Back to the Bellarine

We thought it would be therapeutic to take a road trip with Rod over the weekend. So we drove to Geelong on Friday - one of the easiest 730klm road trips you can do in Australia!!  Our incentive was to catch up with Ros and Pete, who only moved to this beautiful part of Australia themselves a short time ago.

Rob took this pic of their contemporary townhouse complex on Oakbank Avenue in Highton, looking out to the centre of town and Port Phillip Bay beyond.  Ros and Pete's townhouse is at the rear of the complex with wonderful views to the East. It's very private and very contemporary in design and it hasn't taken Ros (and Pete) long to get it looking very chic and stylish indeed!

 Ros had our weekend visit beautifully planned in advance. We met the lovely W family on Saturday morning for breakfast at Winter's Cafe on trendy Pakington Street in Newtown. Sam and Lil were full of fun and great breakfast companions (as were E & J).

 Seeing more of E & J and Sam and Lil has been a fantastic boon to Ros and Pete's move to Geelong.

 We spent a lot of time walking on Saturday afternoon - around 4klms (8 klms there and back) along the beautiful Barwon River walk (which we joined at the bottom of Ros and Pete's Oakbank Avenue).

 Our reward was another food (and wine) opportunity at the aptly named Provenance at the former Fyansford Paper Mill complex (which in recent years has become a bit of an arts hub).

 Provenance is a working winery with a beautiful "cellar door" and function area (inside the old paper mill's machine room) where you can sit and enjoy a wine by the glass or the bottle + food offerings that also reflect the local region's produce.

 We finished off our self indulgent (apart from the 8klm walk) Saturday with more wine and platters of food at home and the brilliant Quentin Tarantino film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (wow) - screened on Ros and Pete's cinema sized TV screen.

We started our Sunday slowly before heading off southwards to the Bellarine Peninsula - stopping off at Clifton Springs to get our bearings in the Bay - and a surprising view across to the high rise of Melbourne's CBD.....

 ... before reaching our lunchtime destination: Basil's Farm at Swan Bay - right near Queenscliff (where we caught the ferry to Sorrento last February).

Coming from drought ravaged ACT-NSW we can't get over how green and moist (and cool) this part of the world looks. The kitchen gardens at Basil's Farm look so healthy and fertile to us!!

 Oh how I envy them this crop of figs.....

The restaurant is super busy today ....... but it's a wonderful setting to enjoy while we wait for table service.

 There are llamas and chickens in the kitchen garden grounds - and a great view across to Queenscliff.

 Our final stop yesterday was at "The Whiskery", the cellar door for the first gin and whisky distillery on the Bellarine Peninsula.

We enjoyed our (very generous) gin tasting session - three different gins - all with different characteristics. We learnt a lot and came away with our own bottle of "Teddy and the Fox"......All ready now for our Christmas G & Ts with this distinctive citrus flavoured gin base.

 Rob, Rod and I said goodbye to Ros and Pete this morning and made our way back to Canberra as they faced another work week ahead of them in Geelong.

We all knew we were missing our darling Maxie this weekend and we all had our moments of sadness, but she would have loved seeing us together again and Rod enjoying being part of the adventures. Ros and Pete are such wonderful warm hosts - we are already planning our return visit!