Special Visitors Come to Visit.....

As many of you already know, this past week has been extra special with my Dad and wonderful stepmum, Heather, coming to visit with us.  It took them 2 1/2 days to travel down by car - a fantastic effort on anyones part, but especially when the driver is 83 yrs!  They arrived on Sunday and left to return home yesterday morning (Thursday).  So for family and friends who know us all - here is a bit of what we did............

The rest of Sunday was spent with them just relaxing here at home and getting them settled into a little cabin we had booked for them just up the road from us.  The one thing I really hate about here is that we don't even have room to put in an extra bed for visitors (and with Pete up getting ready for work at 4am each morning, it just isn't fair to have people "sleeping" in the lounge & getting woken up at those times!!. 

Pete and Stace went off in the boat crayfishing in the attempt to catch a crayfish for them to see and have a taste of....... Success!!!  They managed 1 solitary crayfish of the legal size, which we cooked up the next day for them

Monday we headed off on a little road trip - First stopping in at a local olive grove where Heather enjoyed tasting the various olive oils and dressings,   then we headed to Yarrawonga (17kms from here and our closest town), where they enjoyed looking at the Lake Mulwala and checking out the weir on the Murray River before we had some morning tea in the township.

Then it was down some country roads, including the occassional detour when crossings were out due to the past flood waters, down some dirt roads to head towards the family winery in Taminick.  Booth Broths Winery, now knows as Taminick Cellars,  is where Pete grew up.  It was founded by his great grandfather and has been in the family for close to 110 yrs, and is now being run by his cousin and his son.

They were amazed by the history of the place and Dad had lots of questions to satisfy his curiosity about how they pick grapes by machine and such.
Then it was time to head to Glenrowan..... just a few kilometers away.  Dad happened to mention that it looked like bushranger country LOL...... Well, he was right - this was the area where Ned Kelly used to like to roam around...... and Dad was thrilled to bits to find that out as we entered Glenrowan and he saw the statue of Ned Kelly!

Tuesday dawned lovely and sunny and we enjoyed spending the morning sitting on the verandah in the sunshine.  Heather had a great time on Sunday evening looking through my bookshelves and finding a book to read while she was here - and Tuesday morning with the lovely warm sunshine proved to be just the time to sit and relax and read, while Dad and I headed around the garden checking out all the plants.  He is a fantastic gardener and so I was after all the advise for my garden that I could get while he was here!  A trip to Rutherglen (28kms away) to get a few things for dinner in the afternoon proved to be of lots of interest to them.  They enjoyed a walk up the historic shopfront street, and a look at the historic water tower.

Dad and Pete spent quite a bit of time looking through his camera checking out photos from various excavation work around the district.  Scruffy throughly enjoyed the extra attention he received from Heather and Dad! 
Wednesday was my 50th birthday and one of the biggest reasons for them making the trip.  We decided we would have a day travelling around other parts of our region........... so we went through Boorhaman (where they got to see our old house), and headed to Beechworth where we had morning tea in the famous Beechworth Bakery

And below is Woolshed Falls at Beechworth.......

Then headed over to Myrtleford , stopping on the way at one of the lookouts.  Heather fell in love with the view here.........

But it was time to head to Myrtlford and have our picnic lunch........

That night was our dinner out to celbrate my 50th. 

We had a great time, and all too soon it was time to wave goodbye as they set off to drive back home.   We miss you guys already xox