.

The house was very modern, with a great deal of exposed concrete.  I think the architect had experienced real enjoyment in designing it –  it really optimised the light and space and had two courtyards opening out from rooms that would be fun in the summer  it also had a fireplace.  There were several bedrooms and the whole thing was beautifully presented, The sun poured into the house and to some extent onto the upper courtyard – I guess it would do it more in the summer.  It had a lot of charm.  it is to be sold by auction at the weekend, so even if they want it there is a chance they will be outbid  I would find that very difficult if it was something I had really set my heart on.  I guess it is in the hands of the gods

At this point we left Helen, having arranged to meet at the MCG on Thursday so that Keith and George can tour the cricket ground and Helen and I can go off to do girlie things .  We booked ourselves a table for dinner at Richmond Oysters said to be one of the best sea food restaurants in Melbourne on the way  (again Fanthorpe recommended!)  and toddled home for a break before our afternoon outing to the Botanical Gardens.

The sun shone as we set out across the river to the Gardens. They were lovely – as was the bride who it seemed had just got married there.    We came across the men just putting away the bridal arch and silver chairs that had obviously transformed the Melbourne botanical gardens on  a Tuesday afternoon into a wedding location.  Elsewhere a party of Japanese ladies kept disappearing into the undergrowth as they got up close and personal with the shrubs to have their photos taken.  It takes all sorts – I was fascinated as they emerged with nits of leave and sticks attached!

We had our usual effect on the hot house plants in that the greenhouse had closed two minutes before we got there, ditto the cafe, but we loved the new fern grotto  the light was just extraordinary. The stag ferns though we’re not a patch on those we had seen in Jenny and Ross’s garden

Being Spring the camellias were out and other exotic Spring flowers.  A treat of an afternoon stroll.

Our meal at Richnond Oysters was equally successful.  It was really busy and we were fascinated by people eating huge platters of sea food and following it up with paella!  Amazing!  We had a drink to Curly’s Perch which was being inaugurated at the same time in Tollesbury and hoping that the rain held off for the celebration.  We were sorry not to be there.

Our final excitement of the day was a telephone call to Justine and booking Coco and Micky to take us to the zoo in Sydney before they fly off to Adelaide to spend their holiday with Jenny and Ross which will be popular with all concerned.. Coco has a birthday before they go that will be fun not to say a little raucous no doubt!