Nimmitabel: A Work in Progress: August 2014

This has been a long time coming.....Talked about last year, organised months ago, and finally here.

Merrill and I arrived at Karen's just before 5pm on Friday. It had been a glorious sunny blue day, and was a similarly stunning evening.

Karen, our dear friend had oh so thoughtfully provided us with some celebratory sparkling "travellers" which she naturally abstained from, given that she was driving.

little traveller

Laughed and chatted all the way to Inglewood, admiring the sunset and views along the way

lovely sunset #1

lovely sunset #2

lovely sunset #3

Got to the house around 7pm, settled the girl's into their rooms, turned on the water (which had been switched off after last week's flood) and tootled off to the pub for dinner. Merrill and I were in our stripy Friday - zebra tops - luckily Karen was in a block colour!

Having fun #1

Having fun #2

Having fun #3

Having fun #4

Having fun #5

And for something different, instead of the customary Outback parma, we all opted for the fisherman's basket - which was rather good

Empire Fisherman's Basket

Back to the house, and changed out of our stripes, and into comfy jim-jams...Luckily it wasn't "that" cold, but we still enjoyed the roaring open fire (and the hot water bottles once we got to bed)

Relaxing by the fire #1

Relaxing by the fire #2

Big hug

Small hug with fire views

cheeky look

thoughtful

what am I doing?

what is she doing?

something tickled my fancy

a lovely shot

something interesting

Got up around 7.30, and went to the IGA for the newspaper, and then to the butchers and had a cup of coffee there. Yep, they are now selling coffee there. Sat outside and watched the world go past.

Back home, and the girls soon emerged. Had a leisurely breakfast, and then the 3 of us wandered down the street for some fossicking in the 2nd hand stores, and a revisit to the butchers.

Had a casual lunch in the garden - Jim's pies, and some chocolates to finish up. Genevieve also dropped off some of the local honey for Karen and Merrill, as we had mentioned to Michelle that we'd like to buy some from her neighbour again - lovely very local honey

Saturday lunch

After lunch we ventured up to Melvilles Caves - Merrill was rather impressed. I'd taken Karen up there before, but she said it had been rainy, so presumably wasn't as good

at one with nature #1

at one with nature #2

lovely tree

just before I banged my head on the overhang

a panorama shot

tough tree

precarious boulders

On the way back from Melville Caves we stopped at Kangderaar Winery. Did a little tasting...

wine tasting at Kangderaar

And bought some cases...

they're not all Karen's....

And then onto Blanche Barkly. Daniel was there, so he told us to go over to the house, as David & Arlene were home but would be going out a bit later. Well, we arrived, and they were practically walking out the door - off to Dunolly to the Junction Hotel for dinner and then a musical evening. So we basically said hello and goodbye.

I thought we might then drop in on Maile and David - tried calling them, but the mobile phone reception in Kingower is always a bit shot, so thought we'd take pot luck and see if they were home. We were in luck, the gate was open so we drove on up.

They very hospitably invited us in and showed us around the garden first. Mum called up during this, and my ring tone for her - Glen Miller's :- In the Mood made us all dance and jig around - quite funny. The gals were very impressed with the view, garden and artworks

the view from David & Maile's

around the house

artwork

having a rest

Saying something interesting

Around the house again

panorama around the house

an outdoor chimney

We then went inside and had our arms twisted to join them in some Prosecco. Didn't take much urging... While we were there, they received another visitor - Jeff - the ex local policeman - who is Archie's grandad. Anyway, had a lovely very entertaining time, but didn't stay all that long, as we wanted to leave in daylight.....

Got home and started on the pizzas (I'd been proving the dough in the breadmaker all day)

I shaped the dough, and then tended to the pizza oven fire and the other gals did the fillings :-

sous chefs at work

before the pizzas were cooked

The finished pizzas were marvellous

And after they were cooked

pizzas by candlelight

Cheers!

And once again we had a lovely evening in front of the open fire

Bit of a sleep in on Sunday, and then we had to bail out the cellar after breakfast. Boring!! I donned the gum boots, Merrill was on the stairs, and Karen took the buckets out and dumped them.

We also picked some olives from the tree near the house