The Kinglake Holidaymakers

Good morning to all you hard working Kuljish family and friends out there.
Here we are at Day 4 of our holiday - time is whizzing by.
Yesterday we warmed up the Mitsi (it needs to run for at least 10 minutes before you drive it) and headed off to firstly Glenburn, then Strath Creek and finally Flowerdale. We (Dad the driver, me, Peter, Gary and Gordon) had our first stop of the day at the Glenburn Pub which would surprise you I'm sure. The publican told us not to expect any lunch to be available as she'd sold the pub and it was her last day and wasn't cooking anything!
Next stop was Strath Creek pub - well I have photo of this dismal, characterless place - it wasn't very nice and I suggested to Gordon we could find a better place to have lunch. It was then off again and we stopped at Flowerdale Pub. This is your typical friendly and warm country pub. We had a lovely lunch - me and Peter had pumpkin and bacon soup with garlic bread and the other manly travelling companions had steak. It was lovely.
By the way something I forgot to mention in the last update. We were all sitting around in Gordon's bar when out of the blue Gary looks at Dad and says "John, you look like you have 'man breasts' !!! Dad was nearly jolted out of his chair with the shock as he nervously patted his chest searching for the man breasts that Gary had seen. Gary assured him that he does indeed have them which left all the other men in the bar searching for their own man breasts!! I have no idea what area of Gary's brain this came from but Dad is now known as the man with 'man breasts'!! I hope they don't show up when he's walking you down the aisle Helen.
We had a lovely dinner last night - Marlene is such a superb cook - she had done this lovely casserole with lots of red wine and mushrooms in it and because Peter doesn't eat red meat she has been cooking lots of special meals for him. As usual all the men succumbed to the charms of Gordon's bar and wobbled off to bed. I only had 2 glasses of Stones. Gary caused a great deal of hilarity in one pub by asking the barman for a bottle of Greenstones.
We have a good day planned - we go to some place to do with fire engines and then we part company and me, Gary and Peter going to Yarra Glen to a couple of really good second hand places and Gordon and Dad - well I'm not sure something to do with grog no doubt.
I'm also on the lookout for taps for my new kitchen. At the market on Monday one of the traders offered me a new set for $50 which dropped to $40 as I walked away. I've since seen some advertised for $29.95!!
We head into the city tomorrow where I will win heaps of money at the casino and we are going to the Preston Markets and having lunch somewhere that Gordon has planned.

Update from Kinglake (posted it for you mum)

Here we are in the hills of Kinglake with plenty of fog and cold weather. It's been around the 6-8C mark during the day and colder at night.
Well we set off this morning around 8.30am to go to the market in Mernda. Me Gary and Peter had a nice spend up, Dad went around the whole market in about 10 minutes and was impatiently waiting for us to finish - Gary and Peter purposely went round the circuit again just to make him wait! Me and Gary bought this neat 8 tools in one thingy - it cuts tiles, glass and mirror so will come in handy for the kitchen when I do the tile splashback on the bench. I got some nice soap, turkish bread and some honey. Me and Pete have discovered that Stones Green Ginger wine is very much cheaper here - $8 a bottle in some places so we felt compelled to buy 4 more bottles today. Gary hasn't found casks of Country medium so had to make do with a local variety. We went to the House of Bottles on the way home - it was a bit boring because the owner took us on a guided tour and was very long winded and told us all he knew about gem stones! Gary is still searching for some good second hand stores.
Last night Gordon put a special dinner special on for us complete with a country blue grass band - very rustic and hillbilly types. The bass player had a long black coat, long grey hair, long grey beard and a black bowler hat - looked a bit like one of the ZZ Top guys. They had a fiddle player who arrived late and was horrified when I asked him to play The Devil Went Down to Georgia - said he couldnt play anything as difficult as that!! I had an earlier audience request and they played Duelling Banjos for me.
The guys have gone back to the pub (surprise surprise) and Marlene is just putting the finishing touches to tonights dinner - she is such a good cook.
The fog has rolled in again and its really cold.
I dont know what is planned for tomorrow. We got a map today so will decide in the morning. Gordon has provided a car for our use - an old Mitsi Galant which struggles on the hills but it goes and thats the main thing. Dad is our driver. Marlene says we will be going to some market closer to town and having lunch somewhere there. I want to go to the casino to win enough money to pay for my new dishwasher.
Well better go now and do some more surfing. There's no cellphone coverage up this high - it only kicks in as you go down the ranges.
Catch up with you tomorrow.

Where have all the bloggers gone?

I have been checking the blog every day hoping to find something other than toilet paper there but no, there's nothing new.
I'm looking forward to my holiday in Aussie.
But when will I be able to pack my bag?
Maybe next Saturday when I go?
Lucky I travel light!

HAD TO SHARE THIS

I found an old diary of mine and happened to come across this lovely letter from one of my sisters (only this sister would do this!)


Rachel does this look familar - think back to 1984!

The new kitchen

Here are the promised pictures of the new kitchen. The pantry minus the doors and sides and the colour as depicted in the insert for the new microwave. It is the colour of paua - just what I envisaged although it looks more blue in the photo.
And a pic of a warm and sunny winter day at Tangaihi - very balmy and warm - much like Lyttelton I imagine. This was taken from the deck as me, Dad and Neil enjoyed a drink (or 2 or 3). I so like green ginger wine - would you like one Jamie?

The snow has arrived

This is the view i have from my computer this morning, i think winter might be here.

Pictures

so when do we get to see pictures of the new kitchen?