What a fantastic week!

Mum, Dad and I went to stay with some friends of theirs. Alison and Graham used to live in England and Mum tutored their three girls. The family now live on a beautiful 100-acre farm near Gembrook, a couple of hours drive outside Melbourne. They have a holiday cottage on their land which they kindly lent us for the week. They were incredibly kind and welcoming, leaving us everything we might possibly need for the week in the kitchen as well as insisting we ate with them every evening. What hospitality!

It was a real treat for Mum to spend time with the girls, and for me to finally meet them. They are such delightful children and wonderfully easy to be around. We spent time with them every day playing games, exploring the area or being entertained by their medley of animals! Let me see if I can remember all of them: 10 cows (new calves named after the Kings of England for Mum's approval), 5 alapacas, 1 horse, 4 miniature ponies + a 2-week-old foal, 1 emu, 2 goats, 1 donkey, lots of chickens, 6 cats (2 with only 3 legs) and 3 dogs + a 4 month-old puppy. Amazing!

Our first day was spent falling over laughing in the field with most of the animals. The puppy upset the goats which chased the children. This spooked the emu which began chasing the foal and kicking at anything and everything. The mummy pony then began chasing the emu which was now chasing the puppy which the girls were trying to catch. The goat then bit the donkey which retaliated, kicking it in the head. Throughout this escapade, Dad narrowly avoided being butted by a goat whilst trying to photograph it all, and the alapacas watched serenely, staying well clear of the action. Marvellous!

The other days were not quite as action packed but were certainly just as enjoyable. We were lucky with the weather and only had a coupld of days of rain, which were mostly spent playing cards with the girls (and teaching them Su Doku ). One day we explored a nearby town called Warburton which had a beautiful river where we had a picnic. Another day was spent at a lovely garden called Cloude Hill near Olinda (not quite the same kind of place as its namesake in Brazil!). It has a series of small walled gardens with a beautiful array of different plants and scupltures dotted around. It was very tranquil and restful. We also had a yummy lunch there.

A real highlight of the week was an evening on an old steam train called Puffing Billy. It used to run as a passenger thrain in Tasmania but when it was taken out of service they moved it over to Gembrook to run on the old cargo tracks. It is a tourist train which normally it runs in the day but they sometimes put on sepcial dinner services. We boarded the train at 7.30pm and were served starters and wine as we puffed our way along the track for an hour. We disembarked at "the Shed", an old packing shed transformed into a dining room and decorated with lovely Christmas things. We had a delicious meal whilst being entertained by a guy with a guitar and a backing track (he won me over from the start by playing Pink Floyd's 'Wish You Were Here' as we came in). Once everyone had finished eating, he picked up the tempo and played a few classic cheesy tunes to get people on the dance floor. There was an office Christmas party there who got the atmosphere going. The girls and I hit the dancefloor and I was able to teach them my best air-guitar moves. Needless to say they were very impressed. At 10.30 the train whistle blew and we all hopped back on board. We were served port and cheese as we chugged back to where we started. It was a really fun evening.

On the weekend, Vicky and Grant joined us at the cottage and we all went to the farmhouse for dinner and a night of games. After yet another delicious meal, we split off into groups of 4 and played cards, Rummykub and Pictionary. Vicky and I were initially in the same group but decided it was an unfair advantage given the years of Pictionary playing we had behind us as well as the spooky sister mind-reading trick we have whilst playing (as witnessed on New Year's Eve 2004! Remember that, guys?) so we separated. The game playing was fantastic fun and a bit of a blast from the past for me.

On Sunday before we left, Grant and I managed to squeeze in a quick go on the family's quad bike which they use for feeding the animals. Amesome fun! We also picked about a hundred lemons to take home as they have some enormous, overflowing lemon trees which they just can't get through quick enough! There are only so many things you can do with lemons...

We finally left the Andrews family in peace on Sunday and drove back to Melbourne. We all had a brilliant time this week and we're extremely grateful to them for all their kindness and hospitality. Hopefully we can all do it again in the not-too-distant future.