Bye Bye Rye

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Friday 25^th November – Happy Birthday to niece Anna in Tewkesbury – we hope you enjoyed the day.

It was another lovely morning but, sadly our short stay in Rye was coming to an end so Daphne and I got busy cleaning and vacuuming the house while Graham prepared the car by loading the few things that were already packed. There was no particular rush as I had washed the tablecloth and we were waiting for it to dry so we had time to relax out on the verandah for one last time. There was hardly a cloud in the sky so we were quite happy sat there but eventually we had to make a move and Graham completed the task of somehow fitting all the bags, bedding, boxes and Daphne’s big basket back in the car. Soon after 11am we were just about ready to leave.

We had decided to meander back along the coast road so headed off through the delightfully named Rosebud. This coastal stretch is magnificent with miles of glorious beaches and turquoise blue sea. We could have stopped at any number of fabulous spots but we kept going until we reached the larger town of Mornington which gave the peninsula its name. We found our way to the small harbour, parked up and strolled along the jetty. We became fascinated by some strange bubbles in the sea and imagined all sorts of things – dolphins, deadly sharks, maybe octopus – but although we never saw what actually caused the ripples and bubbles, with the help of a local, we decided there must be a couple of divers in the depths as it’s a popular diving location. It was fascinating though! We climbed the steps to a lookout point and negotiated a boardwalk for more stunning views along the coastline. By then it was about lunchtime and we would have stopped at one of the picnic tables there if it hadn’t been for the thousands of flying insects that suddenly began to harass us. We moved on to a nearby park which appeared to be insect free and where we decided to have our lunch – sandwiches that I had prepared earlier. Unfortunately, our planned sweet came to nothing when the nearby ice-cream van we had spotted drove off just as we were about to approach it. Never mind – some cake and a cuppa using the flask finished off our picnic nicely before we set off again towards Melbourne. We drove as far as Frankston on the coast road before joining the freeway which took us to within just a few kilometres of Daphne’s house in Camberwell. After off-loading the car – a bit of a challenge given Daphne’s steep drive – we re-united ourselves with mad Micky and flopped for the rest of the day. The damaged window had been duly repaired so Graham cleared away the boards that had been used to keep Micky away from the broken glass. We managed to conjure up a delightful evening meal from what we found in the freezer and had a most relaxing evening reminiscing about our delightful few days in Rye.

Saturday 26^th in Melbourne started with such a contrast to our lovely days in Rye. It had clearly rained during the night and as we got up it was still wet and miserable. Daphne and I wanted to go to Camberwell market on the tram and Graham had it in mind to fit a new fly-screen to the outer door. Mad Micky seemed madder than ever as he careered around frenetically. We ladies eventually got away to catch the tram but no sooner had we reached the market than the heavens opened and it turned into one of the most torrential storms we have witnessed in the whole of our 15 months in Aus. It came with some severe, albeit brief, thunder and lightening which, at one point Graham said, forced young Micky to cower behind one of the sofas. Melbourne weather is extremely variable to say the least. Needless to say, we got a bit soggy on our shopping expedition but not as bad as it might have been. We were lucky to be under cover when the torrential stuff happened and we managed to get most of the things we wanted. It would have been better with the car there but Camberwell on a Saturday morning is notoriously manic and handy parking spaces are almost impossible to come by. This is where the tram system that Daphne knows like the back of her hand comes in to its own. The market doesn’t open every day so Saturday is normally the ideal time for Daphne to do her market shopping and, for her, Woolies and Coles won’t do. In the meantime, Graham managed to cut the fly-screen down to size but abandoned any hope of fitting it today as he will need to spend some time outside – much better done when it’s dry. After lunch we left Daphne to get ready for a pre-arranged evening out to the theatre with some friends of hers while we drove to a nearby shopping complex to get a few things we couldn’t get at the market as well as a couple of cake making utensils. One of the best things I bought was a DVD copy of the film Red Dog which is one of the most popular films in Aus at the moment. We didn’t think it would be out on DVD yet as it’s a very recent production. We learnt of the legend of Red Dog on our trip eight years ago and we plan to play the DVD when we are in Peterborough. On our way back to Daphne’s we checked out a small unit in Burwood dedicated to cake icing and decorating so that Daphne’s wedding cakes can be finished off professionally. The unit closes on Saturdays but we were able to confirm that it looked to be worth visiting on Monday to enquire about possibilities.

Back at the house I helped Daphne with a bit of house cleaning which enabled her to apply the finishing touches to her theatre preparations. It was to be a fairly early start as she and her friends would be dining out before the theatre production starts. Bert and Kim took mad Micky into their rooms for the evening which left us with some time to ourselves – not that we did much – we just had dinner and watched TV (Doc Martin). We stayed up quite late waiting for the gad-about to return and in the meantime managed to talk on skype with David and Mele (who was sporting a gorgeous engagement ring) and also Rod and Tania. Later still I was able to have a typed skype conversation with Sarah, so it turned out to be a very successful evening. Alas, with time going on, we retreated to bed just as Daphne returned home so we left asking her about how her theatre trip had been until the morning.

The morning of Sunday 27^th wasn’t much better weather-wise although it wasn’t actually raining – just dull and very cloudy. Daphne had had a good time at the theatre with friends watching a play that was new to the theatre scene and which, she said, was very well done. A meal beforehand and a few drinks afterwards made for a very pleasant though somewhat late evening. Like us she was cursing this morning’s weather as she would have liked to have done some work on her garden and we would have helped. But everywhere was so wet it seemed unlikely to happen. The morning was spent working out the requirements for a large two-tier wedding cake and identifying any kit and all the ingredients that we would need to purchase. Meanwhile, the weather began to brighten a bit which enabled Graham, Bert and Kim to get outside and assess what would need to be done to make the pergola safe. It was agreed that the first thing to do would be to get rid of the many years of foliage growth that had taken over the pergola and the weight of which probably contributed to the minor collapse during last weekend. To their credit, they set about clearing a lot of the foliage straight away so that they could then see properly what bits of the pergola, if any, could be saved and what would need to be dis-mantled. Bert being a gardener was able to provide several bits of kit to help with the major pruning exercise but it was complicated somewhat by the many stretches of Christmas lights that had been erected over the years and which were now intertwined with the foliage. They managed to clear a whole section surrounding the fallen bit of pergola and made sure that the remaining beams were safe, at least for the time being. A good job well done.

After lunch Graham and I went for a short ride to Bunnings Hardware Store to get some battens to help with the fixing of the new fly screen. We also checked the prices of a few useful things that Daphne might consider buying to make life a little easier for her. Then we drove on to Grant and Anna’s to return the key from the holiday house at Rye. We were met with a rather despondent Anna who had just returned from visiting her father Bill in hospital. It was Bill and his wife Helen’s house at Rye that we stayed in. Bill had recently sustained a sailing injury and thought he had cracked a couple of ribs. He had also aggravated the injury later but it transpires he had actually done a bit more to himself than he thought – puncturing a lung. So a period of acute rest for Bill is called for and everyone hopes he will be well enough quick enough to enjoy the Christmas festivities. Despite her obvious concern, Anna and Grant were most hospitable as usual, even going to the trouble of identifying some outfits of theirs that we might wear to David and Mele’s wedding in January. Of course, with our round Australia trip, we‘re “travelling light” and had considered visiting some charity shops to see if we could find suitable wedding clothes but now it looks like that may not be necessary. Back at Daphne’s, a little later than planned, we spent some time tidying up the garden while Daphne planted some rockery plants she had recently bought. The weather was brighter now and although there’s still a long way to go to get the garden as we want it, it was good to be able to clear away some old things to make way for some new plants. Bert and Kim also appeared to help with some of the heftier stuff so some excellent progress was made towards making it presentable. Hopefully the council will eventually come to do their annual clearance of “hard rubbish” which has gradually built up over the last few weeks. All the grass verges in the area currently look like rubbish tips but rumour has it the council will be here this coming week to take it all away. We’ll have a busy day shopping tomorrow so, hopefully, while we’re at the shops, all the rubbish will be cleared.

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