The Easter Bunny

brings Easter Eggs which are some of the yummy things that make Easter bad for us. After all our good intentions of not succumbing to these temptations we lasted until Saturday as I could not find a hot cross bun (on Friday) to buy in any of the local shops. But after a visit to the city the next afternoon we came home suitably stocked up for Sunday.

So what to do on a four day break when some of your dear friends are on a verandah many miles away. Apart from wishing we were there, of course. Well as I said we checked the 'what to do' list and managed to fill in our four days rather well I think.

With Easter being the perfect time for catching up with family & friends we did just this. After a quiet start to Friday and after chatting to Sarah for her birthday and to see how things were progressing with Baby Harris we drove down and met Mum & Maree at Maree's new home. After a video call to Faye & Ethan in the Netherlands we all went down the road to have dinner at the Chelsea Hotel. A nice afternoon/evening was had by all. We caught up with Gareth by phone the next day.

Saturday was a shopping day as we went in search of Easter goodies, then finished off the day with the Evil White Rabbit at Spamalot. With the show finishing it's Melbourne run in a few weeks we thought we had better hurry up and so we went along and did laugh out loud. It is a very funny show and you don;t need to be Monty Python mad to enjoy it. Dinner at Automatic finished a great night out.

Sunday was a beautiful day and just perfect for a BBQ with Astrid, Hans & Bianaca at their place in Healesville. Verity joined us and we had a great day. Lots of fun and far too much food, including Easter Eggs. No one needed dinner that night, though we couldn't say no to the cheese platter that we washed down with some more lovely Yarra Valley Red.

Monday and it was off to Telstra Dome to see Essendon play their first game of the season. After a very slow start the tide turned and we left there as winners. It was very hard to return to work on Tuesday morning after such a lovely break. Still we managed to get through the day as we counted down to the next weekend.

So here's hoping you all have had an enjoyable Easter and did not eat too many of those yummy (really bad) things.

A real change in the weather saw us getting out the coats & scarfs, and the beanie for Bill, once again. It's amazing how cold it felt after our heat-wave of the last few weeks. Still no one is complaining about the rain that came with the cool change.
At least it felt right being at the football this week (in the cold). After the game, which we shall not even mention here, we met up with Verity and went to the Portland Hotel to see a great comedy act from SA. Jason Chong is in Melbourne for the Comedy Festival which is in full swing now and we all laughed so much, I didn't think we could stop. Dinner afterwards finished our weekend and it was back to work the next morning.

Without a rabbit or an egg in sight for this weeks photo I went back through the albums and found this rather rustic sculpture we passed in Tassie, just as we were leaving Strachan. He's the closest thing to an Easter Bunny I could find. Enjoy.

Until next time...............

Melting in March

is just what everyone did until yesterday. Tuesday had the hottest overnight March temperature ever in Melbourne, it was 28 or 29. I cheated and left the aircon on all night. And of course Adelaide has blown the record books away as well. Bill has had to suffer with no relief as he tripped in & out of both states on a regular basis. But at last the heatwave seems to have subsided leaving us with lovely cooler Autumn weather. The never ending heat may have slowed our movements down a bit but did it stop us - no, never. The tram did get a used a bit more than usual, though I think it was actually hotter on the tram than off it.

Our first foray into the heat was by car to Langwarrin. It was an open day at Cruden Farm raising money for Heart research & Diabetes. Cruden Farm is the home of Dame Elizabeth Murdoch AC DBE. The gardens are just lovely and the lady herself and her gardener were sitting out the front quite happily chatting to the people about their beautiful gardens. I had seen it on telly so as soon as I saw that it would open it was the only thing to do that day. A very warm day saw lots of people looking for the shaded areas but the heat did not stop many hundreds of people visiting.

The long weekend brought Moomba to town again with all it's Water events and carnival atmosphere. With temps in the high 30's we dedcided to give the outside a miss until the sun was going down. We wandered over to the river & Alexander Gardens after dark and were in time to see the Circus on Waterskis and the fireworks. An iced coffee by the river and a walk home was the extent of our big night out.


And then the GP last weekend. Again with a forecast 39 we decided that it was not the place to be. We did get to see all the areobatic action on both days as the Roulettes & the F18 Hornets came sceaming past our place each day. The Jumbo flying at 1000 ft up the back straight was an awesome sight as it banked right at our intersection of Kings Way & Sturt St and then flew up up & away. I don't think I ever want to see a Jumbo that close again.

Sat night we found a great new restaurant/bar. We went to Manchester Lane for dinner to see one of the bands that I saw at the Jazz festival. Swing-it!!. I thought that Bill would enjoy them and I was so pleased that he did. It is such a great little place. Great food, great service and great music, what more could you ask for. I think there will be a few more visits there and who knows what other groups we might find.

Our last foray into the heat was on Monday night when we had dinner with some friends from Darwin, we ate at an outside table at E Gusto at Southbank. What were we thinking. Still it was half in and the aircon did sort of reach us. Cold beer & cold sparkling cooled us from within. A great night was had. Pity we had to get up early the next morning.

So with Easter almost here it's time to wish you all a safe & happy weekend. I hope you all have a wonderful time with friends & family and enjoy whatever you do.

For Bill & I it's time to check out the 'What to do' list once more. We really will miss you all and will be thinking of you over the next few days.

Until next time.......