Trivia Night & River lunch at Newbridge Friday 16 March - Sunday 18 March 2019

A big weekend for young and old....

I worked from home (or rather Karen's home) on Friday, as L'Oreal had wanted me for the whole week

Karen got home around 4, and we left for Inglewood around 4.30

All was going well, (apart from a bit of traffic) until I asked her where the signs to Bendigo were now.  I had seen them earlier, but they had somehow disappeared.

Well, that meant that she had been so engrossed in our chatting that she missed the turn off, and it cost us another hour or so. Oh well, we saw some new bits of Victoria

Got to the house around 7.30pm, quickly unpacked, grabbed a bag, some wine, plates, glasses, cutlery (Karen had bought some Asian for dinner) and off we drove to St Marys for their annual trivia night.

Maile and David had invited us, so were on their table with a couple of other people

Most people had gone to a lot of trouble dressing up as their favourite book characters.  Maile was a witch,

 David was a pirate....Karen and I didn't dress up, and were berated all round.  In my defence, we didn't have time, and Maile had said not to worry about it

It was a huge do - hundreds of people -saw  quite a few who I knew. ie the table behind us had Michael, Michelle & Genevieve, Jamie & Michelle etc. Another table had Howard and Noi, and Troy etc

There were also some great dress ups ie a scary Carrie from the Stephen King book

Justin and Fraser arrived towards the end

I was thrilled to win a door prize - car 1st aid kit and a $25 Caltex voucher

Karen and I also posed for a shot

Given our small table numbers (compared to the others), we didn't distinguish ourselves - did well in the book round though.

But it was fun, and we'll probably come back again next year - in costume this time

Bit of a sleep in on Saturday, and then off to Newbridge for the Karen Martini lunch which was fabulous

Fraser drove (and I selflessly volunteered to be the supervising driver to and from)

First up sparking wine on the veranda at the Newbridge Sports Club

And then inside for lunch

There would have been about 15 tables of 10 people each, therefore approximately 150 people by my calculations

We sat on a table with Stuart from the Bendigo Bank, and Kim from IDTC.  Rachel from Dunolly was also there, sort of MC-ing the event

It was a marvellous afternoon with delicious Loddon Valley food and wine.  Lots of courses....

Here's the menu for the day

And here's Fraser with the Slow Roasted Lamb Shoulder

Karen Martini also came out to have a chat and invited questions form the floor.  Karen and I both asked one

And Fraser even won a prize (there were quite a few on offer) for being one of the youngest people there.  Rachel had seen me egging him on... It was a Loddon Valley Food gift pack - Local Olive Oils, capers, jam etc  - Yum

Justin and Karen also enjoyed themselves

After lunch we walked around the oval, and saw Arlene and David, Chrissie and Mark etc with their wines.  Also bought some local saffron from Dunolly, some Newbridge wine, and some local cheeses.  Would have bought some smallgoods and other stuff, but their eftpos machines didn't work, and we didn't have much cash - oh well.  Let's hope they do it again next year.

Home, and a bit of a nap, and then a very easy pasta dinner with my own local produce ie my salami, parsley and garlic from the garden, my olives etc

We had a game of Pictionary after dinner, was lots of fun, and then out onto the veranda for some cooler night air

Fraser took these photos of us, in the first I had my eyes closed, in the 2nd I made sure they were open, and ended up making a rather silly face

We had a relatively early night, and Karen made us bacon and eggs in the morning

Karen left mid morning, and we asked Fraser what he wanted to do.  He suggested hitting some golf balls, so he went and got the equipment out of the shed

Came across a few redback spiders (and egg sacs) unexpectedly - no bites though, so all's good

 Drove to the oval, and whacked a few balls.  On this occasion, Justin was the best, although Fraser and I hit a few good ones also.  Justin was more consistent

Back home for some late lunch, and then Justin left

My CWA friend Nicole came and visited later in the afternoon as she had been to a Craft exhibition in Bendigo, and I invited her over if she was interested (she was)

I took this photo of Fraser from our bedroom mirror