My sister Sam and husband Phil arrived this week, looking forward to some pleasant Aussie weather. It all started so well with their first day hitting a peak of 28 degrees before nosediving back down to the high teens accompanied by a bracing wind and all in the space of a cat nap.
We had warned them of Melbourne's reputation of four seasons in a day but unless you have experienced it directly, it still can be difficult to get to grips with.
The week quickly turned into a foodie holiday with the best of the eating experiences Melbourne has to offer and a never ending sea of great restaurants and cafes in which to delight the taste buds. Unfortunately for Sam this did involve , on the second evening, her watching the rest of us tuck into a veritable banquet of: blue swimmer crab, scampi, barramundi, swordfish in pesto, sour cherry and pistachio semifreddo and a baked alaska for 6 whilst she looked on with a severe throat infection; only able to write down her requests for a beer which she mostly looked at, finding it hard to swallow even her own saliva.
The most hilarious moment came for me when Sam, now recovered and back on form decided to help pick up the girls from school. Since the girls now cycle to and from school, Sam was required to cycle the 1 and half miles to pick them up. The only spare working bike on offer was Grant's racer and accompanying helmet and because neither of us had the skill or inclination to make any adjustments to either, they were left set up for Grant. Watching her:with her feet unable to touch the floor, helmet slipping down over her eyes and body in typical racing posture as she set off down the hill, I screamed, "Have you ever ridden a racer before?"
"No where are the breaks?" She replied and proceeded to fly away at great speed with me laughing so much I nearly tumbled from my own bike whilst trying to catch her before she hit a main road. Watching her wobble around on thin tyres made for a very entertaining journey: equally so on the way home as Caitlin took great delight in sending her the wrong way at roundabouts with me shouting in the distance,"left, left" as she tottered precariously along!
They have now escaped to visit Noosa, leaving the improving Melbourne weather behind but bringing the rain with them!
We had warned them of Melbourne's reputation of four seasons in a day but unless you have experienced it directly, it still can be difficult to get to grips with.
The week quickly turned into a foodie holiday with the best of the eating experiences Melbourne has to offer and a never ending sea of great restaurants and cafes in which to delight the taste buds. Unfortunately for Sam this did involve , on the second evening, her watching the rest of us tuck into a veritable banquet of: blue swimmer crab, scampi, barramundi, swordfish in pesto, sour cherry and pistachio semifreddo and a baked alaska for 6 whilst she looked on with a severe throat infection; only able to write down her requests for a beer which she mostly looked at, finding it hard to swallow even her own saliva.
The most hilarious moment came for me when Sam, now recovered and back on form decided to help pick up the girls from school. Since the girls now cycle to and from school, Sam was required to cycle the 1 and half miles to pick them up. The only spare working bike on offer was Grant's racer and accompanying helmet and because neither of us had the skill or inclination to make any adjustments to either, they were left set up for Grant. Watching her:with her feet unable to touch the floor, helmet slipping down over her eyes and body in typical racing posture as she set off down the hill, I screamed, "Have you ever ridden a racer before?"
"No where are the breaks?" She replied and proceeded to fly away at great speed with me laughing so much I nearly tumbled from my own bike whilst trying to catch her before she hit a main road. Watching her wobble around on thin tyres made for a very entertaining journey: equally so on the way home as Caitlin took great delight in sending her the wrong way at roundabouts with me shouting in the distance,"left, left" as she tottered precariously along!
They have now escaped to visit Noosa, leaving the improving Melbourne weather behind but bringing the rain with them!
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