Jan 2020, Mornington, Vic The Mornington Peninsula has long been known as Melbourne’s playground. Safe shallow and sandy beaches on its busier Port Phillip Bay shores mean that young families can throw down a few towels and let the kids run amok in the shallows. Shops, cafes, ice creams and cool pubs are only a short walk away. A perfect place to while away the summer holidays. Continue reading A smoky summer holiday
Winter 2018, Somewhere in Western Queensland after too many kilometres “Oh shit, here we go again, another ‘iPad entertainer’!” we moan. To be honest, sometimes it’s just karaoke with a seriously bad singer. We sneak off to cook dinner wondering why ukuleles get such a bad rap. Footnote: Anyone who’s stayed in the outback over winter will tell you that entertainment can be a lottery. Sometimes you’ll get lucky and find a singing cattleman with golden tonsils who will elevate your evening to heaven. Then on the night that you want to enjoy the stillness of a quiet evening beside … Continue reading iPad Entertainers
Dec 2019, Yea, Vic We stop to buy coffee in Yea, we walk into the empty cafe and place our order. “Name please?” says the barista. It’s really early in the morning, we both look around the empty shop expecting customers to emerge from under tables. OK, he’s a stickler for rules, “Woody”. We wait quietly while he makes our brew then hands us our cups. Both of us are busting to say “Is that for Woody?” but zip our lips till we burst outside laughing. A week later we order another coffee from the same place. The cafe is … Continue reading Name it?
Dec 2019, Yackandandah, Vic The cicadas here are extremely loud, I can somehow block them out and relish in the ‘sound of summer’ which reminds me of our last house. Woody, on the other hand is going nuts as the … Continue reading Red eyes and sore ears
Dec 2019, Yackandandah, Vic You’d have to be pretty cheesed off wouldn’t you? If you’d just spent a year or so building this fine bridge, another obstacle overcome in the 1000 or so kilometre road between Melbourne and Sydney, when someone higher up the pecking order decides to change the route to Chiltern. Chiltern for heaven’s sake! I wonder if a few pockets were greased in the process? The stone bridge was built in 1859 and 1860 when this was the Melbourne to Sydney road passing through the gold towns of Beechworth and Yackandandah. Upon completion it was decided that … Continue reading Yack Stone Bridge
Dec 2019, Yackandandah, Vic We recently spent a few restful days visiting a friend in Yackandandah, Vic. This delightful small town is one of those places that the world forgot for a time and thus now its commercial precinct is heritage listed. Residential streets are adorned with Victorian era cottages and rambling flower gardens. Nestled in a small valley crisscrossed with small burbling creeks it is usually busy with day trippers from the larger towns in North Eastern Victoria. We got lucky, the streets were quiet, the weather was warm, and the town was draped in a pre-Christmas hush. The … Continue reading Yackandandah Streetscape
At least he wasn’t wearing Crocs. Continue reading It’s summer in Oz
Yea, Vic is a great little town at the crossroads of the Melba Highway and the Goulburn Valley Highway and for as long as I can remember (and that’s a long time) it’s always been far enough out of Melbourne for one to need a refreshment stop. There are three pubs, two bakeries and numerous cafes, wide streets and plenty of parking. So popular is Yea for that important stop that it even has two public toilet blocks. There’s room enough to park cars & caravans or cars & boats. Because this important junction town is close to Lake Eildon, … Continue reading Yay it’s Yea
Nov 2019, Lakes Entrance, Vic We just want to buy a chook from the supermarket for lunch but we learnt yesterday that this particular store only puts the chooks in the display warmer on the dot of noon and now the deli section is jam packed with people waiting to grab their chook. By the looks of the milling crowd they’ll be lucky to have any left over to go in the warmer for the latecomers. Perhaps they should fire a noonday cannon like they used to do in Hong Kong. Continue reading The Noonday Chook
How many times have you run about like a headless chook at Christmas looking for more fridge space? There’s nothing better than a stinking hot Chrissie but where do you put the oysters, prawns, bugs and crays? The kitchen fridge is groaning with salads and nibbles and of course the cheeses. (note the pun control there) Then there’s the pavs and the puddings, berries and cherries. The solution is at hand and it’s not the fridge out the back (insert shed, deck, patio) ‘cos that’s full of bubbles and beers. It’s the caravan! A fully stocked pantry of all the … Continue reading Everyone needs a second kitchen at Chrissie
itchingforhitching 