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| Extra Dark Lindor Ball |
"Three wise women would have asked directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stable, made a casserole and brought practical gifts." - Author Unknown
Today's blog is brought to you by Mr Smart.
There had been some worry that some of us would awake far
too early in the morning despite the late return the night before which would
potentially leave us sleep deprived for the day. We must have been more exhausted
than we thought since it was close to nine before we emerged from the bedrooms.
As people were getting ready for the day ahead I took the opportunity to look
up the overnight soccer scores and was delighted to see Liverpool had had a
thumping win over Fulham, four-nil. Naturally I then had to pull out my laptop
and watch the highlights for myself while waiting for the shower to be free.
While I had the laptop out, I looked up the Bureau of
Meteorology website and saw that today was going to be Cambridge Rower's first
scorcher, 39°C (102°F). We made sure to dress appropriately as well as
stocking up on water and sunscreen for the day, before piling into the car for
the trip up to Sassafras for breakfast.
The drive up was quite picturesque even though most of it
was travelling on main roads. The area is relatively clear and allows for a
great view of the suburbs sitting below the Dandenong Ranges. Soon after
passing by Mountain Gate we turned off onto the smaller road that wound
its way through the mountains to the top. As normal on a weekend, cyclists were
out in full force despite the heat but luckily we weren't stuck behind any as
we climbed up.
We arrived in Sassafras to find most of the obvious car
parks already taken. Due to Jess being a regular visitor the area she knew of a
secret side street that sits parallel but below the main road. Turning into it
can be a tad hair raising though as it looks like you are driving straight into
the bush since the road drops away below you but Jess is always careful to warn
her passengers of this beforehand. As usual, there were ample parking spots
available.
We walked the short distance to Ripe, a favourite café of
Jess's and the primary cause for her many visits up to Sassafras. She's been
there so many times over the years that she's become a friend of the owner,
George, always sharing a chat with him. Jess had also taken the
precaution of booking a table for us. While it looked busy it wasn't completely
full, with many spare tables and seats available. The booking came in handy though as
we were shown to one of the comfier tables. It was in a room off to side of
this house converted into a café. We were given menus to peruse and water to
drink.
Knowing that we were going to be eating out for breakfast, I
had been looking forward to enjoying some Eggs Benedict. Sadly I had completely
forgotten that they don't offer it at Ripe, so I set about searching for an
alternative. They did have a similar dish, poached eggs, with mushrooms and
asparagus, to which I added a side order of bacon. I figured that the lack of
Hollandaise would make it slightly healthier anyway, though probably not enough
to offset the added bacon. A skinny latte completed my order which I gave to
the waiter along with everyone else.
After chatting for a bit our breakfasts arrived. The notion
that not having any Hollandaise might be a bit healthier was soon dispelled as
I saw the copious amounts of melted butter that was dripping over the asparagus
and mushrooms. The eggs themselves were perfectly done, ready to burst, taking
only a quick slice of my knife to have the yolk squirt out onto the toast. The
latte appeared to be in the Tasmanian style, my new description for coffee
served too hot, since the glasses were a tad too hot to pick up. This appeared
to be due to the glasses themselves being preheated since the coffee itself
wasn't scalding to drink. Everyone seemed to enjoy their breakfasts and were
filled up enough to avoid the temptation looking at their delicious cake
offerings.
On the drive up I had missed some of the conversation
regarding the local rockabilly store, SandraV, but it seemed that it was now
our next stop. There were some quick stops into some shops along the way before
we arrived at where the store used to be. It seemed to have closed down and been
replaced by another generic clothing store, so we left disappointed. Instead we
meandered our way back up the main street, browsing through the arts and crafts
shops along the way. I was on the lookout for a last minute Christmas gift, but
couldn't find anything suitable that would fit within my budget.
We returned to the car and headed to our next destination,
Sherbrooke. This would give the Cambridge Rower an opportunity to get up close
and personal with some our native wildlife in their natural habitat. The car
park proved to be an ideal spot for this as flocks of rosellas congregate
there, happy to perch on people who have brought them seeds to eat. Once again,
Jess has planned ahead and brought native bird seed. Many photos were taking of
this unique experience and we all enjoyed taking part. It should also be noted
that it can be a little startling when they swoop down at you, especially when
they decided not to land and instead swoosh past. This results in quite a few
little hops and squeals. Also common in this area are the King Parrots that
Jess is particularly fond of but there weren't any around.
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| Mobbed by Wildlife! |
Despite the forecast for the day being hot, it was quite a
bit cooler up this high and under the shade of the tall trees. This meant that
we could proceed with the short bushwalk that we had planned. We took some big
gulps of water, filled up our bottle and began making our way towards the
falls, or the Sherbrooke Trickle as Jess likes to call it.
Along the way we heard a rustling from the bushes to the side
of the path. Hoping that we might have come across a Lyrebird, we started
peering in to find the source. Instead of the mimicking bird, we discovered a
little Echidna pushing its way through the underbrush. Barely containing our
glee, we started to edge around to get a better look, though mindful not to
push in too close and startle him. He never really ventured into an area clear
enough for us to get a good photograph but we could definitely make him and his
spikes out. Our peering and pointing soon attracted a crowd of fellow
bushwalkers and we explained what we had seen and pointed out how to get a view
of him. He eventually burrowed himself out of sight so we continued on our way,
happy we could tick another item off the Cambridge Rower's list of animals to see
in the wild.
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| Sherbrooke Falls, Looking Downstream |
We took a slightly more scenic route due to walking down a
path that was actually closed for repairs and having to backtrack along it. We
weren't in any hurry though and were quite enjoying the scenery. We made it the
track that would lead us to the falls and headed up that was. We found it
flowing more than just a trickle and almost deserving of the title of
waterfall.
On the way back to the car park we were constantly on the
lookout for more signs of wildlife that we knew frequented the area, such as
the elusive Lyrebird, Black Cockatoos, Wombats or even another Echidna. Sadly,
none were forthcoming. We were in for a treat when we arrived at the car park
though, since a number of king parrots had decided to make an appearance, much
to Jess's glee. Out came our cameras and bird seed again for another round of
posing. A couple of tourists were attracted by the sight of the birds happily
perching on our shoulders and Jess was kind enough to share some seeds with the
little girl so she could join in the fun. I couldn't help smiling when she was
called back to the car only to reply, "I can't come now, I have birds sitting
on me".
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| King Parrot and Crimson Rosella |
We piled back into the car and began our journey home. Jess soon called out that we were dangerously low on petrol and instructed us to keep an eye out for the nearest servo. She did know of one at the bottom of the hills though and began heading towards that one. We managed to make it there without conking out, and filled the car up.
Jess went in to pay and returned with another Australian treat for the Cambridge Rower: Bubble O'Bills, icecream on a stick in the shape of Buffalo Bill but with a ball of bubble gum for his nose. Gub gave him careful instructions on how eat it, specifically that he might feel like eating the ball of the gum, but just to chew it until the ice cream was gone. It wasn't long before they were chewing away, with the occasional pops from the bubbles emanating from the back seat. I'm still not sure if the lack of petrol was just a ruse by Jess to spring this surprise!
The afternoon was fairly relaxed, at least for me.
Apparently there was quite a bit of packing to do since Gub and the Cambridge Rower
were flying to Adelaide this evening. I decided that I could best help by
staying out of the way, so I setup in the lounge room, close to the aircon,
with my laptop and Pepsi Max, listening to the rustle of things being moved back
and forth that was emanating from the other rooms.
Luckily they were able to fit all the suitcases into Hester,
Jess's little green car, since we had decided that it was a better option than
my car due to it having working aircon. In the end, we were even less squishy
than on the trip down to Bertie's yesterday.
Since they were only flying to Adelaide and would be back in
January, it was decided to just drop them off out front, rather than park and
walk in with them. This could have been due to my proclamations of doom
regarding how busy it might be since I had dropped my sister off the previous
day when the airport had been flat out with holiday traffic. As it turned out,
things was much quieter today and given how early we were we probably could
have spent some time giving them a proper send off.
I took the reins for the trip back since Jess was feeling a
tad lethargic after so much driving recently. I have driven Hester before but
it's a far different experience from my car. Every little twitch, whether on
the accelerator or the steering wheel, results in almost instant response from
the car and making it jump all over the road. We were travelling along the
part of city link that I never use but Jess's navigating skills proved to be
stellar.
Our destination was Chadstone Shopping Centre, commonly
known as Chaddy. We had tickets to see the new movie version of Les Miserablés
at La Premiere but since we were so early we decided to do a little browsing and
grab dinner beforehand. Just getting in to Chaddy can be a bit of a challenge.
As the biggest shopping centre in the southern hemisphere, it has a parking
complex to match. Due to its steady expansion over the years, the car park has
grown up around the centre to cater to the specific sections of the centre that
have been added. This means that there are signs pointing every which way, to the
various entrances of the centre with the major shops close to them. Once again
Jess's navigation proved invaluable as she knew exactly where we wanted to be
and how to get there. I followed her directions to the block nearest the Coles
entrance and quickly found a spot. By coincidence, it was also the area she
had picked me up from when I had ventured to her side of town via bus, a trip
I vowed that I would never repeat. But that's a story for another day.
Apart from the aforementioned trip, I hadn't been to Chaddy
in over twenty years and could barely remember what it had been like back then.
The xmas crowds were in full force but luckily there was plenty of space for
people to move along at their own speed with only minor dodging needed. Jess
proceeded to give me a guided tour since she knows the centre so well.
The first shop we visited was the Nespresso store. Jess had
wanted to try a few flavours to see if there were any others that she liked
apart from the Dulsão do Brasil. I was due to order some more soon also, so wanted
experience some I hadn't tried for a while. From the moment we walked in the
store we could tell that service was their priority we were quickly greeted and
asked if we needed any assistance. When we said that we wanted to taste some of
their coffees, they directed us to the back of the store where the
complimentary coffee bar was setup. A lady was there manning the machines,
taking people's requests and dispensing the coffees. We selected the two
coffees each that we wanted to try and watched as she prepared them. Neither of
the ones Jess tries were too her satisfaction so she'll stick to the Dulsão.
One of mine proved interesting enough that I wanted more. We then browsed
around the shop, looking at the various machines and accessories. Regularly
staff approached us to check if we needed any help or more information and
generally ensuring that we were well looked after. As always when we receive
such exemplary service, we wouldn't help purchasing a sleeve of pods each to
take with us. If anyone is curious about pod coffee, or Nespresso in
particular, I thoroughly recommend a trip to one of their stores.
Suitably perked up from receiving such great service, or
possibly from the two coffees each that we drank, we continued the tour of
Chaddy towards the grand Christmas tree. Along the way I marvelled at the great
glass dome above us, prompting Jess to take us to the even larger hallway with
a long glass ceiling above it. This also took us past what was perhaps the most
surreal part of the journey for me. The shops in this area were all upmarket
stores, such as Louis Vuitton, each with a velvet robe line manned by a bouncer
controlling who could come in. It appeared to be more of an image based
exercise since there were less than twenty customers in any of the mostly empty
stores but just as many were lining up to get in.
I was also amazed at the crowds that were thronging through
the centre. They represented all manner of society, far more than at most other
shopping centres. Trackies, thongs and wife-beaters walking side by side with
high heels, jewellery and designer dresses.
Having seen the classier side of Chaddy we began to make our
way towards the cinema whilst exploring our options for dinner. Remarkably we
managed to decide upon Burger Edge almost straight away. Normally it might take
us hours to figure out what we felt like eating. I did have somewhat of a moral
dilemma regarding the meal I would order. Some months ago I had decided to
remove chips, in all its forms, from my diet. In keeping with the spirit of
that decision, I had also refrained from chip like snacks, such as rice
crackers. The dilemma came in decided whether or not onion rings would also
qualify. In the end I decided to have them due to the fact that I rarely eat
them and thus wouldn't be tempted to substitute them in as a regular snack.
Our meals arrived and proved to be quite tasty. The onion
rings ended up being not so great. They were probably pretty good onion rings
but after going so long without having chips on the side I could have easily
forgone them. The dipping sauce that accompanied them, on the other hand, was
as a much greater temptation. Finally, we were ready for the movie.
At the risk of sounding fussy, or like a movie snob, I decided long ago that normal movie cinemas weren't worth going to. Having a
decent home theatre setup meant that it didn't seem worth while for the high
price of tickets and snacks and the risk of being stuck near disruptive
audience members. So instead I only go to movies in Imax, for the vastly larger
screen size, or Gold Class / La Premiere, for the personal service experience.
Granted both those options are far more expensive than normal movie tickets,
yet they are both experiences I cannot get at home. One example of the great
experience at La Premiere is being able to order food and drinks and have them
delivered at set times during the movie. There's nothing like having a nice,
fresh latte arrive just as the movie heads into the final act. And so began a series of disappointments.
Firstly, it turned
out that their espresso machine was broken, so they could not provide any
coffees. Instead I selected a green tea with lemon. It's a perfectly acceptable
drink but just not the one I was looking forward to. Jess ordered a small tub of Maggie Beer Icecream, only to discover that they were out of stock. Presumably the walk to
Safeway or Coles to get more was too far. She also asked for a bottle of still Mount
Franklin water only to presented with a sparking soda water until she was
forced to explain that it was just a plain bottle of water she wanted. Finally,
we decided upon a place of dips to start the movie with and some arancini
balls to arrive halfway.
After we had taken our seats and the movie started, the
servers rushed to deliver the meals to all the people who placed orders. After
most had received their meals, many of them of the cooked variety, I motioned
to one of the ushers to point out that our dips still hadn't arrived. Being
just dips, I had actually expected them to arrive rather quickly. She
apologised and let me know that they would be ready shortly. Low and behold, a
minute or two later, the arancini balls that were due in the middle of the
movie arrived. They were soon followed by the dips, necessitating a bit of a
plate shuffle to fit them both in. I thought about complaining about the mix up
in timing, but I just wanted to get on with watching the movie.
The movie itself was enjoyable yes, but also a tad
disappointing. Les Mis is my favourite musical, having seen it twice and
listened to the soundtrack countless times. I think this worked against me
fully enjoying the movie though since I became hyper critical of any changes,
with only the outstanding ones meeting with my approval. Luckily there were a
few of them, such as the performances by Hathaway, Redmayne, Cohen and Carter.
Unfortunately there were also many low lights, particularly the stilted
performance of Crowe that I think pulled the whole movie down. It also seemed to
unbalance any scenes with Jackman since it looked like Jackman was over acting
next to such a wooden performance.
So the premium experience that I was looking forward from La
Premiere failed to live up to expectations with more than a few annoying errors
made. The movie itself was decent but still not quite the unmissable experience
I was hoping for. Still, it had been a very enjoyable day as a whole, spent
with great company and sharing some special experiences. All that remained was
navigating our way out of the Chaddy car park, marvelling at the fact that
people were still arriving despite it being 11pm, and heading home.
Mr Smart
And to fill in my extras, today's food and exercise were:
And to fill in my extras, today's food and exercise were:
- Breakfast was an open omelette topped with asparagus spears, brie and lemon-dressed rocket served with a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice.
- Exercise was a 2.4km (approx) round trip walk from Sherbrooke Picnic Ground to Sherbrooke Falls. Wildlife everywhere!
- Morning Snack was a handle of cheese-flavoured Twisties.
- Lunch was a slice of my homemade pizza from Friday night, the salami one. I forgot to photograph it so you get to see my favourite plate instead.
- Dinner was a Burger Edge Moroccan Lamb Burger (their monthly special offer) with chips and Burger Edge Aioli. I had one or two of Mr Smart's Onion Rings with Barbecue Sauce too.
- Movie snacks were popcorn, two cups of lemon squash, an arancini and some turkish bread with dips which were difficult to eat in the dark the way they served it.
- Dessert was sticky-date pudding with vanilla bean icecream delivered towards the end of the movie. It was yummy but a little generic. Mum's is superior.
- Today's advent calendar Lindor Ball was extra dark; a 60% Cocoa shell with a dark chocolate filling.
Also, elaborating in some spots on Mr Smart's blog:
- It turns out that the Cambridge Rower is reluctant to back down from a dare. How very Aussie of him. So despite the some might say realistic fear of poisonous spiders at every turn, he was still convinced to get inside a hollow tree and climb a knobbly one!
- While I am most definitely in awe of King Parrots I'm also a little wary of them. One bit me rather hard on the pointer finger of my right-hand as I rescued it from the inside of a bakery in Marysville in May of 2003. Beautiful birds, twice the size of the Crimson Rosellas, but their beaks are capable of a fearsomely strong grip! It didn't release me until I released it first.
- The Nespresso pod artwork found in the Chadstone store is called "Sandhills" and was produced by the Balarinji Studio in 2011. You can see all of the Nepresso store artworks in the Nespresso/Balarinji Brochure. Very cool!
- I think the stand-out Les Miserablés performances for me were, Samantha Barks as Éponine, Carter & Cohen as The Thénardiers and Daniel Huttlestone as Gavroche. I didn't much like Russell Crowe either, but he was better than I expected (given that I never like him).
- Chadstone was busier at 11pm when we left than at 6pm when we arrived. Oh the horrors that are the 36 hours non-stop Christmas shop. I was relieved that we decided against a further foray into the retail environs.
Jess
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