Long time no hear.....

Firstly may we begin by saying a huge thank-you to everyone that sent Birthday wishes to Rachel either by post or via the Interweb for her 21st last Wednesday. In line with her Regal status in our household she is also having an official birthday on Saturday so the kids could decorate the house and have her open presents with us all around.

So what has been happening with us?
Last weekend we all went with Rachel's parents, Rob and Alison to The Clare Valley for two nights. Rachel needed to get away as she had virtually been resident at the Hospital for the last fourteen days and it seemed that the only way to ensure that she wasn't working for the fifteenth day was to spirit her away and confiscate her phone.
As it was a last minute decision to go I jumped on the interweb and found 'Clare Valley Cabins'. It looked very nice and their website promised  " 8 luxury 2 bedroom cabins in a bush setting surrounded by vineyards, for peace & relaxation in your home away from home." What we got was something that may have been luxury in about 1930 but was sadly lacking in many ways. I shall explain.
We arrive and see our name on a board at the unmanned reception stating that we are to proceed to cabin no. 8 (despite being allocated number 6 the night before). When we get to 8 we see that it has indeed two rooms, one Queeen Four Poster and one Twin. No sofa bed as we had been promised. Now our plan was  for Rachel and I to sleep on the sofa bed so we could put the kids down in the twin room leaving the rest of the cabin for us to relax in in the evening. Hmmmmm. So faced with the options of going top and tail with Rob and Alison or sleeping in the car we decide to go back to reception. I pick up the Hot-Line phone and get through to the lovely Erica. When I explain the predicament of  '6 into 4' not being easy, I receive the following diatribe. 'Well I decided to upgrade you to the much lovelier Honeymoon suite!!!!!!!! and can't the children just sleep on the sofa I thought you said they were little. I stare blankly into the phone handset while it sinks in and say that it was a lovely thought that I might want a second honeymoon where I bring my In-laws just so they can check that I meet my wifes needs but there is no need as I have two children to prove that I have done so at least twice anyway. I think this goes over her head. So I try again. May we have our original cabin so that we can all have an actual bed to sleep on, if it's not too much trouble. A reasonable request I'm sure you'll agree. The reply - 'Fine but I have to change the linen (that would be nice!) and speak to Mrs ?!!?!?!?! and move her, I'm really busy you know!'
It appears that I have just asked for the Moon on a sitck!
Oh well not to worry, we'll have a 'Luxury Cabin' to relax in shortly. see below.

The orange and green formica units were nice. Note the old and tired fixtures and fittings (Rob not included).
I pulled open the cutlery draw to get a teaspoon to make a much needed cuppa and the whole thing comes out in my hand causing all manner of knives to fall rapidly towards my sandled feet. A moment later I decide to run some water in the bathroom where the tap comes off in my hand. Still once I had utilesed the 'Leatherman' multitool to fix everything we settled in for the weekend.
Despite the place being rather lacking in many basics we had a lovely time. We visited a few wine cellars and sampled some of the lovely Aussie wines and purchased a 5litre flagon of 25 year old port pictured below.

Rachel and her Mum went out to a market on Saturday morning so the Kids could decorate the house and a cake for Rachels official birthday. On the Sunday there was a Kids Fairy festival at a little place north of where we were staying. It was in a wood and there was a trail for the kids to follow, craft things to do all round, buskers and a show. They had a great time.

To round things off perfectly we drove home and saw this........

speak again soon!

Love to all x

Tam diu minime visu