Sunday, March 29, 2015

victoria: melbourne, castlemaine, mount franklin

Farewell Tassie! We will be back! 


We had a crazy what-could-have-been-disastrous moments when we disembarked the Spirit of Tasmania. We'd planned out route out of Melbourne, avoiding the CBD, when, as we approached a bridge J, thankfully, noticed the CLEARANCE 3.0M sign. And was able to stop twenty metres before the bridge. Luckily, whilst there was a steady stream of traffic, rush hour wasn't in full swing. 

The CB radio comes in so handy in times like these and I jumped from the truck to check the traffic behind the van. We were able to wait for a break in the traffic and do a u-turn. That got the heart pumping! 

First stop was breakfast and I'd opened my Broadsheet app the night before to plan ahead. I hadn't been to Zaatar on Sydney Rd in Coburg before but this place made us a mean coffee and amazing pizzas (think Lebanese Gozleme with fluffy dough) for breakfast. 

"Okay - we'll have a second coffee. Why not?"

Our boy noticed a man with a cowboy hat grooving to the music and he decided he'd draw a portrait of him. After a few minutes B stood up and took it over to the man. He was so pleased to have received the drawing that he presented B with a $5 note. Rarely have I seen B floored but he was. His face glowed and it was so lovely.

P quickly grabbed a texta and went about making her own portrait of the gentleman. 


Sometimes in life there's a sense of 'meant to be.' Do you remember last year when I flew to Melbourne and J met me there to collect the caravan? 

It was when J walked in to the Brooklyn Arts Hotel dining room that he first noticed Maralinga Test Dummy - a bronze by the very talented Craig MacDonald. J was instantly taken by the sculpture and we decided that we'd buy him and take him home. 

Maralinga Man (as we call him) rode in the kid's car seat for most of the way to Sydney. 

When we spoke to Craig over the phone about his artwork we said we'd like to see his studio near Castlemaine at some stage. Well, we found ourselves with a day and a night to spare and we wanted to get out of the city. 

The Foundry is Craig's studio and where he casts bronze for other artists and we had a ball visiting him. 

As a side project he and chef, Helen have gone in to the business of..... making ice- cream! True story! 

Ice cream Social does the rounds of festivals but they plan to expand and open a shopfront. Watch this space for the ice-cream that will give Messina a run for its money. 

Spaceman enjoyed pistachio, lime coconut, vanilla gold digger (with real gold), salted caramel, cherry Shiraz and peach & raspberry sorbet. 

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