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Saturday 19 May 2018 - We had a lunch date with friends at the Marina Bar and Bistro in Hastings on the Mornington Peninsula. We were to meet at the Bistro at 12.30pm and arrived around 12.00 noon after leaving home around 10.00am and stopping at the Ripple Cafe in Tarwin for a coffee for the trip. Because we arrived early we thought we would go for a walk along the Jetty and have a look at the boats moored at the Marina. The majority of boats were sailboats which we thought was interesting. Hastings is on Westernport Bay which is tidal and the tide was out at the time, we noticed the boats coming in to the ramp could only go so far and then they had to hop out onto a smaller Jetty and drag their boats up to the ramp to load on their trailers. There was a group of about 10 men fishing at the end of the Jetty we were on but they didn’t seem to be having any luck and were packing up to leave. It was 12.20pm so we walked back to our car to drive around to the Bistro where we were meeting our friends. When we arrived they were already there so we went in and joined them at the table they had booked. The men sat up one end of the table and we sat at the other. We relaxed and had a drink before ordering lunch but it was obvious after awhile that the waiting staff wanted us to order so we did. Lunch was good but like most pub meals these days they were far too big. After lunch we asked the drink waiter to take a photo of us which he happily did, however, he did say he wanted to charge us $10, he took the photos and they all came out pretty good. We all ordered another drink and sat talking until 3.45pm and then we went for a walk around the marina before walking back to our cars and parting company. Robb and I had booked accommodation in Rosebud at the Bayview motel for the night so we put the address into the GPS and turned towards Rosebud. We stopped at Aldi on the way to pick up some wine and snacks for our night away and I also picked up a bottle of sparkling wine to take to our friends tomorrow. We arrived at the motel at around 5.30, checked in and went to our room where I unpacked and we accessed our devices and had a glass of wine each. We decided to get something simple for dinner because we aren’t hungry after our big lunch, and we both decided on KFC as we had seen an outlet on our drive to the motel. We were both fairly full and didn’t eat much so we cleaned up and sat back to watch the royal wedding between Harry and Meghan Markle. We weren’t really that interested but there wasn’t anything else on TV with all stations having the same broadcast. We enjoyed it though and when it finished we were both really tired so we turned the TV off and read before going to sleep.
Sunday 20 May 2018 – We were up around 9.00am, our usual time, and we cleaned and packed up and dropped our keys back to the office. Yesterday driving to Rosebud I had seen the sign for Heronswood House the home of the Diggers Club which I am a member of so we decided to call in there before driving to lunch with friends in Mornington. We were both keen to have a coffee too so we thought we could go to the restaurant at Heronswood for that. Robb wasn’t really that interested in going to Heronswood and was only going because I wanted to. We parked the car and I took a couple of photos of the beautiful views over the bay from the carpark and then we walked in the entrance. We were both impressed with our first inspection of the gardens and as we walked further along I could see Robb becoming more interested in looking around. A gardener approached us. We probably looked a bit lost, and told us how to enter the gardens, house and restaurant which was through the shop. We approached the girl on the counter in the shop for information and because I was a member it didn’t cost anything to enter the gardens where it normally costs $10 each. She suggested we visit the kitchen garden and told us where it was so we left and walked around the back to the entrance and walked up and down the beautiful aisles of vegetables and flowers growing in this part of the garden. We walked back following the signs to the restaurant and met the gardener again on the other side and I asked him a couple of questions I had on planting and he directed us to the restaurant. The restaurant is part of the original homestead and to reach the entry you have to wind your way around the absolutely stunning gardens which just seem to go on forever and every now and then you get a glimpse of the bay through the trees. We finally arrived at the restaurant and sat at a table by the window where we had a great view over the yards and outside seating area. We never eat breakfast but decided to have scones, jam and cream today, Robb had a pot of tea and I ordered a coffee. We had two scones each and it was too much for me but very enjoyable and the staff were all very friendly and made us feel welcome. When we finished we walked around the back of the house to the gallery and stopped in here for a look around and then walked back to the shop to see if there was anything we wanted to buy while we were there. We came out empty handed but the whole experience was worthwhile. We have a lunch date today with friends of ours from Apex days and we are going to the unit they have just moved into and redecorated, they have lovely taste so we have high expectations of their home. We said we would be there around12.00noon and it was 11.30am now and it was going to take about 20 minutes to drive to Mornington from where we were so we put the address in the GPS and headed off. We arrived just before 12.00noon and we were met at the door. We had a look through their home and as we thought it is beautiful and then we sat at the table and our friend poured a champagne for us. Lunch was still cooking but the dining room is beside the kitchen so we sat talking while we were waiting for lunch. I was a bit concerned because I had eaten the scones, that I might not be able to eat lunch but it smelt so good I didn’t have any problems at all. We had meatballs wrapped in proscuito, mashed potato, broccolini, fried tomatoes, and a cranberry sauce. We changed to red wine but I stuck to the champagne because I am not a great fan of red wine. We had a great time and sat talking for four hours before heading off home, we could have sat there for another few hours we had so much to say but we can catch up on the rest next time. Because it was a miserable day weather wise it was already getting dark and we wanted to be home before Masterchef. We found the fish truck we sometimes stop at just before Tooradin so Robb hopped out of the car because he had a coat and it was raining and he bought fresh fish and seafood for us, we know the seafood is always good here so we usually buy a fair bit to do us for awhile. Robb chose, flathead fillets, flake, scallops and oysters (for him) and he will cook a tomato fish bisque for dinner tomorrow night and make fresh bread to go with it. There is a little shop that sells flowers and fruit in the area the truck stops in and I wanted cherry tomatoes because we have decided to have biscuits and cheese for dinner because we have eaten so much over the weekend. He didn’t have any cherry tomatoes but we had a little chat about preferring to buy local produce and then before I knew it he went out the back and chose, as he said, ‘Special Tomatoes’ for me and they certainly were, they were similar to ones we had in Italy and they are absolutely beautiful, he sold me these for the same price as the ones he had on display. I thanked him profusely and then went back to
the car and our next stop was for fuel which is ridiculously expensive at the moment. We then went through the Drive Thru at McDonalds and Robb bought a coffee because he hadn’t had one yet today and I bought a hot chocolate because I can only drink one cup of coffee a day. On our way again and we had one more stop now, because we had the seafood we needed fish stock to make the soup for Monday night and it is a bit difficult to find, so we stopped at Woolies in Leongatha to get that. We arrived home around 6.30pm and took all our shopping and travel things inside. I changed into my jammies and unpacked everything and Robb set the fire, it was getting closer to the time for our show so I prepared a cheese platter and we sat down to eat and watch.