Lorne

We’re driving to Lorne to meet up with our Aussie gang for a final weekend en masse for quite some time….sob!

Nicky, Andy and Cooper are flying in from Sydney whilst Moni, Rob and the kiddies are making the 13 hour drive from Adelaide. We’ve rented the most fantastic house with a fab view out to sea and a massive living area (all open plan, such is the typical Aussie house) upstairs with bedrooms downstairs. We even get flocks of wild cockatoos and cockatiels landing on the railing of the huge outdoor balcony and eating from our hands.

Once the kids were in bed each evening, it was like the good old days - before everyone left us for fairer shores. I get back into my cooking, which I’d been missing and we all get stuck into way too much booze. I still can’t look a bottle of bubbles in the face after last weekend so sensibly stick to gin and tonics, leaving me hangover free in the morning (which is more than can be said for poor ole Nicky). I even managed to win the game of poker.

Saturday morning, I use my bad back as an excuse to sneak off to Endota Spa with Nicky for a massage and facial (yes, I know facials don’t help bad backs but hey…) whilst the boys take the kids to the trampolines and meet up for lunch at the Lorne Hotel.

A hilarious game of Name Game fills our evening. Andy wins the Koo Stark/who starts? award for worst heard name and Moni, the Ewar Woowar/Candice Spelling (mother of Tori, apparently) award for ridiculousness. You had to be there. A good old lazy Sunday morning breakfast, another visit to the trampolines and fish and chips at the side of the beach rounds off a pretty perfect weekend.

Rob manages the drive home in 8 ½ hours and we decide to stay extra night in our luxurious pad. We’re all sad to say our goodbyes but I’m going to try and sneak a flight back to Adelaide in 2 weeks when Will returns to Melbourne to meet up with his friends.