Day 4 Wednesday 13/9/2023 Daylesford, sunny 6 – 20

Woody takes a bunch of members up to Mt. Franklin campground. It’s a great spot to know about as it’s only a few kilometres from Daylesford. The campground is in the old volcanic crater, protected from the wind and shaded by deciduous trees. While they walk the crater rim, some of us visit the Convent Gallery, only to find that it’s closed today. Never mind there are more than enough cafes in Daylesford to keep us amused and Frangos Boutique Hotel does. Before we know it, we’ve got a dozen of us enjoying coffee and cake, and the sunny morning.

We move on to walk the street and divest ourselves of some tourist dollars. I’m in need of warm socks and 2 pair of pink woollen socks wink at me from the ‘Bargain’ store. You know the ones, they used to be called $2 shops, now they’re Bargain Stores. When C&C find a closing down sale, I do manage to score a genuine bargain. A possum Merino jumper marked down from $295 to $88.50. Oh, thank goodness it didn’t fit ‘C’ or ‘C’.

Bags in hand we trawl the main street art galleries before making it back for late lunch.

Woody walks back into town while I sketch the boathouse. Returning to pick Woody up we call in to the other lake, Lake Daylesford.

Happy Hour is around the firepit in the sun watching the peacocks as they queue, and each take their turn to fly up into a big old pine tree to roost for the night. Marty can’t put his instant shower tent back in its bag, and as anyone would know it takes 6 hands to do that job. Someone pops their potatoes into the fire in a ‘spud box’, little metal boxes like Chinese take-away containers that prevent the spuds from getting burnt and ash-covered.

We cook beef ribs in the air fryer and eat them down by the fire with Pizza Pete and Silicon.

Accom: $32.50

Notes: Using girl maths and dividing it by the wears I’ve had already from that jumper the real cost is now down to $8.85!

For those readers who are wondering why I’m excited about possum knitwear, I’d best explain. The Australian possum is a sweet little fellow and most of us have families of them living very close to us. They are protected and have adapted well to living with humans. Sometimes a little too well. As you’d know if you’ve had a family in your roof.

Now our Kiwi cousins (Australians and New Zealanders, having a similar sense of humour, have interbred well) didn’t have native possums. But like unwanted and tasteless Xmas presents a few possums have arrived in the shaky isles and have bred like topsy in that bucolic climate. Being an introduced species (read PEST) poor old Possy is not protected in NZ and the enterprising Kiwis have taken to killing them and knitting their fur into the finest of garments and the lightest and warmest that one could ever wear!