Nimmitabel: A Work in Progress: Tempy High Reunion #3 Thur 13 Feb

Whew, was so rushed on Thursday morning, wanting to get stuff organised/tidied up and then catching the train to Bendigo - fully laden down with stuff...

Justin and were originally going to drive up on Thursday night - and he would have worked from home at Inglewood on Friday, but then he had to appear in court on Friday - so that plan went by the wayside

I didn't want to have 2 cars there - so caught the train

I also brought up some groceries for the dinners - so I had an esky and a small backpack to manoeuvre. And it was hot - 37 degrees

I had to organise the V line ticket from Southern Cross, so had to leave earlier for that - caught an 11.50am train to Flinders St (preferred to do this than drive to a manned station)

Was on a strange external line for Bendigo - no benches to sit down, and no reserved seating on the train. Was ok though as I nabbed a forward facing seat with plenty of legroom

Got to Inglewood close to 5pm, as the train had to go slower because of the hot/extreme weather timetable

Relaxed, cooled down, went to the IGA for some further supplies, and made the New York Cheese cake for tomorrow night's dinner

Had a cheeky takeaway hamburger for dinner

Friday, and more cooking - pate, red dip, Vietnamese chicken salad, Thai fish cakes etc

Also went to the butcher and bought a lovely big lamb shoulder for dinner on Saturday

Now, despite it being stinking hot on Thursday, it was a much more manageable 27 degrees today - so cooking wasn't too bad

And after all the cooking - I did some sweeping/vacuuming. Carolyn (no Tim) arrived first (around 4pm) - while I was doing this - still with my Nimmitabel apron on.

Was finishing up when I got a call from the doctor - yep - it was confirmed I had 2 chips and a crack on my ankle - will have to wear a moon boot.....( I had injured myself back in mid December when helping Mad and Hughie to move, hadn't realised there was a step down into the lane way - and went over badly on my left ankle, but thought it would just heal itself)

Anyway, we soon adjourned to the rotunda where we enjoyed a restorative glass of bubbles

Darren ( who had had surgery on his hand) and Gail arrived soon afterwards, followed by Dave, (no Natalie) and Will (no Derek), and lastly by Justin who arrived around 6.30pm. Greg (no Tori) was coming on Saturday. We were supposed to be 14 for the weekend, but there were some late pull outs - so dinner on Friday was 7 of us (me, Justin, Darren & Gail, Carolyn, Dave & Will), and dinner on Saturday was 9 of us - those 7 plus Greg and Wayne.

And of course further bottles of bubbles had been brought out and consumed

I guess we went inside around 7pm, and I organised the main course - the Vietnamese Chicken salad and the Thai fish cakes (didn't have nibbles, had some pistacchios outside with the drinks)

Finishing up with the New York style cheesecake - which was a bit sloppy for some reason

Wayne and Helen showed up some time later (they're staying at the hotel)

Ended up in the rotunda again for a few hours - and then back inside because it was getting a bit cool - it was quite windy. A great night!

Not too late a night - but late enough

Suggested an 8.30 breakfast catch up - just simple ie toast/cereal.

Breakfast took a while, as guests took a while to emerge.

A walk was suggested, so we went to Bridgewater, and Carolyn and I went to the swimming hole - on platypus watch - sadly none. While Darren, Gail and Will went for a longer walk

The corellas were extremely noisy, was pleasant by the river despite this

Came back and organised the lamb shoulder for slow cooking in the aga

And then had some lunch under the big tree

While we were at the river - Dave had perused our cellar, and found an ancient bottle of Brown Brothers 1993 muscat

It actually wasn't too bad! Had thought it might be vinegar -as the cork was looking a little sorry

After lunch went and had a nap (I had taken a while to fall asleep last night, and then woken up much too early)

Got up around 4.30pm - and went up to the music room - where Justin, Wayne and Dave were having a bit of a jam

And then back downstairs to continue with the dinner preparation, watermelon/fetta canapes, tuna/cucumber canapes, peach crumble, roast potatoes/carrot/parsnip etc

Greg showed up around then

Had starters in the dining room - pate, red dip, and those 2 x canapes. Dave was very effusive in his praise

Main course was a triumph - the lamb was delicious

And another very good night was had by all

Greg broke out a Japanese rather smoky whisky, and I introduced them to my Fab Spiced Sloe gin. Both bottles were emptied by the end of the night

Wayne somehow fell off his chair (both chair and Wayne were fine)

I went to bed around 1.15am - was the last woman standing - leaving Dave, Greg, Darren, Wayne and Will still up. Luckily I fell asleep quite quickly, but could still hear the occasional shout/music etc

Wayne and Greg were the last men standing - and left around 5.30 in the morning - going back to the motel. This is the first pretty much all nighter that we've had at Inglewood

Below is the dining table the morning after

Around 9.42 am while I was sitting in the kitchen having a coffee (no one else had emerged at that stage) we received a group whatsapp asking if the motel keys had been seen. I had seen some keys on the table when I'd taken the earlier photo, but hadn't looked too closely at them. And yes, it was the motel key, plus some car keys

Wayne was then going to run over here, pick up the key, and then check out - all before 10am - check out time. This was never going to work - as he undoubtedly would have still been way over the limit - and so couldn't drive back

I volunteered to drive the key up to him - much easier and safer.

Did so, and took Wayne & Helen back to our place (where their car was)

Had more welcome coffees out in the rotunda