On the Road Again- Trip to Melbourne

 We had a family wedding in Melbourne so it was time to shake off COVID anxiety and head to Melbourne. It was a bit of a logistic nightmare as we had to drag Bill away from his birds and find someone to feed the dogs and the birds. Amy and I drove down on Thursday, stopping off overnight at our favourite bed and breakfast, Amberesque, in Rutherglen then heading on to Belgrave in the Dandenongs, where we had hired a house to stay. Bill flew down on Saturday afternoon and flew back Sunday night. We organised friends of ours, Emma, Noah and Adele Stuart, who love birds and were happy to come over Saturday night and then Sunday morning and Sunday night and look after the rest of our family.

Main street of Rutherglen- it is a lovely town with beautiful buildings

Lovely walk around the local waterhole

Our favourite B&B in the main street

Amy enjoying her kiwi fruit parfait with hokey pokey ice-cream for breakfast

We got to revist more favourite haunts including The Yarra Valley Chocolaterie!

We picked up Amy's friend Steph from Belgrave Railway Station who came out to stay with us for the night, it was lovely to catch up with her. Dinner was a grazing platter from stuff we picked up along the way down.

Chocolate Dessert Platter

On our way out to the airport on Saturday afternoon we called into a plant shop called Collectors Corner in Braeside. Amy was in plant heaven.

Good Friday Easter Picnic

 We had our annual Good Friday Easter Picnic at Lennox Gardens again. It was a foggy start but then a lovely sunny day. Gary and Arlene were visiting from Melbourne so it was lovely to have them there with Ben and Matthew as well. It was the usual menu, hot cross buns, fruit, egg and bacon rolls and haloumi and then an Easter Egg Hunt. We had the Scott's and Stuarts, Gary and Arlene, Bill, Amy and I , Bindi and the kids and another family with young kids who are friends with Bindi.

  Gary, with Matthew and Ben

Lennox Gardens looking lovely with the autumn leaves

Traditional line up from youngest to oldest for the Easter Egg Hunt

After the picnic, Matthew and Gary went off to ride electric scooters around the lake, so Arlene and Ben came back with Amy and I, Matthew and Gary came out later. We had a lovely time catching up with them, they ended up staying for dinner, we got takeaway from the local Thai places. Gary and Arlene both had a snooze at some point. Ben had fun playing with Amy's squish mallows, her sensory toys and the bean bags and weighted blankets. It was lovely being able to spend time with them.

On the Sunday afternoon Amy and I glazed and baked a ham and we had a lovely family dinner with Bindi and the kids and Gary and the kids. We then played Gartic Phone and Family Feud that had us all in stitches. Was nice to see Matthew getting to know his cousins.

Mayfield Gardens

 We left Orange on Tuesday morning, it was lovely and sunny but on the road to Bathurst we hit fog, it was lifting by the time we got to the Mayfield Gardens and turned into perfect weather for the gardens. It was around 19 degrees which was perfect, we were at the gardens during the two week autumn festival which meant we got access to the private gardens as well. It was perfect timing, the autumn leaves were just stunning. We had a great day, had lunch in the café before hitting the road for Goulburn and then home to Canberra around 5:30pm. We thoroughly enjoyed our little getaway.

On the Road Again - Cowra, Orange and Mayfield

 It is nice to start travelling again, even if they are just short getaways. Headed to Orange with my two girlfriends, Kerrie and Deb. We headed up via Cowra to see the Japanese Gardens and came back via Oberon to see the Mayfield Gardens. We were originally due to stay in Bathurst but got a message on the Thursday afternoon to say that our accommodation at Bathurst for three nights from Saturday had to be cancelled. Well that set the cat among the pigeons and had us in a panic, but fortunately we found another Airbnb at Orange which in the end we think was a much better option.

We set off Saturday morning with a stop off at Boorawa, which we have decided we will need to go back and explore another time then arrived at the Japanese Gardens at Cowra for lunch before spending time exploring the gardens there. They were lovely and we enjoyed the beautiful kept gardens and lovely green and autumn leaves. A great first day.

We found our accommodation which we were very pleased with , nice and comfortable and very clean. We had a room each which was nice. Deb had made soup and brought it along, so we didn't need to head out looking for a meal so we had a nice relaxing night.

The next day Sunday we headed out for an early walk and found a great little coffee shop where the guy helped us plan our day, so first stop was the Producer's Market at Cook Park. We got to see the lovely autumn trees in Cook Park as well as meet the local producers and sample various products and off course purchase a few including some lovely raw honey and a heavenly passionfruit curd!

After that we visited the information centre, dropped off our goodies back at the accomadtion and then headed out to the delightful historic village of Millthrope. We had morning tea at the Providore, then checked out the shops and helped boost the local economy. It was a lovely day and a nice place to visit.

Headed back to Orange stopping for a late lunch at Lucknow sitting out on the deck. Back to the accommodation for a rest before heading out for a walk around the Orange Botanic Gardens - another great day,

Monday we checked out the main street, did a bit of shopping, enjoyed the lovely old buildings familiar to country NSW towns, then we headed out to Mt Conabolas, which gave us lovely views back over Orange. We did what we thought would be a moderate walk through the forest to Federal Falls, it was a loop walk, which turned out to be a pretty tough walk. Deb and I left Kerrie at the top of the path which led down the final 500 metres to the falls, as it was very steep. Turned out to be a good move as Kerrie was already tired and it was a really tough descent and then hard work getting up again, only to see a trickle of water at the falls! It was nice country to walk in but I did feel my quads for a few days after that. We were glad to get home and just plonk.

I have managed to put my photos in the wrong way, so hopefully the captions will help

Some of Orange's lovely old buildings

Some of the autumn leaves around Orange

Orange Botanic Gardens

I forget to mention this place- The Parrot Distillery- a Gin Joint where Deb and Kerrie did a gin tasting. The place had lots of atmosphere, the girls enjoyed their gin, while I settled for a ginger beer, it was a fun time.

Tree lined street coming into Millthorpe

The old railways station at Millthorpe, now a shop and cafe

Morning Tea at the Providore

Kevin the Water Dragon at Cook Park

Bandstand at Cook Park

Me in the Begonia Display in Cook Park

Rock Garden at Cowra Japanese Gardens

Japanese Gardens Cowra

The Tuesday Girls!\