saturdays spent really, really well (Red Hill, Victoria)

Ok, so I am two weeks – two whole weeks – after the fact here, but they do say better late than never, don't they. And for good reason, too. Here is my Saturday from just over two weeks ago. No, I can't quite believe it's been that long either. But it was such a wonderful, beautiful day, so I am happy to share it with you, and to relive it in the process!

You may remember in this post that I mentioned we were going on a road trip. We had some family visiting form OS, and we all headed out to Red Hill in country Victoria for a lunch for the eight of us. I'd initially planned on wearing my much loved rust suede shoes, but the grey skies (and my lack of Scotch guard!) suggested that that might not be the best idea. So closed toe shoes it was!

Even if you are only in the car for a couple of hours, snacks are necessary. Coffee, of course, and then my personal road trip favourite – sushi!

We were lucky to have yet another beautifully sunny Melbourne winter's day, but it was actually pretty chilly. My early 1960's tweed coat was definitely needed over my vintage skirt and cardigan. As were my red mittens. I also had an inkling I'd want to go for a country walk at some point and bought along my trusty, comfy boots. John hates them. Or at least he does when I wear them with nice dresses. It's ok, I'm cool with that.

We met for lunch in the middle of a lush nowhere, at a place called Vines, and, true to our form, lunch was a four-houred affair. It is so nice when you arrive somewhere to see a table of glasses waiting to be filled for you (well, it is when you're not the designated driver! And I was happily co-piloting that day!) and some bubbles to begin with were most welcome. We followed this up with plenty of really nice things: oysters, dumplings, fish, steaks, risottos, cakes, and ice creams... yum.

After all that everyone agreed that a good walk was a good idea, and, as we were near Arthur's Seat, we headed off for a bit of a look. The sun was going down at this point, so we enjoyed a good trot through the beautiful woods in twilight, avoiding trees that apparently up and chase you (best fended off via the medium of dance, evidently), slid down kids' slides (weee!) and headed back to the weekend house for, erm, more food. Well, it is winter.