Up, showered, dressed, packed, dishes on, two batches of scones made, baked and cooled, dishwasher unloaded all by 11am on a Saturday morning. That level of productivity is almost criminal! For breakfast I sampled a few of my newly baked scones and then had a 170g Dairy Farmers Thick & Creamy Raspberries and Cream Yoghurt as well. The more perceptive of you would have noticed the word 'packed' in that list and be wondering what I was packing for. Well friends, I write to you tonight from the comfort of Dalfruin, a beautiful historic home in Bairnsdale.
This morning Captain Cupcake arrived at my place shortly after 11am and together we set off to Bairnsdale. It's about a three hour drive from my place and it's a very straight flat relatively boring drive. We passed a lot of fields and a lot of cows.
Around lunchtime we were coming up to Moe (for non-Aussie readers, it's pronounced Mow-ee and you say it fast). Now as all Victorians reading this will know, Moe has a bit of a reputation for being the white trash capital of our fine state. In part, this is probably an unfair generalisation; the only person I actually know that comes from Moe is a lovely bloke, that said, he also had the good sense to leave Moe.
Captain Cupcake, always keen for a giggle, demanded that we have lunch in Moe and I, giggling, agreed and steered the car accordingly. We went to the main street and Captain Cupcake was almost crestfallen. No broken beer bottles, no louts in the street leering at us, no Shazza, Bazza or Gazza smoking in the doorways of the many closed shops.
We parked the car and got out, and the good hooligans of Moe saved the day. We crossed the street, a car full of youths deafening themselves with doof doof passed by and the chief moron leered out of the window and screamed his Moe mating call "Sluts!". Captain Cupcake and I both threw up our arms in victory and yelled "Score!". Their timing couldn't have been more perfect.
However, apart from that one incident, I'd have to say we had a very nice lunch in Moe. We went to the Turn Back Time Cafe, a kind of 50s and 60s themed American-style diner. It was a place of simple but yummy fare and the staff were all really lovely and courteous. I had a 300ml Schweppes Agrum Blood Orange drink and a baked potato with cheese, bacon, coleslaw and sour cream. I hadn't had a baked potato in ages and I was not disappointed with theirs. It was delicious and had a great potato to topping ratio and the potato was done to perfection. Like I said, simple fare, but done right.
The Turn Back Time Cafe is also a purveyor of Dippin Dots ice cream, a treat of which both Captain cupcake and myself have been extremely fond since our high school days. She wickedly convinced me I was 'on holidays' and therefore the diet shouldn't apply today. So I had a small choc mint flavoured Dippin Dots. It was scrumptious in its naughtiness. We sat outside on a shaded park bench near the car to eat our icecream, while Captain Cupcake looked expectantly up and down the street for vehicles full of young men likely to call out obscenities. There were a couple of car fulls that seemed possible, but I think they may have been perturbed into silence by her eager grins.
We set off again and headed to our destination. Dalfruin is a beautiful heritage listed property built in 1910 by John McKnockiter for his wife and daughters. It is gorgeous and our hosts are lovely. The gardens are stunning and I photographed some of the flowers. They have roses, foxgloves, poppies, lavender and more. Unfortunately, there is a lack of these photos on here tonight because though I remembered both cameras, I forgot both camera cables.
We were here in Bairnsdale tonight to attend the Bubbles & Bling Girls Night In organised by the ever fabulous Fly Girl. It was a fantastic night and in total we raised $650 for cancer research. A big effort by a relatively small group of people. The Bairnsdale community gave support by donating prizes and lots of friends gave time, money and produced some fabulous food for the night. My scones were enjoyed which pleased me mightily, but I think the highlight for me was the devils on horseback.
I will not lie people, today was a naughty food day. I don't even remember everything I ate. I know there was a lot of finger food and a lot of dessert. And I remember being easily persuaded that I would like a taste of this or that. I do remember the devils on horseback (prunes wrapped in bacon then barbecue or roasted), baby sausages cooked and marinated in mustard and ginger, homemade sausage rolls, blini with creme fraiche, salmon and dill, mini toasts with fetta and sundried tomato, hummus with chermoula, the obligatory kabana bits, my scones obviously and there was more, but those are the standouts. And then of course, dessert. Chocolate dipped strawberries, strawberries with chocolate dip, strawberries with Toblerone dip, chocolate pavlova with cream and strawberries, chocolate brownie, something sweet with apples, apricot slice, Oreo cheesecake squares. I think Fly Girl was trying to break me! And she succeeded. My body is now busily telling me off for inflicting so much sugar on it. I didn't even bother to take my blood sugar, it would have been too scary!
Big congratulations though to Fly Girl on such a successful night. There were raffle prizes, which neither Captain Cupcake, Miss M, Masterchef nor myself won any of but I did win a silent auction on a bracelet featuring a purple Super Mario 1-Up Mushroom!
On arriving back to Dalfruin, Captain Cupcake decided to take a nice long soak in the clawfoot tub of our en suite and I adjourned to the spacious lounge to blog away on the free wifi. But now it's getting late, and I should adjorn to bed. Hopefully I don't snore and keep Captain Cupcake awake but I have provided her earplugs just in case. Tomorrow we are going to the Buchan Caves!
Until tomorrow!
Jess
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