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Published: March 22nd 2013
Thanks to the stonemasons of Melbourne in 1856, we are fortunate enough to have a public holiday to celebrate the eight hour working day. Labour Day long weekend may be more synonymous with Moomba for many Melburnians, but for a few years now we have decided to leave the banks of the Yarra to the waterski enthusiasts and overpriced carny attractions and head out of the city.
For nine years, the Parsons, Gillies, Bouviers (relative newcomers) and the Andrew families have booked a weekend away to partake in various activities, lots of eating and a little imbibing. The inaugural one saw us spend a chilly couple of nights near Ballarat at Farmer Dorrell's. The next year saw us outside Ballarat again, battling the wind and cold once more. A change of scenery and date to the March long weekend brought better weather and a magnificent location at The Gurdies. Unfortunately the property was sold a couple of years ago which meant we needed to find a place which would accommodate four families. Driving through the countryside one day around Noojee, Dean spotted the 'Neerim Country Cottages'. Perfect.
The weather forecast for this year was positive - hot, hot and hotter. The unusual warm spell meant we didn't have to think too hard about what to pack and the kids would have a free babysitter (aka The Pool). The only problem was how to leave Melbourne during peak hour on a long weekend. The Gillies solved that by leaving after dinner. Dean's eagerness to depart saw us leave early but 20 minutes stuck on the outskirts of the Downs had him questioning the wisdom of his route. The JJJ Top 100 wasn't enough to soothe his angry soul but we were able to spend some quality time pondering what the sticker meant on the back of the car in front of us.
The first night involved a little bit of swim time for the youngsters, some catch up time for the oldsters and a bit of star gazing. Funny how being only an hour or so out of the city is enough to forget about work, traffic and the other stresses of day to day life. A few mozzies were bothering me so I had to cover up because, as usual, I didn't pack the necessities. You would think that having travelled every school holidays for most of the last 20 years would automatically put me into the 'super-packer extraordinaire' category. No. Retiring to bed relatively early (a day of supervising students whose only interest in life is their next tattoo or piercing is quite tiring!), I left the grown ups and was sound asleep by 11pm.
In the morning, the ladies made their way to the Rokeby market for some quality home-made and home-grown produce and some of the menfolk headed out to 'Burnouts and Bogans' at some place not to far away (I wasn't interested enough to enquire about their destination). The day was heating up pretty quickly so we didn't spend too much time with the local crafty people ('Nothing to see here' was our mantra! - Remember girls, what we saw at the market, stays at the market!!) We did manage to make a few purchases - delicious strawberries, tomatoes, apples and an assortment of home-baked slices and biscuits. I nearly purchased a book - 'Change your child in a week' - (not that Eleanor needs 'changing' yet, but I'd like to apply some of the theories to the special children with made-up names back home....) but one lady did take a little offence to my giggling and informed me in no uncertain terms that it's a great book if you 'follow it strictly!'. Taking my leave, I feigned interest in the 'healthy' brownies at the next stall and then somehow found myself purchasing one just to avoid the parenting tips from helpful Rokeby matrons nearby.
Before returning to the cottages, we made a pit stop in Neerim South. Bernadette was keen on finding a new pair of thongs, as one had broken. Unfortunately the mission was unsuccessful. Two hardware stores, a chemist, small supermarket, op shop and milk bar were full of lots of 'things' but not footwear (well, gumboots, but they were not necesary in this weather).
Anyway, back at the ranch, the afternoon was spent listening to the cries of 'Marco Polo' in the pool from the kids and trying to deduce the clues in the completely impossible General Knowledge crossword in The Age. We had started with the Sun (a nice and easy warm up) and then found ourselves eventually making up words in the Age puzzle. Who would know these things???
The Tex-Mex-style feast cooked up by the Gillies for dinner was, as usual, a complete success. A warm night once again meant we could spend it outside (along with the obligatory mozzie coils, of course) chatting and enjoying a spot of star gazing.
The next morning everybody (except me, because I forgot to pack shoes!) headed off early to avoid the day's heat. The Parsons went to the waterfall with Dean and Eleanor while the Gillies and the Bouviers were determined to find the Ada tree (a 300 year old huge Mountain Ash). I spent the morning reading the Sunday papers and eating lemon slices.
Dean and Eleanor returned, having not found a netball ring in Noojee for a few practise shots, but finding a nice cool haven in the waterfall walk with the Parsons. The Andrew Family then jumped in the car for the short drive into Neerim South for a spot of shopping and some netball practice. Having picked up a few necessities at the local food market, I wandered over to the netball courts for a bit of defensive action and promptly broke my thong. I bravely continued on for a bit longer, barefooted on the asphalt (even though it was about 100 degrees) but we called it a day pretty much soon after that. We didn't stop for a gawk at the car boot sale on the footy oval because the heat was starting to be a little oppressive. Straight back to the cottages without passing go for us.
Another afternoon was spent lazing around doing crosswords, swimming in the pool and snacking. It was really hot again (not exaggerating - the weather has been CRAZY!) so the shade and airconditioning were getting a fair workout. A barbecue extravaganza for dinner, some Downton Abbey (accompanied by a few tears from softies in the gallery!) and more star gazing filled the evening and before we knew it, it was time for bed.
Check out time was 10am, so a quick whip around clean and a last swim for the kiddies topped off the weekend. When checking out, Dean copped a stern chat about the broken pool filter (?!?!?!?) from the owner and the cost of its replacement. Nevermind the fact that all the kids had blistered fingertips from chlorine on the edge of the pool. Lets hope none of them go blind, because they'll never be able to read braille.
and we found ourselves driving back through the outer south eastern burbs back to the Riviera.
Photos may appear some time in the not too distant future to accompany this entry...unsurprisingly, the Andrews forgot to pack a camera!
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RENanDREW
Ren & Andrew
Noojee?
I've never heard of it, or Neerim for that matter! Must look it up... Potential Downton Abbey spoiler alert: was that the episode where someone died? I nearly cried too!