500,000 Steps Seeking Sensational Food and Stunning Wines

 Wednesday 31 March We have booked a cruise on the Gippsland lakes today, so it’s up and away at 10ish to a café called ‘Bloody Good Coffee.’ This is opposite the wharf from which we are to depart at 11.00 for a cruise up Lake King to Metung, where we will have lunch at the pub. The coffee was average but the weather was magical. Dead flat water, clear blue skies and interesting wildlife. Metung is a mix of million dollar houses and boats and old tinnies; bearded grotty yachties and fishermen (no, not ‘fishers’ .. fish -er-men). As our ticket price was inclusive of lunch, we were allocated tables inside the waterfront Metung Hotel and a separate, significantly smaller menu. I think we were in the seniors back room. Get this though, fish and chips on the main menu was $29.90. Where the bloody hell do they think they are? Doyles? Nonetheless, our flathead and calamari were delicious. So too was the rose and the beer. After a march up the hill and around the dale (Lady P has started to

Tuesday 30 March Today we start the road trip. An efficient Uber into Franklin St and we collected the Hyundi Kona from Budget, set the GPS and drove the M1 to Darnum for a coffee. Then on the way to Lakes Entrance, Lady P uses 21 st technology to search for an interesteting diversion, which is ‘exactly what Road Trips are all about’, she says. A short phone call to confirm opening times leads us to the Nicholson River Winery. ‘Never heard of it says Flashy,’ but it’s a winery with a cheese platter advertised, so we turn off the Princess Highway just north of Bairnsdale. Amazing boutique winery run by a senior gentleman and his charming wife. He is an ex scientist teacher and the winery, established 40 years ago is the oldest in this part of the region. Eight hectares of vines produce 10 different varieties of white and red, including a great rose, preservative free chardonnay and a pretty good cabernet sauvignon and a Bordeaux blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc.

  Monday 29 March We have booked into Ben Shewry’s Attica pop up restaurant in the Yarra Valley for lunch. This is a treat for Joanne who has lent us her car for the time we have been in Melbourne and as a congratulations for her new job. We arrive in the middle of the Lilydale Estate vineyard to a sign welcoming us to Attica summer Camp – Beware of the drop bears!! Amazing menu and wines. Shewry is quick to point out that it’s not Attica – this is a temporary venture, just here till May. As a diner, there’s a tremendous amount of bang to be had for your buck. Where the menu at Attica lands at around $300 a head before drinks, dishes at the Summer Camp, will cost you $110 per head including drinks. We started with a glass of Yarra Valley Marsanne, then a bottle of Dominique Portet Cabernet Sauvignon to accompany the mains. For the food, we ordered a fresh focaccia with three spreads; curried egg, hot smoked Atlantic salmon and finely sliced pork pastrami drizzled with hot sauce. Then

  Sunday 28 March An easy start to the day as we have a family spit at Christopher and Sammy’s today. CP’s new spit has got a real work out since Christmas and he has it down pat. After collecting some more charcoal, beer, wine and fuel for the Merc, Flashy is given a taste of the AMG’s sport mode along Camberwell Road. The V8 rumbles and the acceleration is impressive. Back to more mundane matters as we load the spit with marinated chicken and lamb and prep some salads. On request, Flashy makes some chorizo and cheese croquets for Joanne and others to accompany her Spanish Tempranillo. The sun is shining and we sit around in the back yard watching grandkids play and the spit turn whilst continuing to keep hydrated when Tas arrives with more wine and the Champagne is opened. This is all a strong sense of deja vu. We soldier on through the day and Andrew and Katie arrive from their date night at Crown (Casino Hotel), looking very seedy. Katie lasts a few minutes and retires from the m

Saturday 27 March Nanny P and Poppy established very early on that they would like to have the two granddaughters over for a sleepover together and this was the last opportunity that was not a school night or somebody’s birthday. Andrew dropped Lucy off just after 11am so the first two hours was spent enjoying a rather amusing movie ‘Peter Rabbit 2 at the Rivoli Cinema in Camberwell. Jo kept Nanny P company and shared the adult amusement and Lucy did remember some of the funny things but like most of the audience found it hard to sit still for quite so long. A bit of shopping at Kmart followed and then Nanny P in her wisdom remembered the best way to wear out Lucy was to submerge her in a swimming pool. A trip to the Harold Holt Pool in High St followed and an hour later Lucy was subdued and hungry, always a good sign. But there was young Holly to entertain so a short walk to Holly’s house with the $8 K Mart Kite and then off to the large park we headed to fly the kite. More running

Friday 26 March Lady P and Joanne took Holly and Will to the Collingwood baby animal farm for a few hours, while Flashy met Tas at Southgate for a light lunch. After a Guinness at PJ O’Brian’s we adjourned to Pure South, a pleasant restaurant overlooking the Yarra. Flashy noticed that there were a lot of Tasmanian wines and foods on the menu and mentioned this to Graeme (he’s called Tas because he comes from Tasmania). “Well, Flashy, why do you think it’s called Pure SOUTH?” Ah, of course. A very pleasant lunch with a bottle of Pipers Brook Riesling. As the day drifted into the afternoon, Flashy Ubered home to collect Lady P and head out to Katie and Andrew’s for an early dinner at their favourite restaurant in the ‘burbs, Piccolinos. Amazing really. An expensive architectural fit out over two levels reminiscent of an art gallery, with a central wood fired oven. I think we had the B-Team on the floor, as they seemed a bit lost, but the food was very good. Seafood pasta and Caprese pa

 Thursday 25 March Awoke to s drizzly, coolish day this morning. However, Melbourne’s famous weather has been pretty good for the entire trip and we have not needed the thermal underwear, scarfs and gloves we packed in anticipation of an early winter. In fact, we carried our coats today as it was too warm to wear them. Joanne finished work yesterday and will start her new job in a few weeks, so on her first day of leisure, she accompanied Lady P and Flashy to Collingwood to look at funky eye glass frames. Flashy decided that he didn’t want to look like Clark Kent, as all the men’s frames were 1950’s throw backs, so he sat in the big lounge chair (probably reserved for bored husbands) and waited until Lady P had secured her watermelon and black funky frames. On the way back, we stopped off at Victoria Gardens shopping centre to get some lamb for tonight’s dinner. ‘I’d like 15 cutlets, please,’ was greeted with, ‘the butcher is on a 15 min break, come back later.’ Good on you Woolworth

  Wednesday 24 March More babysitting today, although Holly is at day care, so only baby Will to play with. Flashman finished two of his assignments but only managed to lodge one, so a task for tomorrow. Lady P, Joanne, Samantha and Katie had planned a girls night out so Flashy was in charge of baby Will and Holly. Luckily, Christopher and Andrew   handled the bath time and feeding, while he cooked dinner for them. Andrew and Lucy stayed for dinner and unfortunately the only red to go with the steak was one of Christopher’s Penfolds 389. The 2013 was pretty good. The girls meantime had a great night out, celebrating Jo's last day at AMPLA, and life in general - why should these occasions be reserved for 'boys only'? Lady P had prebooked a Broadsheet special 'Pop Up' - The Boozy Mad Hatters Tea Party at none other than Alice's Wonderland, held in an underground bunker/bar opposite the Flinders St station. From the initial welcome cocktail until we left 90 minut

Tuesday 23 March Lady P walked around to Sammy and Christopher’s to mind Holly while Flashy attended to his Cert IV TAE assignments and managed to lodge one of two due soon. The weather has turned grey and a little drizzle, but remains mild in the low 20’s. Some might unkindly say, a typical Melbourne day. We had to go into the heart of the CBD to collect a desk from Joanne’s old work and it was a surprisingly quick and uncrowded trip. I suspect many are still working from home. A touch of excitement when we just made it past an ‘extinction rebellion’ march along Elizabeth Street. I reckon if they glue themselves to the road, we should leave them there so passers by can throw garbage on them, just like the good old days! Tacos tonight for dinner. That’s a throw back to the past. I can recall when Andrew would eat 14 in a sitting. I had forgotten how delicious they were and as we had Tas and Joanne as guests, we made a dent in the wine supply as well.

  Monday 22 March We arrived at our new Air BnB last night and had the washing machine working overtime this morning. Now the place looks like a chinese laundry but the sun continues to shine so it won't be long till our suitcases are full of clean clothes again.  Heading into the city soon to return the wine tasting glasses to Harry the Hirer and to plan tonight’s Middle Eastern dinner, as requested by Joanne. It’s a limited kitchen here, so probably buy the dips rather than smoking eggplants and soaking chick peas. Near Harry the Hirer is an IKEA (apparently, well known to Lady P), so we went in ‘just for a look.’ Nothing purchased but we did manage to get all the ingredients for tonight’s dinner. Starters are cashew and sweet potato dip and beetroot dip with pita bread. Main course will be Kibbi with yoghurt, chick peas, tomatoes and spiced eggplant salad and another salad of walnuts, pomegranate and green olives plus a side of orange stock steamed cous cous and dates. All wen

  Sunday 21 March Surprisingly, most of the stayers were in good shape as we scrambled to clean and pack for a 10.00 am departure, which we made by 5 minutes and headed back to Jacki’s for bacon and egg rolls. We are moving into a new apartment today. This one walking distance from the old one and even closer around the corner from Christopher and Samantha’s house. We are in a renovated, one bedroom flat at the rear (quiet) of a Riversdale/Taronga Rd corner apartment block. Very cosy with views of the city. We have found the washing machine but alas, no iron. No matter, we’re on holiday. We went to the local IGA and bought some Flathead fillets, which are just so Melbourne to us. Panned off in French butter from the deli and a fresh salad with a glass of Punt Rd Pinot Noir. Sleepy after a long weekend of ‘eventing’ so to bed early.

  Saturday 20 March Today we are having a birthday lunch for Andrew with the remaining 15 members of the family and friends arriving. There is a little bit of a panic this morning, as the house is strictly a ‘no party’ house. In fact, to book it, we had to provide age, gender and occupation of those staying overnight. Imagine the booking agent looking at seven guests over 60 and the rest around 40, all professionals and thinking ‘here’s a dangerous party crowd.’ It didn’t stop them sending Christopher the terms and conditions eight times. So, we moved most of the cars to Jacki’s house in Mornington and the rest in the garage and on the street - but not on the grass verge, oh no, that would be naughty. Andrew wanted a ‘wine event’ as part of his party – er, I mean event. So, Flashy prepared a Masterclass Wine Blending session for 11 of the guests, presented at 10.30 am. All participants agreed that it was a lot of fun, with a single point separating the winning team from the other t

  Friday 19 March With vehicles heavily loaded with food and wine, we headed down to Mt Martha for the weekend to celebrate Andrew’s 40 th birthday. We have booked a six bedroom house on the hill overlooking the Bay and with distant views of the city skyline. For once, the Melbourne weather is typically autumnal with a beautiful 23 C. The locals in our crowd used the swimming pool while Flashy managed to remove his fleece jacket. We have brought a mountain of wine. Christopher has managed to bring the top shelf Champagne and a couple of 389’s while the rest of us have enough just in case we are isolated here for a month! Tonight, there are 11 of us plus the three grandkids and Andrew has requested a French menu for Flashy to prepare. Joanne steps up as my sous chef and we make some tagliatelle with a borrowed rolling pin, hanging the hand cut strips over broom handles suspended between the island bench and the cooktop.  The smoky pancetta, blistered cherry tomatoes, caramelised shal

  Wednesday 17 March Boys lunch day today. This is a tradition set a few years ago, that sees Christopher and Flashman enjoying a long lunch at a famous restaurant. Tas joined the team not long after we started and Andrew, if he was not working, also came along. Today, we decided on Guy Grossi’s Florentino Grill, a long established and well known Melbourne restaurant. So, it was an Uber into the western end of Burke Street to rendezvous at the RACV Club for a refreshing beer in the new downstairs bar. Tas is a member, so we also ventured upstairs to the wine bar for a sparkling and a rose. No sign of Christopher yet and Andrew unfortunately is working. So Tas and I entertained the waitress by checking our temperature on the temperature checking machine in the doorway every couple of minutes (36.2C so no COVID alerts). As it was a beautiful 23C autumn day, we walked to the eastern end of Burke Street and arrived at Florentinos five minutes before Christopher. Refreshing gin and tonics

 Thursday 18 March Lady P and Flashman went to the Prahran Market today. We were looking for duck Maryland for the family dinner at Mt Martha on Friday night at the start of a weekend celebrating Andrew’s 40 th birthday. It has been decades since either of us were there and it was remarkably quiet. Perhaps the effect of the pandemic, with people still a bit concerned with crowded places. After a successful expedition which included the purchase of genuine Normandy butter from France,  we packed the groceries in the car and headed home. We’ve been in a home exchange flat in Glen St, Hawthorn since we arrived and it is brilliantly located just off Riversdale Rd/Glenferrie Rd. Being an old flat it is huge. Two large bedrooms, a wide hallway and an adequately equipped kitchen, the classic green overtones of tiles in a large bathroom with a very deep bath which enabled Nanny P to soak away all the city stresses. It is up 26 steps, so this will get the step count up.

  Tuesday 16 March In keeping with the theme of ‘steps’ and recognising that we are well behind the task currently due to said birthday parties and celebrations, Lady Penelope was picked up in the dark of night at 5.30am by Jo to go to her gym for a quick workout. She returned as dawn was breaking and I think she crawled back into bed for a Nana Nap while I headed out to Andrews to supervise the removal of a medium size tree that had planted itself in a gap no more than 300mm wide between the garage and the wooden paling fence. I had to review my 'Wine Blending deliveries' that had been delivered to Tas' and spent the rest of the day sourcing other small but necessary items to complete the kit. I collected Lady Penelope in the streets of East Hawthorn having discovered a very salubrious Op Shop with some serious quality bargains out the front including a Nina Ricci denim skirt from Rue Moulade in Paris - a steal t $30 and a very useful item given Melbourne has turned on s

  Friday 12 March We were driven to the airport in Paul and Sheila’s Land Rover, so an auspicious start to a road trip. Jet Star requires face masks from the time you enter the airport and throughout the flight and as law abiding citizens we complied. I can’t say the same for a number of fellow passengers, who thought wearing a mask was hanging it on your chin. Why the crew don’t enforce a mandatory requirement I don’t know, but there’s always those who want to buck the system and mostly it’s women. Although to be honest, two blokes in front of me pulled their masks below their noses and chatted like.. well you know.. all bloody flight. Then there’s those that walk around with an empty take away coffee cup and no mask pretending that they are drinking. You know they’re not by the smug look on their faces. Makes you want to smack them in the head with a cricket bat. Nonetheless, we arrived in Melbourne to be greeted by our mate Tas and a seamless transfer to Andrew and Katies. Pla

  D-day minus 1 We are off on the retro road trip tomorrow and this prompted me to think back fondly on the road trips that were a common way of travelling in the 70’s and 80’s. Air travel was too expensive for poor uni students in the 70’s and way too expensive with three kids in the 80’s.  The car was our lounge and kitchen on wheels. We thought nothing of packing three kids in the back of the big Falcon and driving 2,000kms in two days. Half the fun was in the planning. Packing a gas cooker to boil the billy, sandwiches and fruit, paper maps and street directories, public swimming pools for a shower and a cooked chook on the pool lawns and pre-dawn departures watching out for kangaroos on the roads.  I think it appears more fun in the recollection than it probably was. An interesting Australian phenomenon the road trip.  In the 70’s, Tas and I would do one or two hunting trips each year and the long drives out to Hay and Oxley on the Lachlan River hunting pigs, quail and bloody gr