Because we missed a day-out trip to Mornington Peninsula on Monday because of illness, we decided to go on Wednesday instead, as the forecast weather showed temperatures ramping up again. We popped the girls into daycare/kinder, then Bella and I did a yoga session before we jumped in the car around 10.30am and set off. It was a good 1.5hr drive to the southeast of the city, through vineyards and rolling country.
Our first destination was a sculpture park at one of the wineries. Bella hadn't been here before, and it proved a delightful experience. An impressive number of sculptures were scattered beside a maze of pathways, and set against the backdrop on a beautifully designed winery building on one side, and the sea on the other. We spent a very pleasant 40 minutes wandering around, with the huge and unexpected delight of coming across a Plensa sculpture. We have been lucky enough to see his works before, in the major urban setting of Bordeaux and incredibly, at our local art museum in Ceret, France, which had a major exhibition of his work in 2015. However, we would never have dreamed we would find one of his works in a reasonably remote rural setting east of Melbourne. Plensa is one of the most famous living sculptors, and his work is highly sought after across the globe, and is worth many millions of dollars.
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| 3D Plensa sculpture |
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| Sculptures with marine backdrop |
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| Sculpture pathway |
We drove the short distance to Mornington village to enjoy lunch at a local pizzeria, before returning home just in time to give Heath a quick feed, pick up the pushchair and race to pick up the girls. Now Rosie has started Kinder, pickup time is clearly set as 4pm, and not any time afterwards.
Bella and Nic had a 'date night', going out for a Vietnamese meal then a movie. We are making ourselves very useful as babysitters. On getting home they raved about the movie (Green Book) so much that John and I did a double act and went out to the same Vietnamese restaurant and saw Green Book the following night. It was indeed a very good movie, and destined to win the Oscar for best film.
It was about time we got back into some swimming so we opted to do that on Friday morning. The outdoor pool at Glenferrie Road is such a lovely pool, and at 50m length is a pleasant to swim in rather than the enclosed 33 yard pool at Riverside in Nelson. Friends of Bella and Nic's flew in later in the day, en route home to London and also having been at Nic's sister's wedding in Whitianga. They all went out together on Friday night, meeting up with other friends who were also transiting through Melbourne. In fact, the two guys were two of Nic's groomsmen at B&N's wedding seven years ago. They had a wonderful evening out, while John and I were kept pretty busy with the three kids on the go. Bedtime for them was a bit of a relief, and a glass of wine hit the spot.
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| Three kiddies can be a handful, literally |
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| Violet giving Bunnings Bear some milk |
Saturday morning is swim lesson time for Rosie and Violet. Rosie has just moved up a class. However, having not done a long walk for over two weeks, and with our trip to Japan only a few days away, J&I decided we should put our walking shoes on and put some miles under our belt. We found our way to a pleasant walking/biking track not far away, and walked a solid 17km over the next few hours. The route was along an old railway reserve and took us through some lovely residential areas, parks, playgrounds and reserves. Much of the track was shaded by large trees and it was a great find for more walking experiences in the future. Of course we had to stop off at a cafe for a coffee on the way back, and arrived home hot but happy around 2pm. The entire family and friends had had post-lunch naps. They set off to the pool again to catch some cool water and for the girls to have a play. We stayed behind with Heath. He is no trouble at all - either sleeps or gurgles away merrily on his mat on the floor.
It was a seriously hot day again, so Bella's friends opted not to go to their evening music concert but stayed and had fish and chips with us, followed by a movie on TV. A bit of time in the garden on Sunday morning, before the heat, let us get rid of a few weeds and pull out the overgrown kale from the vege garden. Bella and Nic visited some friends in the afternoon, two of whom had just had their first baby, then we all went to the nearby Auburn Hotel. We met up with other friends, again with a new baby, and with grandparents in tow. It was interesting to chat with the other grandparents, who are very well travelled, based in Wellington but visiting sons around the world.
Our last full day here, Monday, there was no question but to head to the pool again and get in a few lengths. It was so nice, especially with another hot day on the cards. Bella had popped into her previous workplace and things are looking good for her when she plans to go back to the office next year. We enjoyed brunch together then spent the afternoon doing washing and packing our bags for Japan. It feels good to be able to leave quite a few clothes and other bits and pieces here, and shrink the size of our bags quite a bit. If we didn't have our ski helmets with us our bags would be pretty skinny.
Our son flew into Japan yesterday and has already texted to say how much he is loving being back. He will get in three days skiing before we arrive in Hokkaido. John has just read in the news that Hokkaido had a 5.7 earthquake a few days ago, but I'm more concerned about how I'm going to deal with skiing in heavy powder than any earthquake.
We can't wait for Japan. It feels like one of the more exotic locations we have travelled to, and it is lovely sitting in the airport waiting for a flight to Tokyo! The snow looks as though it will be a bit spring-like which is a pity, but the blossoms should be in full flush in Tokyo at the end of our trip. The Nakasendo Way walk should be fabulous.