Justin and I arrived just before 12, so I rushed to the butcher, but they didn't have any pork racks (pity)
The two of us had a leisurely lunch on the back veranda, and I dropped some more of Mum's stuff around to Denise ie Deluxe Mastermind, retro beach bag etc
Next task was to get dinner ready - slow cooked lamb shoulder, and a sticky date pudding
I wanted the lamb in the oven around 1pm, as it needed to be cooked for approx 5 hours
Given that Alison and co were arriving around 3pm, I didn't change into my overalls to do any work, rather went upstairs and read The Age online
And yes, they (Alison, Gregor, Isla, Beth, and Bronte the dog) did arrive at 3pm - peeked on them from the veranda to catch their first impressions....
Gave them the grand tour - and then settled them into their rooms - red room for the adults, and green room opposite for the girls.
Once this was done, I had a few suggestions for what we could do...
ie wineries, Melville Caves, walk down the main street etc
The wineries won, and we set off, although by this stage it was nearing 4pm
The Blanche Barkly open sign was out so drove in - but no one was there. I tried calling Arlene, but I had no mobile reception
So, we continued onto to Kangerderaar winery.
There was another customer couple there, and the woman who is normally there wasn't. It was her husband, I enquired after her (after all this time, I don't know her name), and was told that she was resting, had had a turn with her heart.
We were informed that they are closing down at the end of June. It was just getting too much for them, they'll keep living there, but do nothing with the vines.
We found that very sad (but inevitable). Alison joked that I should take it on....
We tried some of the reds, and bought a dozen - could pick which ones we wanted to make up a dozen for $140, and we also took a punt on 3 x aged red wines that they had dug up from their cellar for $10 each
We then continued on to Melville Caves, and saw lots of of kangaroos - given that the day had become overcast and gloomy and a little bit rainy. Went to the lookout, and through the caves etc. Browns liked it
And then back to the house, was drizzling by then.
Peeled the potatoes, and put them in the oven, and then some cheese, biscuits and olives for starters in the dining room, with a lovely roaring fire
Dinner around 7pm (was really only waiting on the potatoes)
If I do say so myself, it was delicious! Meat tender and falling off the bone, the pomegranate seeds, mint and fetta and nice counterpart to it.
I was pleased that the kids loved it too - everyone had seconds...
And then the sticky date pudding - another winner
Girls went to bed around 9, and remained in the dining room. I also set up the bread machine for a morning loaf
Bronte the dog - settled by the fire
Justin was feeling a bit under the weather - sore throat, oncoming cold, sore back etc - so he excused himself and went to bed. Alsion, Gregor and I stayed up longer, and went to bed after midnight
We organised that we would be breakfasting at 8.30, and then pizza for lunch
Well, best laid plans....
I got up first, as I'd heard the girls upstairs and thought they might want some breakfast. Invited them down, and made them some toast, and then took them back upstairs and turned on the tv for them.
I then made Justin a cup of coffee, and one for myself, and went back to bed, to read
The girls remained nice and quiet upstairs, but were ready to mutiny at 8.50am...
So they crept into their parents room to wake them up. Alison thought they said it was 8.15am, and thought that was late, but not too bad. They were stunned when told it was nearly 9am, and quickly came down for breakfast of fresh bread and coffee.
I then made up 2 x batches of pizza dough in the bread maker with the girl's help
After breakfast we went for a wander around the town
and then into the scrub to look at the old eucy ruins etc
Justin left us after this 9 to go and light the pizza oven, and we continued on my favourite scrub loop
The girls were starting to whinge a little bit - so we said that it was a constant 5 or 10 minutes before we got back to the house ....(a long 5 or 10 minutes, as we were doing a 45 minute loop or so).
We also encouraged them to run ahead and hide, and then jump out to surprise us
Got back to the house after 11, and started on the pizzas. The dough didn't look as high and elastic as normal....but I coaxed it into shape, by kneading it some more.
Alison and the girls helped - and Gregor came in also - to advise which toppings he'd brought - proscuitto, olives, ham, salami, tomatoes, capsicum, basil, cheese etc
We made up 6 x pizzas - with the girls doing a round one each with non spicy salami etc
The weather had improved (was still cold) so we ate outside. Justin did a brilliant job as usual cooking the pizzas to perfection with a lovely crispy base
To burn off energy the girls climbed the tree after lunch, and also helped me pick some olives.. I had planned to brine some with them, but ran out of time, so they took them home to do it there
That said, I did pick some more olives myself, while Justin had a nap - as I was planning on doing an olive demonstration at our next CWA meeting
I was also surprised at how green it had become. Two weeks ago, there was a hint of green in the garden.
Now it was practically lush
A couple of the yuccas were also flowering
And the seedlings that I'd planted 2 weeks ago were still there- hooray, and it looks like I've got a lot of poppy seedlings coming up too- yay again
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