Merricks Beach trip

With a public holiday last Tuesday, it would have been unAustralian for DeepSpice not to take the Monday off, so with little urging from me, he did and we wisely used the opportunity to get out of town for a four-day weekend. Despite only trying to book a few weeks in advance, I had managed to find a lovely beach house at Merricks Beach. I'm not going to say exactly where it is, because it was so good, I don't want to share it with anyone else! But here's a couple of photos...

View from the front verandah.

Back deck and beautiful native Australian back yard.

Unlike previous holiday departures, when we usually end up leaving at about 1 pm, we actually managed to leave within 30 minutes of my planned departure time of 10 am and were sitting down to enjoy lunch at our beach house by 1 pm. 

Then, at BallFiend's insistence, it was straight off to the beach. It was only 18 degrees but the sun was shining, and it wasn't long before BallFiend had rolled up his pants for a paddle. Thumper spent the first 10 minutes clinging to my leg, scared because it was "too noisy" - she didn't like the noise of the waves lapping on the shore! But it was wasn't long before she too was paddling. 

And of course, it was then only minutes until both kids had "fallen" (ie. deliberately sat) down fully clothed. We had come down prepared for a walk and some sand-castle building, not for two drenched kids. So I walked back to the beach house for towels and a change of clothes. After a some more serious sand-castle building, we eventually convinced them it was time to go and get some dinner. Back at the beach house, we stood the kids at the back door, and literally hosed them down to get all the sand off. Despite having paddled in the freezing water at the beach, they complained that the hose-water was too cold!

After dinner, we took the kids out for a short walk around the local area, and they were very excited to see lots of rabbits nibbling away on lawns and shrubs. Thus began Thumper's (and to a less extent, BallFiend's) weekend-long obsession with bunnies... we saw them frequently on the back lawn at our house. I'm sure the locals and the farmers in the area hate them, but it was a real novelty for our city-dwelling kids.

As it turns out, it was a good thing we spent Saturday at the beach, because for the rest of the weekend, the weather was miserable - raining and grey, with occasional breaks when the Sun would peak through long enough to give a glimmer of hope, before disappearing back behind the clouds. 

So on Sunday, we went for a drive in search of "the chocolate factory" mentioned in the "Things to Do" notes at the beach house. Apparently it was only 100m from the Merricks General Wine Store. The MGWS was just a few minutes drive away and also happened to be a wine-tasting venue for three local vineyards. After dutifully tasting some rather nice wines (and purchasing a few!), I enquired about the whereabouts of the chocolate factory. I was informed that the chocolate factory is now at Flinders, about a 20 minute drive away. BallFiend was not going to be easily dissauded, so we continued on our way... 

Flinders is a lovely little village to visit and there were a lot of people wandering around the main street shops. It was surprisingly hard to park but we eventually found a spot, right next to where a local community group were holding a fund-raising sausage sizzle (much to the delight of BallFiend, Thumper and DeepSpice). I left them to their sausages and ate one of the rolls I had packed. Then we joined the throngs wandering along main street, until we reached the chocolate factory. It turned out to be a chocolate shop, with the factory part sitting idle out the back. BallFiend and Thumper were each indulged with a chocolate car and a chocolate frog respectively, whilst DeepSpice and I each had a macron (nice, but not a patch on Choukette's!). With the kids happily munching on their chocolates, I left them with DeepSpice in a park and took the opportunity to browse through a couple of boutiques. Found some lovely earrings, on sale too! 

On our return journey, we stopped by the Ashcombe Maze, but as we arrived, it started absolutely bucketing down and then a bus load of Japanese tourists turned up, so we decided it would be best to leave the maze (and it's exhorbitant admission fees) for another day. Later in the afternoon, we enjoyed the company of The Bibliophile and her family, who were staying at their nearby hobby farm for the weekend. BallFiend and Thumper were very excited to see MasterW and LittleMissIz, and us 'groan-ups' were pleased to be able snatch a few moments of peace (in between the kids' interruptions) to enjoy a glass of wine and some adult conversation. 

On Monday morning, I took the kids down to the beach to poke around in the rock pools, leaving DeepSpice behind to have some time to himself. Thumper was terrified of all the dogs being walked along the beach and insisted I pick her up whenever one came into sight. But apart from this, she walked the entire way from our beach house, along the beach, and back again - at least 500m in each direction, plus the wandering around at the rock pools, and the extra 200m or so she did when she decided to 'run away' from BallFiend and me as we were walking back. 

BallFiend watches on as Thumper runs away. He then starts to get worried, and goes after her.
Then stops and urges me to go after her. (I stood my ground and she eventually came back.)

The rest of the day was spent lazing about doing nothing much... or at least, if we did do something of interest, I can't remember what it was! 

Thumper, unsurprising after her long walk, had a big, big sleep.

Then we went out for dinner at The Hertiage, a local restaurant/pub. The kids were served up the most enormous bowl of spaghetti bolognese each and surprising managed to eat about 90% of it. Then BallFiend ordered a choc-top ice cream for dessert. After meticulously picking all the chocolate off the top, he decided he didn't want the ice cream. Thumper was only too happy to oblige, leaving BallFiend to finish of the cone and DeepSpice and I to recite Jack Sprat. The owner, Glenda, came over to comment on our beautifully behaved children and gave them a little bag with crayons, stickers and activity sheets to keep them entertained. Overall, a surprisingly relaxing meal out, given we had children in tow.

In the morning of our last day on the Peninsula, The Bibliophile organised for us all to meet for breakfast at the Somers General Store, which was of course followed by a mandatory (thanks BallFiend) walk/play on the beach. Then it was back to our beach house to pack up. Whilst outside, loading up the car, I noticed a strange brown lump on the path and went over to investigate. A small ball of fur was just quietly sitting there and didn't even move when I approached.

Thinking it might be an injured or dead animal (I seem to attract 'em for some reason), I went over to investigate, but it suddenly got timid and scurried away into the agapanthas. I went back a few minutes later and found it out on the path again, and was able to get a much better photo:

After a quick bit of research on the Web, I reckon it might be a bush rat. 

The drive home was an easy 90 minute trip - thanks to EastLink and an endless suppply of cruskits to keep the kids from grumbling - and we were home by about 3pm. However, once we had unpacked the car, I discovered the full extent of the cruskit crumbs and so spent the next hour and a half vacuuming and wiping out the interior of the car! All worth it though. Can't wait to go back!
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