Melbourne A Fair City of Parks

Well we have arrive at Chadwick House, the home of our hosts, Peter and Jane Crone in Eaglemont Melbourne. Their house is quite magnificent. Built in 1903 by Harold Desbrowe-Annear, and one of the oldest houses in the City, it's a marvel of planning and design, a superb timber panelled Arts and Crafts home, much of the restoration having been done by Peter himself over a period of twenty years. It is an honour to be staying here with them. They are the most wonderful hosts you could imagine and we are treated like royalty. The house is amazing, it was one of the very first open planned houses ever built and sits on a hill with magnificent views of Melbourne. It has eye-like balustrades which overlook the Yarra valley and the Dandendong ranges beyond. We had a superb supper last night cooked by Jane and Peter, probably one of the best Rib eye steaks I've tasted in many a year from Jane's special Butcher, with Veg and salad provided by Tosscano's, the finest Italian Fruit and Veg shop in Australia. We accompanied Jane on her shopping trip, Vin even managed to find a Baseball cap for $1which made his day. Today was a day off and we made our way into Melbourne City on a voyage of discovery, Vin gets desperate for a bit of solitude and I'm partial to a bit of peace and quite myself. So we went our separate ways agreeing to meet up around 5 o clock to get the train back together. It came as no surprise to me, when met up later in the afternoon, to find that Vin had bumped into an old friend of the family from Loftus who had only been in the country for three hour. He seems to meet up with people who know him almost everywhere and anywhere we travel. Of all places they met up in the tourist information centre. Barbara Welford is on a round the world trip and has been a great friend of Vin and Pat's for many years. Vin says we have to make a fuss of Barbara because the Welford's are the "bees knees". As we got off the train at Eaglemont, Vin noticed this wonderful Mural just outside the train station, it was another one of the three houses Annear built just below Peter and Jane's house, there it was ten foot high for all the world to see. Tomorrow's concert is sold out, but more of that later. Something quite exciting is happening on Friday, the well known Melbourne sculptor Julie Edger is coming to measure Vin's head with a view to eventually casting a bronze bust of Emperor Vin. I think he should be well hung in the Museum of Fine Arts! or in the Station Hotel Loftus.
We will be moving on to the Brunswick Music Festival at the weekend which is close to Melbourne, then back to Andrew's Vinyard in Mia Mia before heading off to Tasmania. Lots of adventures ahead, keep tuned in.