Had some friends (with guitars) around for a fab dinner on Friday night, so drove up to Inglewood on Saturday.
Started off in the morning, but first had to go to East Melbourne to assist with moving some furniture ( the ute is a blessing and a curse), then briefly back home, and then onto Greensborough to pick up a fridge that used to belong to Karen's Dad.
Finally got into Inglewood early afternoon.
The road into town was still 1/2 blocked off due to the tanker rollover from a few days ago.
blocked off road
And the yuccas which had stood so tall and proud when I planted them a week ago, looked a bit floppy and sad now
poor floppy yucca
We had to stake a few of the sadder/floppier ones. Justin wielded the hammer like mighty Thor (maybe a bit of an exaggeration), and the hammer strikes echoed off the Fire Brigade building down the road, which was quite uncanny. I did some loud hand claps, and they echoed also. Later when he was staking and hammering another one, it echoed off the toilet block at the Town Hall
staking
And, we also had to move the fridge. Steve came and ably assisted. I just took the photos and wasn't much use. Was a very tight fit through the back door. quite a bit of manoeuvring was required. Luckily Steve is very used to this sort of thing.
Bye Bye old fridge - hope we can find you a new home
thank goodness for trolleys
1st try
2nd try
Justin behind the fridge fiddling with the cords
in place and looking good
So, it's a fab new fridge for us, and we're trying to give away the other one, not too much luck as yet.
Still no luck for me and the curtains in our room either, I did have the brilliant idea to put the new curtain rod and curtains in the green room, and take the Green room curtains into our room. However when Justin had a look at the fancy pelmet baubles he thought they were too fragile to disturb, so I'm still without blockout curtains in our room (do have thin/lacy type curtains though)
delicate fancy pelmet baubles
Had G&Ts on the veranda - with a nice sunset
G&T veranda sunset
Went to the Royal for dinner - as the Thai kitchen is now open. Was rather good and quick too.
Had chicken satay and then a red curry. Very fresh and fragrant - so will go back
Royal chicken satay
Given that we'd been served so quickly, we were out before 8.30, so walked home and watched Stealing Beauty - an old favourite. Loved those Tuscan Hills
Watered the garden the next morning - and saw that one of the fence rails on the back fence had broken. Luckily Justin knew how to fix it. Bought a metal plate thingy with nails in it - and joined the two broken pieces together. Will hopefully work, and keep solid
fixed bit of fence
Also dropped in on Samuel at the old Railway Hotel. He fixes up electronics etc, and Justin had an sentimental old amplifier that crackled and popped. Samuel will have a look at it and see if he can fix it. Also had a wander around the refurbished Railway buildings. (I've looked at them before, actually the 1st time I went to Samuel's). The rooms look great - but they're all empty, what a waste.
Some of the palms along the way had lots of little palms growing underneath them. Haven't seen that before
baby palms
Went to the Empire for a fish and chip lunch. Haven't been there for ages. Chatted a bit with Ros and Enzo, told him that we'd heard him on the radio regarding the tanker crash.
Went back home and tidied up a bit, and then back to Melbourne
Also picked all of my clingstone peaches
my clingstone peaches
And bottled them back in Melbourne (how CWA of me!)
Justin took some more photos of the crash site on the way back
I was originally going to bring Mum up, as she hasn't been here for a while, but her leg was hurting, so she decided to stay home.
That said, I'd told both Terry and Helen & kids that I was coming - so come I did ....
Got up there around 10am on Saturday morning, unpacked the car, and then drove on up to Kingower with Helen and the kids where we assisted Terry, Arlene, Jan & Chrissie make up antipasto platters for the Music night. Was as always a bit of fun, and scored a superb coffee from Terry also.
Only took a couple of hours - was one of the more modest food prep days, as the purpose of tonight's evening was the music, with a supper (the antipasto platter, dips and cakes )
So went back to the house, and we felt like pies for lunch - which we ate under the tree, and Helen relaxed and read her book there afterwards
book reading after lunch
And the kids played by the cubby house on the rope ladder
Meanwhile I was raring to go, and get some things done. Now I wasn't going to paint - as we haven't actually decided on the colour of the so called Blue room.
But our dear friends Karen & Mark had brought up some Yucca cuttings when they'd been up for the Australia Day Long weekend - Mark had planted 1 or 2, by the back fence, but we still had plenty.
So, I had a cunning plan, some work gloves, and a post hole digger....
And out the front I went - it was initially relatively easy going through the mulch, but then I hit pebbles and very hard compacted dirt....It wasn't easy, but luckily not as back breaking as when we put the olives in some years ago
And of course Xavier also wanted to help
I did one side of the new front fence - planting one per section of fence. From memory 6 on the left and 5 on the right.
I was starting to get blisters - despite the gloves, so made a stop, and started watering the plants...with Michaela, Xavier and Helen helping with that
Once we'd finished this it was veranda time - with a long Gin and tonic - ah lovely...
Then some whistling practice - we are in the country after all
And then onto the Village Green in Kingower for 7.30pm. Of course a lovely night - how couldn't it be? No Justin playing this time though (unfortunately). Sat at a table with Damo & Nicole, and Maile & David. Helen, David & Arlene's daughter sang and played a little, Mark did a few acapella songs with another bloke, The Kingower Rangers powered on, a couple of kids played the flute and trumpet respectively, there was a yukele band and duo, and of course David also got up with his fancy new guitar
Sunday morning, and had a bit of a lie in, not sleeping, rather just reading in bed, was very nice. Then got up and had breakfast, and then watered the garden some more. It's very dry.
But the olives are looking fantastic
gorgeous looking olives
And then I had to (wanted to) do the other side of the fence with the yuccas. By the time I'd finished my hands were pretty sore, with blisters developing
thumb blister
In the few days between Easter and now the electricians had come back and attached some more stuff to the external wall.
electrical developments
And although not strictly from when I was up there. Inglewood was in the news yesterday/today as a tanker had rolled over coming around the bend on the Calder and spilled its fuel. It was rather serious with people having to be evacuated, and those who remained told to remain inside due to fumes.
We're planning on going up again this weekend, so will see what its like - will hopefully have all be cleared away by then
A blackout may have contributed to a petrol tanker crash in a Victorian town that closed roads and cut power.
Emergency crews worked into Thursday afternoon to right a petrol tanker and contain a 50,000-litre fuel leak after the truck went out of control on a bend and slid on its side into a power pole in Inglewood, near Bendigo, on Wednesday night.
As the situation was given the all-clear on Thursday evening, the Calder Highway was re-opened to one lane through the town and power had been restored to most residents.
Power had gone out in Inglewood about 5pm on Wednesday because of storm activity.
Pauline Wellman, who works at the local motel and caravan park where many people evacuated to, said the town was in darkness.
"The electricity was out hours and hours before the truck hit the pole, so the town was in absolute pitch blackness last night," she told AAP on Thursday.
"You come off the fastest road and into the town and I would say that the town being dark wouldn't have helped the truck navigate the bend."
Police at the scene also told reporters the town was pitch black, and the driver crashed where the speed went from 100km/h to 60km/h.
The Country Fire Authority (CFA) said 28 people were evacuated from their homes at the height of the incident.
Most residents had power restored by 4.30pm on Thursday, but a handful did not get power back until 10pm, as Powercor worked to restore the original fault.
The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) said the fuel spread up to 1.5km from the crash site and soil was used to stop it flowing into a creek.
"We will work to remove the contamination and it's most likely that will be through excavation," the EPA's Danny Childs told AAP on Thursday.
"We need to scope out the extent of the contamination but these sort of clean-ups take a matter of weeks."
About 28,000 litres of fuel had been removed from a drain, and pumping would continue on Friday.
The truck's driver was admitted to hospital with minor injuries and a woman from a house nearby was taken to hospital after falling ill, an ambulance spokesman said.
The truck was towed away from the crash site shortly after 2pm on Thursday.
Local police are investigating the crash, but the resources of the Heavy Vehicle Unit could be used, a police spokeswoman said.
I had intended to paint the upstairs (blue) room, but Mad and Fraser came with us for at least part of Easter, so the paint brushes were never picked up. Justin had rightly suggested that we should try and make it "fun" for them - as opposed to doing chores.
Anyway, Mad drove up on Thursday night after dinner, in order to get her driving hours up so that she can get her P plates. Was a bit hair raising for me in the back seat, but we made it there in one piece.
Although I said we didn't pick up the paint brushes, Justin actually did to oil the wood on the new fence
very careful painting
Madeleine came to supervise - while eating
supervising
more painting and eating
She also liked my old overalls for some reason - and so wanted to wear them - to help Justin paint
Mad in my overalls
Meanwhile, Fraser and I decided to "play" tennis - that is we had tennis racquets, a ball, and a tennis court, just no net.
We hit the ball around a bit on the netball/tennis courts, and then had a "game". Any controversial shots ie might or might not have gone over/under the net were replayed. Had fun though (and Fraser won)
Fraser
Me
Given that it was Good Friday, I made up a very nice fish pie for dinner, and we watched Collateral (unfortunately I fell asleep, but no surprises there)
On Saturday, I thought I'd be nice and get everyone a modest breakfast in bed. Toast for all, plus coffee for Justin, and banana milkshakes for the kids
mobile and breakfast in bed
taking Mad's breakfast tray
After breakfast we thought we'd see if the golf course was open and have a hit of golf. Fraser drove us there (he's on his L Plates also), and we had a brief wander around, but there were no flags in, so we assumed that it was closed.
We then drove over to the footy oval, and started hitting shots there. We all hit some surprisingly good balls and had a lot of fun.
Fraser teeing up
Justin examining something
Justin teeing up
Then back to the house for some lunch out in the garden
antipasto lunch
The kids then played a bit of totem tennis - which is a favourite
Totem tennis isa lotta fun (from the old ad)
Totem tennis isa lotta fun (from the old ad) #2
Totem tennis isa lotta fun (from the old ad) #3
But, back to the golf - we had so much fun earlier, that later in the afternoon, Justin, Fraser and myself hit practice golf balls in the garden, and all did very well then too.
Justin swinging
Justin has just hit the ball
Justin took quite a few photos of myself and Fraser - and because of the time lapse? the golf clubs seem bent in some of the photos
Four!
look at that concentration
four again
getting ready
almost
what a shot!
and again
and again for Fraser
So, we had a great time - unfortunately Mad didn't come out, so we're all much better golfers than her now! Also didn't have to worry about making divots in the grass - because there wasn't any! In fact, believe it or not sometimes we missed the ball, and so sent up plumes of dust - unfortunately for Justin he didn't get any on the photos of this ( I did cheekily say we could have staged a shot, and Justin, ever the purist wouldn't hear of it.)
Despite all the dust - there were also some glimmers and teases of green grass
some tentative green grass
The kids wanted to catch the 5.30pm train back to Melbourne on the Saturday night, so we drove them into Bendigo, and dropped them at the station. And I think (or tried to persuade them) that they had had a good time.
Bendigo station
Bendigo station #2
Justin and I thought we'd have dinner in Bendigo, but didn't realise that there was an Easter parade with people lining up and down the main streets in position some hours before the parade started
pre parade crowds #1
pre parade crowds #2
pre parade crowds #3
Apre parade crowds #4
So, we wandered around trying to find somewhere good to eat. The restaurants on the parade path were pretty busy, so we also looked in the side streets. Ended up at a Turkish place which was pretty good.
part of our Turkish dinner
Watched a little bit of the parade when we finished dinner - lots of local fire engines and I assume fire crews marching. Unfortunately for me, Justin's not much of a parade person, so we only stayed a few minutes, and then drove back to Inglewood (luckily no kangaroos)
Bendigo Street parade of fire engines
you can see the fire engine now
Sunday, and Jan and Peter joined us for lunch (left over fish pie and salad - delicious!). Showed them around what we had done since they've been here last ie sanded and polished floors upstairs, new lights, bedside tables etc. They were very kind and complimented us on how much we had done ( we don't think we've done that much at all really)
Also put up some of Justin's Granny/Grandpa European paintings in the yellow room
Granny/Grandpa paintings
And took a photo of Basil making himself very comfortable on the new chaise longue
Basil making himself comfortable
Anyway, had a very enjoyable afternoon and went for a walk in the scrub/bush later to show them the eucy iron wrecks etc - and continued on a circuit that I've walked before
walking through the scrub
Found some large bones just by the side of the road - one hopes and assumes not human
unidentified bones
Dinner - and we had yummy homemade pizzas. I'd done the dough in the bread maker, and then assembled the fillings, while Justin cooked them in the pizza oven. Sarah had joined us by then, and we had a lovely dinner under the tree
not such a good one of me - oh well
Monday, and it was Easter Monday which meant only one thing! The 146th Rheola Show,. Peter being an old country boy was keen to go to an old fashioned real country show. And he wasn't disappointed. We actually arrived very early, almost as they were setting up - 10-ish. I made a beeline for the cake stall and snaffled 2 x yummy CWA sponges. One for me and the kids, and the other for Helen and her kids. Left them at the stall, as I didn't want to put them in the hot car, nor carry them around all day.
me and the cakes at the end of the day, on the way back to the car
Given that we were early, the sheep dog trials and wood chop hadn't started yet, but the mystery steam machines and vintage cars were there for us to look at. Justin had taken 2 x short videos of one of the machines clanking along - which I have tried to insert as per below. But it doesn't look very hopeful - I can't get it to work here. Maybe Justin will be able to figure it out for me. Helen and the kids found us there at Rheola, as they were staying on for the school holidays, while Jan & peter were back to Ocean Grove after this.
a still of the above hay bale making machine
Hay bale making machine #2
a nice symbol on one of the vintage cars
And then there were the tractors - sadly no old Oliver again this year
tractor pull #1
Tractor pull #2
tractor pull #3
Also some skeet shooting
There was the Rheola Gift and children's races
Here is Michaela
and Xavier went in a race also
And tombola games - I won one! - some plastic toy that I gave to the kids. Had to hook a bamboo hoop over the prize of choice
Of course the sheep dog trials
And Michaela also had a bit of fun non an old fashioned slide
And that was pretty much it, Left Rheola after 1 or so, back to the house to tidy up etc, and then back to Melbourne.
