A long weekend of exploring my own backyard.

This last week has been a week of divergent interests. My watercolour class was challenging. We were doing a landscape and learning new techniques of line and shadows. Jolly hard on the one hand but also freewheeling and fun on the other.  I squeezed in a meeting at the Box Hill Campus because I felt the need for some feedback from colleagues.  I feel happy I am on the correct path but I am also getting behind and need to ramp up my effort because the wedding in Thailand is looming and I need to have two classes covered by someone else.  Being back at work even for such a brief time really feels constraining. I think I transitioned too successfully last year! 

I had booked a couple of seats for a talk by Roxane Gay an American writer, feminist and blogger. She was at the Wheeler Centre talking about being a 'BadFeminist, the title of her book. She was very provocative and so interesting. The audience knew her  and her work really well but Janine and I were quite ignorant and had selected  the talk by the topic. The audience was comprised of many young women many probably gay.. It was a stimulating evening and quite outside our normal range so I felt we had made another strike for the new us! 

Anyway Just when I was finally focused and firing over my lecture the printer died and I needed to take it to be repaired. This was time I didn't need to waste when I had a long weekend of socialising booked. I had a wedding to attend on the Sunday and had decided weeks prior to make a weekend of it with my friend Janine. The wedding was down at the Eagle Ridge Golf Course at Rosebud on the Mornington Peninsula. This is such a delightful part of Victoria that I have only explored in fits and starts. Janine is from the other side of the bay, the Bellarine peninsula and isn't that familiar with the area either.  We were staying at a pretty dodgy looking(very old) motel. I was in trepidation when we arrived yet it was clean and the beds were comfy and the pillows were excellent. Even the shower was great

Our first stop was Sorrento a charming up- market village on the bayside where we had a second breakfast of Spanish omelette and coffee. After planning our day we took off to Gunnamatta a beach on the Bass Strait side of the Peninsula. This is a rugged beach and had romantic memories for both of us. when we were in the early stages of our courtships Peter and I with Eric and Janine made a similar visit. The beach was windy and we playfully chased each other in and out from the water's edge laughing. I remember my hair was windswept and Peter catching me in an embrace and calling me sexy. I thought he was too! Young love.

Gunnamatta Beach

Janine and I . We saw a little Echidna as we entered the beach. I think they are so cute and endearing little creatures. That was a bonus.

 From here we ventured through The village of Flinders another charming place and on to Pt Leo to watch the surfers, little black dots atop the waves.

 From here we travelled on to Balnarring, not so impressive a beach and then to Merricks General Store for wine tasting of Rose. The next wine stop was next door at Stoiers Winery and Janine bought some lovely dry champagne. I had to be more circumspect as I was the driver. We turned inland to Red Hill and passed through lovely country with olives and vines and vegetable  farms. We stumbled upon the Red Hill Cheesery and decided to get a tasting plate. A platter of tiny morsels of about 10 different cheeses. every satisfying and interesting with several new Sheep and goat cheeses tried. After this stop we headed back across the peninsula to Arthur's Seat a fabulous vantage point to see both up and down the bay. Finally we wended our way back to our very humble  motel and decided to have fish and chips for dinner. The little place was manned by a Vietnamese or Chinese family and the fare was really tasty. The local bottle shop was able to provide plastic cups for our accompanying wine, Foxy' Hangout a refreshing Rose.

After a surprisingly good night's sleep we took off to Heronswood at Domana. This is an historic home and organic garden, now the home of the Diggers Gardening Club. They maintain heritage seeds and plants. It is a beautiful home built from stone quarried at Arthur's Seat. We caused some consternation to staff by not venturing through the shop initially and thus bypassing the entrance fee. We were looking for breakfast but had to settle for Devonshire tea of scones with jam and cream. The restaurant wasn't open for breakfast.

There were some very interesting plants and beautiful  old trees.

At the left is thee early bud of the flowerDutchman's Pipe- very intriguing creeper. I thought it was quite hermaphroditic!

The picnic tree.

We returned to the motel for me to get flamed up for the wedding in my sparkly dress and earrings.

 The happy couple I discovered the bride's aunt, who lives in California and I have a mutual friend. It is a small world.

Heather and I at the wedding. She is a florist who specialises in weddings so organised all the flowers for the wedding. They were beautiful. 

Monday Janine and I drove up the coast to all the beaches and towns until we turned inland to visit Langwarren and the McClelland Gallery and Sculpture park.  This is a fabulous place and I will bring visitors here in future. 8 hectares of land dotted with sculptures. Janine and I had some wonderful discussions about the various pieces before we had a tasty lunch at the cafe. 

 Urban sculpture of supermarket trolleys 

Our favourite the Chrysalids(?) by Philip Price. It waved in the wind like trees or seaweed in the currents. 

The Void below was the winner of the 2014 Sculpture competition.

Home to Melbourne and a rest.