We left The Meadow for a little road trip down the South Coast. Our first stop was about a 3 hour drive south which was just abut our limit as the night before my Sister had a nasty fall and hurt her knee. She tripped over our Chocky Dog who is admittedly rather hard to see lying in the hallway in the dark. She came down really hard on her knee and couldn’t put any weight on it whatsoever. We were a bit worried she may have snapped a ligament or dislocated her kneecap as it swelled up straightaway and things were looking less than good however a drugged-up night’s sleep had her packed and balancing on crutches with a knee brace and ready for the off! Luckily she could stretch out a bit in the back of the car and prop it up on a pillow with an icepack working its magic. By the time we arrived in Narooma for our lunch she was able to manage enough to get to our waterside table and enjoy a fantastic Mexican style lunch washed down with a chilled French rosé and enjoy the ambience. Justin Hemmes has taken over this old fishing shack and imbued it with his usual sense of style – in this instance straw lobster pots hanging from the ceiling and surf posters from the Pacific that dotted the walls, The hero was the view (and the food) and we had a very pleasant couple of hours before heading off to Bermagui for the night where we stayed in the old beach side hotel and enjoyed the laid back atmosphere and comfy rooms alongside a spot of shopping in the small boutique shops – 24 hours after leaving home we felt as if we were well and truly on holidays!
Then we pootled off to Merimbula where we had heard of Sunny’s kiosk situated right on the lake and doubling as a boat hire location next to the oyster leases. We enjoyed a delicious brunch here – especially the smashed avo with spicy coconut sambal and fried curry leaf. The best thing is the amazing location and relaxed feel and they also serve cocktails at dusk which would be pretty hard to beat I reckon….
After a night in Merimbula where we dined at the quirky Valentina and stayed in a great old school motel with an amazing pool and outdoor area we headed home via Cupitts in Ulladulla as it was Mothers Day in the UK and we had never all three been together on Mothers Day since we were kids so we treated the Matriach to a grazing platter and an aperol spritz in the 35 degree heat! Somewhat different from the 5 degrees it was in England that day! I can thoroughly recommend a Far South Coast getaway, the scenery is beautiful and the food is fast catching up to the rest of the East Coast. Who needs Europe???
We managed to get an appointment with the local physio to appraise Sandy’s knee who gave her a list of dos and do nots as well as some exercises. He massaged all the fluid surrounding it and the pain was worth it as it started to subside a bit. Knowing she hadn’t done anything permanent gave her the courage to use it more and she graduated from crutches to Mum’s stick (who luckily didn’t need it!) All this just in time to board a flight to Hobart and spend 4 nights reconnecting with Mum’s great granddaughters and meeting little India Elizabeth (who was named after Mum) in the flesh. It was so special to have 4 generations together and for Mum and Sandy to get to know the little girls as well as spending some lovely grown-up time with Loz! I stayed in their new house (on Myla’s top bunk) and amazingly there was a lovely Tuscan style hotel just around the corner for Mum and Sandy to stay! We enjoyed a wonderful night out with Loz in Salamanca where we had cocktails followed by a great meal at Peppina and caught up on life. Hobart is a wonderful city with so much to see and do no matter how many times you visit!
We visited the Salamanca Markets where Sandy finally got to try one of their world-famous scallop pies, we watched magicians and classical guitar players, perused the many local artisan stalls and ate yummy food. We visited the Huon Valley and lunched at Willies cider shed, checked out sheep cheeseries and had an amazing morning tea in Cygnet, browsed local antique shops and drank some lovely wines as well as fish and chips on the beach in Kingston while the girls played happily and in the evenings we ate at Lozzy’s place and chatted happily (and noisily according to her MOTH…) until it was time to say goodbye and fly home. We had a fab few days and I was so happy that my girls got to meet Laurens girls at last!
Back in The Meadow we finally got to celebrate the wedding of our close friend’s daughter. She was one of the victims of Covid and the enforced cancellation of weddings in 2020 and missed out on another 2 planned dates before finally making it official this year! It was beautiful, held at Jaspers – a local wedding venue – and for us it was doubly wonderful as we caught up with people we hadn’t seen in over a decade! A truly happy weekend. Congratulations Penny and Greg.
We had a week to play before heading to Sydney to see the other half of the family and the weather was on our side. Glorious early Autumn weather meant blue skies and sunshine during the day and cool evenings perfect for eating and sleeping! We made day trips to Jervis Bay and beautiful Hyams Beach followed by lunch at The Husky Pub, met up with friends at Cambewarra Lookout for amazing scones and homemade jam, had afternoon wines at Two Figs and Mountain Ridge Wineries and had a lovely walk over the cliffs at Kiama Downs to see beautiful Minamurra shimmering in the afternoon sun. Coffees were had in just about every town you can think of and we constantly reviewed the beauty of the multi million dollar beach houses dotted along the coast. We nattered incessantly and we constantly laughed at the different ways we pronounced the same words – who would have thought there would be so many differences between two English speaking countries! All in all every day was GOOD and we just appreciated being together!!
Our final mini trip away was to Sydney to see the great grandsons and we booked a little apartment in Manly, a 2 minute walk to the beach and a great spot to enjoy a couple of days in the big smoke without having the hassles of parking. We caught a ferry into Circular Quay so the tourists could once again see the beautiful Opera House and Bridge and we had a lovely seafood lunch in their shadow. Also in the shadow of an enormous cruise ship which kind of spoiled things but what can you do? They seem to be everywhere that we go – even the smaller places they park offshore and ferry them in so there is no avoiding them. I think it’s their sheer size that gets me more than anything – they literally block out your entire view! Anyway….we had a lovely time seeing the sights and then back to Manly and a twilight drink overlooking the beach with the surfers, runners and dog walkers passing by as the sun set was quintessentially Aussie which the girls loved. A Greek meal at a local restaurant had us feeling like we were in Mykonos and a colourful breakfast at Boathouse got our next day off to a good start.
We headed to Seaforth and had a lovely day with Livvy and the boys, she went to a lot of trouble to give us a beautiful lunch where her Mum joined us and the little boys played happily around us. Gigi got to read a book to Cooper and even play soccer with him – not bad for an 86 year old! I feel now that both Mum and Sandy have properly met all the kids and that they in turn know their British relatives better which makes me very happy! That night we met MY boys at Hugos for a super meal and lots of delicious wine together as well as a lot of laughs which had the wait staff mentioning the ‘energy’ coming from our table – definitely a night to remember! It always amazes me how much you can fit into a couple of days and how much a mini break feels like a holiday! We were officially over half way through their big trip now and we were aware of time ticking by but luckily we still had Easter to look forward to….
My Move To The Meadow 