Carnival of Flowers

We did a family outing to see the floral displays at Laurel Bank and Queens Park this year. The timing of some displays had not quite worked but it was still a nice way to spend Sunday morning. On the way home we drove by Ian's house and were spotted so we had a look at his almost finished renovations and caught up with Jen, Gary and Ann as well.

Sunday

Our morning walk took us up to the hospital, through Henderson Park, Deakin Avenue to 12th street and the pool, then ?
We went out to the school where we wandered around, talked to a few people but found it too noisy so we grabbed a hamburger then drove out to Merbein and Wentworth returning along the river by 2pm. We parked the car at Olive Avenue then walked into town to meet Jan for a coffee.
Then it was back to our highlight happy hour and dinner with Ron and Bronwen.

Paddlesteamer Gem

Wentworth Wharf

The Junction - river gums drowned by the weir downstream

Saturday

We started Saturday with the Farmers Market down near the wharf. It is a nice grassy location under trees and a good place to meet and mix.
After lunch we walked back down for the 2 hour cruise on PS Melbourne. I really enjoyed this 25 years ago at the 75th celebrations, but this time we did not mingle as much and I only saw one person I recognised, but I enjoyed sitting with Dick and Bronwen. It was interesting with the visiting paddle steamers which had come for the centenary of the Melbourne the previous weekend, and also the high river with the weir pulled out.

We enjoyed another great happy hour at Olive Avenue before driving out to Club Da Vinci 

Friday in Mildura

We started the day with a walk along eighth street to the new marina then back along the river, where the visiting paddle steamers were loading wood on the wharf.
After breakfast we headed out to the school by 10 am for registration on the front lawn, a tour of the buildings with a senior student, then Community Singing in the school hall which is now a dance studio. I met up with Janice Hill, Heather Marshman and Joanne Facey so it was nice to sit with old classmates. There was a great roll up and enthusiastic singing for over an hour. I had taken my old songbook but they provided new ones which was nice.

In the afternoon we went for a walk, and called in at the Bowls Club to see if our fathers were recorded on any honour boards, but some had been taken down for renovations.
The evening event was drinks at the Brewery which is the old picture theatre. It was noisy, crowded and very little food which came infrequently later, but I caught up with quite a lot of people who had just arrived for the weekend. It was bad luck that the venue was not sufficient as many people missed out because they did not book early, although it turned out that they did not miss much.

Hay to Mildura

We woke to a windy morning so we drove into town looking for a spot to have breakfast and opted for the bought version at the hot bread shop. It was noisy with bread making but the coffee scrolls were good although the cappuccino I ordered came as a tea bag in a cup, having asked if they had coffee.
We had a look at the old gaol and the railway station with references to the Dunera boys from 1941 who were dumped at Hay until they replaced them with POWs.
Across the one tree plain to Balranald where we called in at Yanga Station which was sold to National Parks in 2005. It overlooks a large lake and is made of logs and is quite impressive. We then had smoko in town beside the river - again high before driving on through Euston to the Murray where we found the Marion just below the Gol Gol pub so we stopped to take it all in, being a lovely day.

We had intended to go on to Wentworth for lunch to avoid arriving at that time but got a message that lunch was waiting us in Mildura which was most welcome.
We went for a walk down to Rio Vista and Loch 11 with the weir lifted out, then back along the riverbank before settling in to happy hour prior to our first event at 6pm: the opening of the art exhibition at Gallery 25 at the end of Deakin Avenue. This was followed by a quick walk up to the old Carnegie Library for the  launch of Glen Miller's history of the school where we caught up with Ron.
It was nice to be able to walk to these things - a similar distance to when we lived there.

The long weekend

January has long gone but we are having a good summer, while floods and fires rage elsewhere. The lack of rain means that we spend a bit of time watering and we are enjoying the lawn and sprinklers. We have also had a lot of beans and small tomatoes to pick regularly.
We enjoyed the Australia Day long weekend with lunch at Scarborough with Margaret, then across the Gateway Bridge with our new e-tag, arriving at Mullum in time for evening drinks and a meal outdoors as it was very hot and humid.
On Sunday morning we had a swim at Brunswick Heads. Strong sideways currents and bluebottles at the surf beach so it was a quick dip there, then we walked along the beach to the river where we enjoyed a nice cool swim.
We drove across the hills through Federal to Lismore for lunch with Margaret and her friends. A storm preceded us so the narrow overhanging roads were littered with debris in places and very green and fresh. It was interesting to reflect on the changes to this landscape since we first came in 1980. Margaret's friends had come from Sydney around that time, to grow macadamias and have recently retired to town. I came back with a nice collection of plants from Margaret's garden.
We headed home on Monday morning, taking the old road north from Mullum to the new highway. It had also been a hot weekend in Toowoomba.

Oxygen African

As we were not camping last weekend, I emailed some friends to see if they would like to try the African dinner which is done at Oxygen cafe each month. The responses were nice and prompt and fortunately I booked just in time.
The entree was a nice lentil soup with some small bread things and meatballs. The mains were lamb, fish and vegetarian. The fish was very much cooked Nile perch with a nice sauce, on hand-rolled cous cous which was bigger balls than usual. There was a very small bit of salad on the side. I also tried the hibiscus flower drink which was like a sweet cordial.
We also tried the deserts - a sweet semolina porridge with some cooked fruit, and a sweet potato one with some fruit. They forgot to bring the coffee that we ordered.
The Somali girls did the cooking and waitressing and perhaps also the menus. It is a nice exercise by the Cafe, where at least one of the girls works regularly, and a full house. It was good to have a group of 6 of us but noisy and it gave an added appreciation of entertaining at home.