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Published: March 31st 2015
Mt Dandenong
On the seat just below the Sky High restaurant. We had coffee there and had wasps flying around us like flies. Nobody was stung but it wasn't pleasant.
Sunday 22nd March 2015
Today we drove the 80kms or so north to Richard & Carol’s place in Donvale for lunch. Carol is a good friend of Judy’s, they met in Perth when they were both having children and were close friends until Carole moved to Melbourne for her husband's job. We stayed with them on a previous trip and enjoyed catching up with them.
After lunch we went for a drive in the Dandenongs which was along winding roads with lots of Sunday drivers. We had a coffee overlooking Melbourne, although it wasn’t a very clear view due to the smog and smoke below. A bit of window shopping followed in the nearby village, Olinda, before we returned to where we dropped them off and headed back to Somerville.
Back in Somerville, John had prepared a lovely meal for us which comprised of half a dozen oysters each as an entrée and King George whiting for the main course. He had just come back from a fishing trip with a few friends and bought the oysters at a good price, the whiting was part of his catch.
Monday The new van.
it took us over a day to store all the gear from the other van into it. John helped a lot with fitting plastic pipes under the van to hold drainage hoses, fishing rods and tent poles. 23
rd March 2015
Neither of us slept very well last night, we both being excited about picking up our new caravan today. John and Marilyn joined us for the nearly 100kms trip across town to the dealer in Craigieburn.
It was after midday before we got there and by the time we had completed paperwork, gone through a final inspection and hand-over, it was well after 1400. We left the dealer and had a late lunch at the nearby Maccas, before returning to pick up the van.
The drive back to Somerville seemed to take forever, Rags being very conscious that he had a new van in tow. Peak hour traffic was just starting but he managed to get through the 90-minute trip unscathed. It was with a big sigh of relief that he parked the van in our host’s backyard, glad that the trip was over.
He and Judy went off shopping for some juicy steaks and a bottle of champagne, it was their turn to cook and they had something big to celebrate!
Later in the evening Rags went out just to sit in, and look at the van. He
Carmel & David's home
David & Carmel built these 5 units (there's another behind each front unit. Their unit is the one at the back stretching across the whole block. still finds it hard to believe that we now owns a van he previously only dreamt about having. It seems to have everything a van should have, and then some! Life is so very good!!!
Tuesday 24th March 2015 What a day! We spent the day transferring all the bits and pieces from the garage and house back into the caravan. Judy found that she had to be more inventive as this van has nowhere near as many large cupboards and space as the old van to put things. The spaces are more compact and necessitated a trip to the local Cheapo shop for some storage baskets to sit in cupboards and keep things neat.
Rags and John, meanwhile, fitted PVC piping to the underside and rear of the van so that there was more storage for the annexe uprights, and somewhere to store fishing rods. John also made it a personal project to clean and paint the Reese hitch and to have the towball fittings looking as if they had just come out of the shop.
John’s garage was empty of all our stuff by sunset, Judy and Rags were absolutely
Carmel & David's kitchen
Had everything a cook needs. One day David might even be there to cook us a meal! “stuffed”!
Wednesday 25th March 2015 The first part of the day was spent finishing off repacking the van and getting it ready for us to leave on Friday. After lunch we drove to the suburb of North Balwyn, just outside of Melbourne, to the home of David and Carmel. David was still working in Abu Dubai, so only Carmel greeted us when we arrived although there was soon a phone call from David to welcome us to his home. We had heard all about the trials and tribulations of building it from him so I think he would have liked to have been there to give us the tour! :-)
Their house is gorgeous, the back unit of a block of 5 (all built by David and Carmel), stretching across the full width of the block with views over playing fields in the distance. The house is on 3 levels, the top being a large open living and kitchen area with the main bedroom/ensuite joining it, with a full length balcony, the middle being the cellar entrance and laundry, and the lower level the entrance and hallway with a study and workroom on
one side, a fully self-contained guest bedroom, bathroom, and kitchenette as well as a sauna room on the other.
We had no sooner opened a bottle of Chandon champagne to celebrate meeting again when David rang again from Abu Dubai! A bit of banter ensued, after which we continued catching up and imbibing a little more.
After lots of tasty nibbles and a meal we continued catching up whilst demolishing some red wine, before retiring to a good night’s rest.
Thursday 26th March 2015 It was a reasonably slow start for the day and we followed breakfast by a visit to a local park, Maranoa gardens. These gardens were set up privately by J.M. Watson, in 1901 when he planted many Australian and New Zealand trees and shrubs on 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres). It was maintained purely as a garden until the local city council acquired it in 1922, planting was continued but all non-native plants were removed. It was opened to the public in 1926, and in 1962 doubled in size by expanding east. It is divided into 4 sections; Temperate woodland, Arid rockery, Dry Sclerophyll forest and Rainforest. Each
Maranoa Gardens
An oasis in suburbia. has relevant plants in it and the climatic conditions are made as true as possible. Many of the plants and trees are labelled giving their names and some description. It is open for passive recreation only. We spent an hour or so wandering through this little oasis in the middle of suburbia, Carmel calling it "her garden". We left her there as she wanted to stroll home, so we set off south.
On our return to Somerville we recommenced the final preparation to the van and will hopefully having it ready to leave tomorrow. As it was our turn to cook (we have alternated whilst here) we reintroduced ourselves to our Thermomix and prepared the evening meal.
During the evening John stated that he was cooking a prawn and scallop dish for us the following evening and as we were enjoying their hospitality so much we had no hesitation in extending our departure until Saturday. This was further reinforced by the weather, as the rain had now set in.
“Pretty Woman” was the TV movie for tonight, we all had seen this before but still enjoyed it again.
The last supper!
Delicious meal of curried prawns and scallops.
John looking glum maybe because he wasn't allowed to drink (on doctor's orders) Friday 27th March 2015 As John had to attend a hospital appointment as he has prostate cancer, we spent the day just finishing off getting ready, and then spending time just taking it easy and mentally preparing ourselves for departing tomorrow.
On John and Marilyn’s return we spent the rest of the evening eating a tasty curried prawn and scallop dish, washed down with some tasty wine, before watching Julie Roberts in “Notting Hill” for about the fourth time. Still a fun movie though.
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Mum
non-member comment
Somerville and North Balwyn
Dear judy and Rags great to hear all is going well and you are pleased with the new Caravan. I was rather surprised to hear that it hasn't the big storage that the old van had. When I was looking at the photos of the new van I thought it looked like it had loads of cupboards. I'm sure you will sort it all out !! It sounds like you were made very welcome in Melbourne and what a gem of a friend you have in John being able to help with the little jobs you had to do on the new Van. It sounds like you have been living high on the hog with all the Oysters and fresh fish you have been eating too !! Where are you now ? I gather you have left Melbourne. Stay safe, and have a Happy Easter where ever you are. Love Mum xx