Someone asked if we were going away this last school holidays and I replied no, because I got the kids Netflix instead. I was joking of course… (not really).
So apart from watch tele, this is what we did –
01. Overseas readers might find what I’m about to say incomprehensible… But my four kids have never seen snow – that was until our visit to Lake Mountain. So glad we can finally tick it off the list because I was reminded of why I hate snow (on account of it being cold and wet).
02. The highlight of the day was a walk to the Lake Mountain summit (that’s the view at the top of the page)..
03. Had to choose between going to sausage dog races and a mindfulness seminar one morning… which is the biggest #firstworldproblem ever. Anyway, the sausage dog races won. There were dogs dressed as tacos, Priscilla, sheep, the Red Barron, and rappers. Obviously a worthwhile outing.
04. Had a few glorious days at Phillip Island with a friend and her kids – two adults, eight children…we survived, probably because we both embrace sensible things like this:
05. We popped into the Dior exhibition. Stunning.
06. My daughter finally got her own sewing machine. If I’d done this on day one of the holidays, I wouldn’t have had to do anything else.
07. We weren’t planning on going to the Royal Melbourne Show this year but in the end we had to because this (completely up myself now….):
08. A Show highlight for the kids was trying the Lolly Bag cake (apparently ‘as seen on Masterchef‘). Just so you know, the layers from the top are: Redskin glaze; spearmint leaf buttercream; lolly banana joconde; musk mallow; mandarin jaffa ganache; Freckles crunch; lolly banana joconde; dark chocolate. I have no idea what a ‘joconde’ is (apart from a wanky word for cake) but the Freckle crunch layer was sensational.
09. PSA – Bertie Beetles are now available online (so you don’t have to go to the Show to get your supply).
10. Discovered a fantastic new Indian restaurant – check out Piquancy if you’re in the hood (I can highly recommend the Kerala Fish Curry).
Bookish Thoughts is hosted by Christine at Bookishly Boisterous. Stop by, say g’day.
The first time I saw snow I was in my 20s. It was on the edges of the road near Ballarat and I thought another truck must have had a spillage. Been to Jindabyne twice and Lake Mountain once and that’s it for 60 years (there was snow in the Pyrenees in April but I didn’t actually go in it)
I have a similar snow history – saw it once when I was 5 (cried the whole time because it was so cold); then the next time I was 16 (saw snow falling in Germany – that was amazing). Fast forward to my 20s when I went cross-country skiing three times. Hated it. And then Lake Mountain two weeks ago. As we left I was thinking “Well, that’s the last time I’ll visit the snow!” *hopefully*
Oh, that cake… We in the south of the UK rarely see snow these days but when we do you can be sure there’s a big fuss about it.
I think if it was a very rare thing, I could cope but I really couldn’t like in a place that had snow all winter.
1. So your sometime-in-the-future-Iceland trip will be in the northern-hemisphere summer 🙂
8. That cake does look delicious!
It will most certainly be in the summer! (My husband always teases me about the fact that I hate snow and yet Iceland is my dream destination…).
My sister hates the cold and refuses to come visit/demands that I come visit her instead 🙂
I don’t think the cold is that bad, but the constant darkness during winter is harder to get used to.
Everything in this post sounds awesome. I’m feeling hard done by though because I’ve never been to sausage dog races 😀
The best bit about the races was the slo-mo replays on a big screen, complete with a Benny Hill soundtrack.
I’ve gone from feeling hard done by to completely insane with jealousy – it sounds like the best thing ever! I’m off to google if anything similar is happening in the UK….
Congratulations on the tomato relish – having recently joined the newly formed Alphington CWA at ACC I now fully understand how important condiment competitions can be. After you WIN next year you should join too -and do the ‘judging training’ to become a royal Melbourne Show judge … imagine.
I hadn’t thought about becoming a judge but now that you’ve planted the seed…
That’s a cake and a half, very impressive even though I have no idea what some of those flavours are.
All are very old-fashioned sweets in Australia. The cake was, as you can imagine, very very sweet (probably why the kids LOVED it).
ah I see, one of those that just to look at it means you gain weight
I’m with you: I hate snow!
And I’m sure you have to put up with more of it than I do.
Not really… 19 years in London, I think I’ve endured it about 5 times.
I hate snow too! But I live somewhere were we get it a few times a year. The kids love it, but I avoid it as much as humanly possible. Sounds like a fun trip! *^-^*
Love the sensible things you embrace! LOL.
The cake looks decadent…and so does the Dior Exhibition.
Enjoy your weekend…and thanks for sharing. Now I want that Fish and Chip dish…and the Champagne, of course.
Here are MY BOOKISH/NOT SO BOOKISH THOUGHTS
Another snow hater here. I experienced lots of it when I was young, before global warming changed the weather. I grew up in a town midway between Manchester (lowland) and Oldham (edge of the Pennines), so snow dumped on us a lot in the 70s & 80s. Cold, wet, dirty, melts into sludge, source of snowball hell & sledging disaster (hidden rocks cause blood & broken glasses), ugh. Rant over.
Who wouldn’t choose sausage dogs in costumes over mindfulness? I’d be in that moment, with the slow motion Benny Hill replays, in a heartbeat!
Congratulations! YOu’ve hit the big time with the Royal Melb Show! Amazing! Ditto re the fish curry. We had a great night!
We had our first snow storm on October 2, with about 6 inches or so (which is quite a bit that early in the season). I’ve never lived anywhere that doesn’t have a distinctly long snow season, and I really would love to.
At the same time, I’m so used to it, that I would probably miss it.