Going all posh

We went to visit a wonderful hippo wading pool yesterday.  It was up in the hills between Mount Martha and Healesville.  It was lovely.  All wet and muddy and gloopy.

But we couldn't stay for long.  For we were going Up-Market!!  We were on our way to the Healesville Country Club for lunch.  And a very delicious lunch it was too.  And there were mountains.  And a golf course.  Oh, and a huge game of pick-up-sticks.  And a pool and a spa and everything.  Tres Posh

Then we went to play with some alpacas.  We tried to convince Frannie to take an alpaca home with us but she seemed to think it wouldn't fit on our Human's balcony.  No imagination.  She could always keep it at our country residence in Tupton.  We wonder if Lucy and Zac would like one in Ballarat?  Or maybe Marmalade in Warragul?

We came home by a slightly different route and saw a mangrove swamp.  I wonder if hippos would like playing in a mangrove swamp.  It looked a bit scratchy

The rest of the photos are here

A visit to Port Fairy

Most of the humans were going to the seaside for a wedding.  Frannie and The Builder were going too, although not for the wedding - just for the ride.  We decided to go too.

We had lunch by the beach.

We went walking around an island.

We saw wallabies (our friend Frank was very excited by the wallabies - he's never seen them in the wild before.  We have, but not for a couple of years.  We were quite excited too!)

We saw lots and lots of birds.

We sat in the sunshine and ate and drank and contemplated the world.

We watched boats.

The humans who were going to the wedding all scrubbed up quite nicely.

We had ice cream.

And we spent quite a lot of time sleeping on the big bed in our lovely room. Sleeping is our very favourite activity.  And eating.  And drinking.

Having a lovely time

We went to visit Sage, William and Marmalade at their lovely house out in the country.  We had our first ever Warragul concert when Sage serenaded us.  It was very lovely.  You can see a video clip of her singing on Frannie's blog here if you scroll down to the bottom.

Frank decided to tease Marmalade.  Marmalade was very cute.  Our hippo chair was very cute too. That's William behind us.  We had a lovely time at their place.  We had vegetables from the garden for dinner and we had a lovely walk around the avocado tree and the fruit trees.  There were oranges growing, ripe for the picking.  We had a lovely, food-filled time.  And in the night there was a BUNYIP on the roof of our bungalow.  At least, Frannie said it was a bunyip and we're sure she would be right.  We are not sure how a bunyip would get on the roof.  Perhaps it might have been a possum.  And we were woken in the morning by kookaburras singing.  Lovely :-)

Now we are in Ballarat, where we have been very cautiously playing with Lucy and Zac.  Lucy and Zac are not little dogs and we have no wish to be eaten.  But we had some lovely snuggles.  But soon we need to get up.  We are going to Port Fairy this afternoon. That is quite a long drive

Food, yum diddly food

We've been having a lovely time.  We went to Mount Martha, to Grandma Stella and Grandpa Tony's house and lots of people came and there was lots of lovely food and many cuddles and a few games.  We got to play with Ian's new Peugeot.  The roof goes up and down and up and down and up.

Then we went to Sorrento so Grandma Stella could go shopping.  We must admit - we had always thought that Sorrento was in Italy or France or somewhere, but it seems it's near Melbourne by the bay.  Then we had lunch in Mount Martha before heading back to the Melbourne flat for steak night. The lovely Mandee came with her friend Zoy.  Mandee has been to visit us in our Country Residence. The lovely Cassie came too. And so did all the boys who usually do steak night.

The photos are here

Goodness Gracious Us!

Frannie announced that she and Lindsey were off to a hen night.  Oooooooh, we thought.  We like hens.  Can we come too?

Frannie explained that hen nights didn't, ordinarily, involve actual real chooks and that customarily only females attended such events.

We were very curious.  We wanted to know what happens at hen nights, especially if there are no hens.  But how could we get in, if only females are invited.

Brain wave.  We went to the Build a Bear shop and bought girlie clothes.  A nice matronly dress for Bernard, a girlie girl sparkly t-shirt and shorts for Sleepy, and a tutu for Frank.

And disguised as women,  we went along.  All in the interests of science, you understand.

We were a bit surprised when we got there to find there were easels.  Goodie, we thought.  Drawing.  We like drawing.  There was champagne and pizza as well.  It was looking to be  good night.  And we don't think anyone noticed that we weren't really girls.

But what were we to draw?  There didn't seem to be any fruit or flowers or anything else to make a still life of.

And then - into the room strode a young man clad only in a dressing gown.  You can imagine our surprise when he cast off the dressing gown and COMPLETELY NAKED assumed a pose.  We were to draw a naked man!!!!!!!!!!!  Not once, not twice, not thrice - but FOUR times!

It appears that "hens" nights are things that women do before one of their number gets married.  The bride and her friends all went out clubbing after the excitement of the life drawing.  We went with Frannie, Lindsey, Emily and Jess for a Moroccan meal.

The Builder went to the football.  Members stand at the MCG.  He seemed to have a good time.  But there were no naked men. Or not that he mentioned

Meeting new friends

When Frannie said that we were going out for lunch with a friend of hers, we were very excited.  We like lunch.  We like meeting new people.  And we especially like meeting friends and having lunch in Carlton.

What we hadn't realised, though, was that we would be meeting a dignified dignitary.   An Emeritus Professor of Theology.  We had no idea that Frannie knew such elevated people!  He was very charming, and seemed very pleased to meet us. A very pleasant afternoon.

We enjoyed lunch as well.  Pizza.  On Lygon Street.  An excellent afternoon!

Then we went to Ballarat and met the new chooks.  More friends.  We kept well out of the way of the doggies, though.  We have no wish to be chewed

Lunch at the beach

Lindsey and Frannie had decided that we needed a trip on a tram and a visit to the beach.  So off we went.

The tram was quite exciting, although we are hopeful of a trip on one of the old trams, now only used for touristy things.  But we can be touristy if need be.

Then we went to the beach.  We paddled in the sea and played chasey with the waves.  We went for a walk on the pier and admired the boats.  We had a lovely lunch in a cafe by the beach.  We even sat outside, for it was relatively mild, especially compared to the temperatures over the winter in Tupton and Sheffield. We've had hot chocolate and tea, and chips, and a meal in a pub.  And perhaps the odd glass of wine.

We've been walking and pottering. We've played football with Simon (although I'm not sure Sleepy was quite expecting to be the ball!). We're having a good holiday :-)

On Saturday evening, Frannie and Lindsey are going to a hen night (though they tell us there won't actually be any hens there).  The Builder and Simon are going to the football and perhaps to the casino.  We have been pondering our options.  We are not so keen on the football - the footballers might also decide that Sleepy would make a grand football.  We might go to the hen night and see how you can have a poultry do without any chickens present.  We're told that only girls are supposed to go.  We are off to the shops today to buy girl-disguises!

We're in Australia

It's very exciting.  It's not all that long since we were last here, but we've never been with Frannie and The Builder.  We've also never been with our friend Frank Lyon, who has accompanied us this time.  We have three weeks of adventures lined up.

We've been travelling in style. We went from Tupton to London in a first class train carriage. We stayed in a very swanky hotel near the airport. We flew from Abu Dhabi to Melbourne in BUSINESS CLASS!!! (Frannie had organised an upgrade for us - we are wondering how to convince her to buy an upgrade for the whole return leg; it was extremely comfortable and the cabin attendants were delightful). Etihad economy class was quite comfortable, but the business class cabin was wonderful.  There were buttons to play with.  And the chair had lots of settings.  And there was a massage facility.  It made our bottoms bounce!

We could get used to this level of luxury.

Now we're in East Melbourne in Lindsey and Ian's flat.  There are lovely views of central Melbourne.  And we have been making friends with Jennifer Cuddles, a venerable teddy who has very graciously allowed us to come and stay with her.  She is very charming.  And has a lovely flower on her hat.

We're going on a tram today :-)

Our only complaint (so far) is that when we woke up on Sunday morning, preparing ourselves for a vigorous 24 hours of travelling - we found that there was NO TEA in our hotel room.  Just coffee (first thing?  in the morning?  BEFORE TEA?!?!?!?!?) and camomile rubbishy stuff (BLEURGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH).  What sort of a hotel doesn't provide tea for thirsty travellers? We shall stay somewhere else on the way home

You will find the photos here