Blairgowrie and Melbourne

26th Jan (Day 1): Ray and I left our car with Kylie, Christian and George, Ray's youngest daughter and family, at their home near Hampton Court and travelled to Heathrow to catch our 17 hour direct flight to Perth, Western Australia. From there we had a connecting flight to take us to Melbourne to land there mid-evening the following day.

27th Jan (Day 2): The 17 hour flight was easy to do but as we landed in Perth we were informed our flight to Melbourne had been cancelled and we needed to pick up our luggage and go through immigration. All fine, except for losing one of our bags in transit - it caught up with us 5 days later. We managed to get on a domestic flight from Perth to Melbourne a few hours later and arrived at Melbourne airport at 11pm Melbourne time to be met by Ray's daughter Rachel, who lives in Melbourne, and my son Adrian, who had flown in from Perth a few hours before us. Rachel took us back to her and Mark's place where we managed to wake up Brock (well Clancy their dog did when she saw us) who thought it huge fun to see people up and around in the middle of his night. That was Day 1 and Day 2 done.

28th Jan (Day 3): The first day was spent just getting used to the time difference and catching up with everyone. It was a fairly warm day so just sitting in Rachel and Mark's backyard and catching up with family news whilst easily adjusting to which day it was and when we should be eating was excellent. 

More photos from Saturday 28 January

29th Jan (Day 4): The second day was pretty much the same except that we did all walk down, with Clancy, to Mentone Dog Beach for a walk along the promenade and the beach itself. Clancy takes time to get used to male strangers in the home and is a powerful dog so it was good to see her getting the chance to run freely and enjoy stretching her legs. The rest of us needed to walk and stretch our legs by this time too so good for everyone.

More photos from Sunday 29 January

30 Jan (Day 5): Adrian and I walked down to Woolworths in Mentone to get some shopping. Now I remember Woolworths in the UK as being a household goods store but the Woolworths in Australia are general supermarkets. Interesting to see shops in other countries and goods that are available that we can't get at home. I particularly like the fresh fruit choices and the different vegetables. 

In the afternoon Mark's dad, Alan, came over to Rachel and Mark's to lend a hand to get us all to a holiday let home in Blairgowrie for the week. It was very kind of him to drive us over, with our 8 weeks' worth of luggage, and then leave his car for us to use whilst we were there. Spent the rest of the day settling into the house and getting a meal to eat outside on the covered patio. So nice to be warm enough to always eat outside if we want to. It isn't especially hot weather for Melbourne and is actually quite chilly for the residents but is much warmer than Scotland at the end of January!

More photos from Monday 30 January

31 Jan (Day 6): Mark was working this week so was commuting from the holiday let, returning each evening. It was great that we weren't too far away for him to be able to do this and nice to see him each evening. On this Monday Rachel drove us to Point Nepean National Park, the tip of the spur at the bottom of Melbourne or Port Phillip Bay. We had a wonderful walk, being able to see the tranquil waters of the bay on the northern side and the rougher waters outside the bay on the southern side. Brilliant beaches, wonderful woods, superb seas and splendid scenery. 

More photos from Tuesday 31 January

01 Feb (Day 7): A trip to Arthur's Seat in Melbourne, many thousands of miles away from Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh. This was a day of produce trips. We visited the Rocky Creek Strawberry Farm, the Ripe n Ready Cherry Farm (nice big box of black cherries), an apple orchard (closed until March) and the Red Hill Estate vineyard. Adrian, Ray and I did one of the wine tasting experiences (Rachel was driving) and went home with 6 more bottles than the one (Brock's feeding bottle) we went out with this morning. We also had a lovely lunch at the Nordie Café in Red Hill, where I spotted someone drinking a turmeric latte. Not my choice of beverage :-(

More photos from Wednesday 01 February

02 Feb (Day 8): Today we went to a cider farm at Mock Orchards near Red Hill and chose to do the cider tasting experience for Adrian, Ray and me (Rachel was the self-nominated driver again). Four lovely different ciders to try out plus an apple juice, going from light to cloudy, a great experience. This particular cider farm is also well known for its apple pies so it would have been rude not to have tried them as well, with their freeze-dried raspberry topping. Plus we did get some to take back to the house so Mark could have a taste too, but without the ice-cream. It was a chilly day as you can see from how we are all dressed. Not at all what we were led to believe Australia was like. We had turned up with summer clothes as we'd been promised scorching temperatures so we were borrowing hoodies today. We went back to the house early and just managed to get back before the heavens opened. An afternoon enjoying the covered veranda and the spa bath at the house.

More photos from Thursday 02 February

03 Feb (Day 9): Rachel, Brock and Mark had business to attend to back in Mentone so Adrian, Ray and I set off to explore the area using Mark's dad's car and with Adrian driving. We discovered Flinders Blowhole, a fantastic beach on the southern side of the Melbourne Bay spit. The waves as they came into the beach were incredible - such a great colour and crashing onto the rocks. We walked as far out to the water as we could without risking being sucked out to sea so that we would be able to get some amazing photos and videos. 

Back to the car and we followed the coast road round to Pulpit Rock, a lookout point with a mini lighthouse, before going for lunch at the Green Olive in Red Hill. Ray not at all impressed that we ordered and paid using a QR code on the table - where was the personal service? We did find some great Lemon Marmalade, a pickle that perfectly complimented cheese, and some other fine epicurean delights. 

In the evening Rachel and Mark were back and we all, including Brock, went for a BBQ dinner in a large warehouse smokery. Outside eating whilst being inside a huge metal barn structure with walls that could be wound up on a warm day (it wasn't and they weren't). They did have loads of amusements available for Brock though and we ordered a couple of huge sharing platters for all of us so that we had plenty of different smoked meats to try, alongside the coleslaw and chips. Fun!

More photos from Friday 03 February

04 Feb (Day 10): We needed to go walking to walk off all the food from yesterday. Mark was also with us as this was a Saturday, and he would be with us for the following week too as he had left his previous job the day before and had a couple of weeks before he started his new job. Really nice to see more of him whilst we are here. Rachel suggested a really lovely walk through woodland and trails and back, with opportunity for refreshments on both ends of it. 

The walk we took was along an ancient railway track that had been built to help get the local farmer produce out of the area and sold to the main population areas. This particular area is excellent for growing many different types of fruit and vegetables. The railway was decommissioned when better transport modes became available and now is a lovely flat (mostly) walk through countryside. Great choice, especially as Clancy the dog could be with us and off the lead most of the time. She had a wonderful day out with us all. 

When we reached the return point we stopped for a bite to eat before returning back the way we came. The coffee window with their huge chicken and avocado sandwiches and sausage rolls amongst other things served us well. There were ibis wandering around in the grounds and I had seen some other birds as we walked across, an Australian magpie and an Australian King Parrot. When we returned to the start of the walk we treated ourselves to drinks - our holiday was fuelled by ice-cream, iced coffee and chocolate milkshakes!

More photos from Saturday 04 February

05 Feb (Day 11): Ray went to watch Rachel playing cricket, Mark stayed at home with Brock, and Adrian and I went exploring by ourselves. We did the Two Falls walking trail from Arthur's Seat in the morning and stopped for a sandwich at a pie shop at lunchtime. Renowned for its pies so we bought two for dinner later on. 

Our next stop was Cocoa Rouge Chocolaterie and Icecream, a wonderful exquisite chocolate shop on the Mont Rouge Estate which is also a winery and a restaurant. We bought loads of chocolate between us and then sat in their gardens and enjoyed two scoops of ice-cream each. Adrian particularly liked the Ecuadorean Chocolate Ice-cream, it was almost black in colour and so very very rich - almost a mousse. 

In the evening Mark's dad Alan and step-mum Shann came over to the house and we all had Australian fish and chips together. Not as easy to order as back home, I was being asked what I wanted and I didn't know what I was being asked to choose between. Turns out you can have battered fish or grilled fish with your chips. 

More photos from Sunday 05 February

06 Feb (Day 12): We packed up from Blairgowrie and made our way to a rental home in Mentone, via the Mornington Peninsula and a spot of shopping/eating - didn't you guess that? We went to the Winey Cow for lunch, sitting at tables on the pavement! So nice to be out in the warmth and enjoying the weather. The food was excellent too, lovely salad and some sweet potato chips to share. 

After lunch we walked through Mornington Park, where there was an excellent playground for Brock, to the shoreline. There were some very noisy parakeets in one of the trees but I didn't get any good photos of them as I didn't have my camera with me today. On the way back from the shore we passed an ice-cream van (did I mention that this holiday was fuelled by ice-cream?) and bought ice-cream for everyone except Brock who was going to share his dad's. Brock however had other ideas! He thought he should have all of his dad's ice-cream! Poor Mark lost his treat.

More photos from Monday 06 February