Back to Reality . . .

Well, we got back from our "mini" vacation about 3 hours ago, and I am most definitely still in holiday mode. I'm pleased to report we had a fabulous time, although as is always the case when you go away for only a few days, we were only just starting to really relax when it was time to come home.

But, that being said, I'm so pleased that Russ organised this little getaway. We left around 10.30 am on Wednesday, and although the weather was miserable, we had a few hours until we checked into our cottage, and so we stopped off at Healesville Sanctuary to take a look around. Healesville is dedicated to Australian wildlife, and so we got to see dingos, kangaroos, possums, emus, birds of prey, etc. I have to admit, it was so cold that I really didn't want to spend a lot of time wandering around, and for the last half hour of our time there, all it did was rain, but.. I did manage to capture a few photos:


Flying Foxes (basically an Aussie version of bats) hanging from their enclosure

An emu (which decided to move just as I snapped the photo)

After an hour and a half wandering around at Healesville, we headed off to Warburton to check into our accommodation. We timed it just about perfectly, as check-in was 3.00 pm and we arrived at 2.45 pm. Rather than wait around in the car park, we headed up the road a bit and sat around enjoying the scenery:



We checked into our cottage and were blown away with not only the scenery, but the cottage itself, which literally felt like a home away from home. The wood fire was burning in the cottage when we arrived, so it was lovely and toasty, the lighting was soft and romantic, and the bed was ever so comfortable. And a few photos of our cottage and surrounds (excuse our 'junk' hanging around, I actually took these photos on our 2nd day):


A view of the Dandenong Ranges from our balcony

Some of the gorgeous scenery just outside our cottage

A quiet spot to relax, just outside the front door

Our private hot tub (I forgot to take the cover off for the photo, but you get the idea), complete with fernery, rock wall and waterfall

The open fire

Kitchen

Our bed

DH Russ cooking on the BBQ on our last night

The first night we decided to head into town for a meal. Warburton is a lovely town, but very very small, and although there wasn't much choice in places to eat, we managed to find a nice little restaurant which we had all to ourselves. I ended up choosing half a dozen oysters for an appetizer and a delicious main course of fish with citrus aioli, and DH Russ settled on lamb shanks, and we shared a bottle of Yarra Valley Sauvignon Blanc.

Feeling comfortably full after dinner, we headed back to our cottage. Russ poured a glass bubbly for each of us and we decided to try out our private hot tub. Now, I have to admit, I've never really understood the concept of leaving a perfectly warm and comfortable room to head into sub-zero temperatures, only to strip down to a swimsuit and freeze my butt off before jumping into a hot tub. But.. Russ finally convinced me it would be fun, and I'm very glad I listened! As a matter of fact, after half an hour in the hot tub, I was so warm, I had to sit on the edge to cool down!

The temperature difference between Warburton and home was very noticeable. It was easily close to zero at night and early morning, and being an ex-Sydney girl, its taken me many years of living in Victoria to acclimatise. However, now that I'm used to the concept of being in a hot tub on cold winter nights, I'm already trying to talk DH Russ into purchasing one for home!!

On Thursday, we had planned on taking a wine tour, however, it was off season, so instead we decided to just spend the day driving around checking out the local scenery. On Thursday night, DH Russ cooked our dinner on the BBQ on our balcony, I made a salad, and we enjoyed a few glasses of white wine. After dinner, we spent another hour or so in the hot tub, then came back into our lovely warm cottage and watched "Chicago" on DVD (actually, I should say that DH Russ watched it, I managed to hold out for about 20 minutes before falling asleep on the lounge with him and didn't wake up until almost midnight, just before the movie finished LOL). This morning we cooked our breakfast in the cottage, checked out at 11.00 am and took a leisurely 2 hours or so to get back home.

So, that's how we spent our 7th wedding anniversary - I couldn't imagine having a nicer or more relaxing time. The only way we could possibly have improved on it was by having a few extra days away. Something to work towards next year I suppose!

Anyway, back to reality now! I'll be spending some time in the studio over the next few days, and hopefully there'll be some new beads to offer you in the next few days. I hope you enjoyed the "virtual reality" getaway, and I'll catch you again soon!