Flaming Victoria

It is meant to be autumn, but we have enjoyed summery weather during our stay in Victoria.

We leave Melbourne tomorrow, San Francisco bound. Time has flown – it seems like we arrived yesterday but it has been over a week.





Melanie flew in from Hobart for two days. She and all of the Howes joined us for our wedding anniversary, which we celebrated at a great “Europeanised” Japanese restaurant, which hardly needed any decorations as it had so many awards on the walls!



Maundy Thursday saw Sophia and I dropping Melanie at Tullamarine airport for her flight home. We then picked-up Deborah and drove to their house at Blairgowrie, on the Mornington peninsula. Very attractive and peaceful. Harvey did not join us until Good Friday as he was golfing on Thursday afternoon. We had a rendezvous at the Sorrento Hotel, to which Deborah, Sophia and I walked, mainly along the shoreline. We had already “earned” two Coopers promotional T-shirts before Michelle and Amy, their daughters, joined us.



We had a lazy afternoon, a walk around the ocean beaches of Blairgowrie and then (of course) a barbeque.



Saturday saw us driving to the Morrises’ palatial home at Cape Schank to pick-up the boat that the Howes share with the Morrises. We saw the house just after they had bought in 2000. Over the last 7 years they have made it a fantastic home.

We took the boat to Martha’s Cove, Safety Beach (formerly Shark Bay!), where there is a public boat ramp. Martha’s Cove is an extraordinary place. A network of canals has been formed going more than a kilometre inland, and a massive marina development has commenced being built. The main coast road now goes under the viaduct that the boats use to access Port Philip Bay.



The boat whisked us at high speed down to the heads of Port Philip Bay. As it was windy and choppy we headed back to the relative shelter of Portsea, where we dropped anchor and had lunch. The eski was well provisioned!

On Easter Sunday, in Deborah’s Saab Aero, Sophia and I drove to Sorrento and then caught the ferry to Queenscliffe. As we left Sorrento we were treated to the spectacle of dolphins riding the bow wave. From Queenscliffe we drove to the Great Ocean Road and on it to Anglesea. Another trip down memory lane as we used to own a beach house there. Bruce and Karen Andrew welcomed us to their house on Minfie Street – a fantastic location on a no through road just back from the main road and a short walk to the river and beach.

There was much catching-up with Bruce and Karen. In the gap of 7 years since we last visited, their two elder children, Sophie and Nick, have become adults and Ben is 15…



The weather for all of the Easter break was stunning, getting better as the weekend progressed. It was sufficiently hot at Anglesea to tempt me into the surf twice.



As we headed back to Melbourne at about lunchtime on Easter Monday, the temperature was over 30 degrees.

On returning to Melbourne, we visited a new landmark: Federation Square. A good place for people to congregate and the arts, but we were not wild about the brash architecture that seemed to be trying to integrate an ethnic Australian “feel”. I suspect that it will look dated and tacky after a few years.

We then headed to Toorak where we caught up with another school friend, Hugh Foxcroft and his wife Robyn and children Alexandra and John. A brisk walk around the opulent streets of Toorak, with some very expensive if at times garish, new building taking place, serving as a further reminder of Australia’s prolonged boom.

We had a very pleasant evening with Hugh and his family. Again catching-up and comparing notes. Hugh is a silk at the Victoria bar specialising in construction work so it was interesting to compare notes.

This morning we have been getting organised for our departure tomorrow. We are soon to pick up Deborah from her office at the factory of Ashwood Designs before a frivolous last afternoon and evening in Melbourne…