The Cube

Autumn in Melbourne feels a little short, not temperature wise but tree changing colour wise. Almost like if you missed it one weekend, there will be gone the week after. Sherbrooke is about 50 minutes drive away east from Melbourne CBD. I don't have a car, so the alternative was public transport. I took a train then a bus to get to Sherbrooke, specifically this garden - Alfred Nicholas Memorial Gardens. It took me about 2 hours to get to this garden, on a weekend where trains stop every station.

I first about this garden from a photography based meet up group. Someone suggested to take some photos in this garden during autumn. I initially had signed up to attend but then realised that buses don't run on this route on Sundays (the meet up session was on a Sunday). By sheer stubbornness that I drag myself out on a cold autumn morning the Saturday after to see this garden.



Alfred Nicholas and his brother George developed the 'Aspro' painkiller. It was originally a German discovery but the supply was halted during the first world war. George who was a chemist re-discovered the formula, the Australian Government awarded the patent and the Nicholas fortune grew. Alfred purchased this land in 1929 and build his home. The estate was name 'Burnham Beeches'. Mr Nicholas passed away before the garden was completed but Mrs Nicholas stayed on the property until second world war. The garden was donated to the people of Victoria in 1965 and was under the care of the local shire council. The garden was handed to the Victorian State Government in 19772.



I was a little early and the weather was cloudy hence the dark looking photos. However at least it wasn't raining though still cold. I had my beanie on my head the whole time. But really, what autumn view? All were in shades of green!

Then I saw a couple of lonely trees with yellow leaves. I was ecstatic and snap happy.




As I was doing my round around the pond I overheard a few people talking about the yellow leaves. One of them said, "Stand here and I'll take a photo of you. People will think you were in Japan."




Soon after that I was in need of another coffee fix and found a cafe next door to the garden. It was the Burnham Beeches of course. I didn't want to reach the city too late so I just did a takeaway of coffee and an almond croissant from the Piggery Cafe.

That was autumn... Melbourne is well into winter now, it's amazing how just at the turn of 1st June, the temperature just dropped many notches down.


Side note: Ice-cream.. yummm. ^^

The last out of Melbourne trip I had with sis and family was Yarra Valley. The plan was to have lunch there. Having heard some reviews on Yering Station, we thought of having our lunch there. However it was quite spontaneous so we didn't make any reservation and of course, at such a beautiful Saturday it was fully booked. On hindsight, it was probably a good thing because Yering Station restaurant feels a little too sterile and posh to my liking for a comfortable day out.



We finally settled for lunch at Medhurst Cellar Door and Cafe. This definitely feels more like home and easier on the pocket. I shared a Fisherman's Paddle - 3 fish with salad, crostini and herb mayo ($30) with sis. BIL has issue with seafood so he opted for a Chicken Sambo ($18) and little niece got her own Kid's Cheese Toasty ($7).

Fisherman's paddle

Kid's cheese toasties

No photo of Chicken Sambo because BIL had already started on his meal before we took any photo. Grin. Little niece had bits from the fisherman paddle as she absolutely loved the smokes salmon pate.


Medhurst is after all a cellar so we head over to the tasting counter to kick off our tasting session. I shared with sis as she would need to take over the driving after BIL had a couple of drinks. We decided to open a bottle to have it with our dessert (corkage fee applied though). Of course we had dessert as all good meal finished with a dessert or two. The spread of sweet treats were display on the counter and we have already totally check out the desserts while waiting for our food. ;)


Our pick was vanilla slice after read somewhere that they made very good vanilla slice... and it was! Grin - and the wine as a dessert wine. LOL


Happy tummy makes a happy us. After lunch, we make our way to Domaine Chandon. There seem to be a consensus that Domaine Chandon has the best view among the vineyards, so that's our next stop!


Domaine Chandon's view does live up to it's reputation and the wide open space makes little niece ran happy. This place is definitely more popular comparatively as the crowd is bigger but this is a bigger place too.



Sis and I sat out on this one, only BIL did some wine tasting. Wine tasting is not free at Chandon though. BIL walked away with a bottle to bring to his friend's house for dinner at night.



We decided to return to Yering Station again after Domaine Chandon as we were there for a very short while earlier. In my very humble opinion, of the three wineries we visited Yering Station's view is placed at the third position. I have no comment on the food though as we didn't eat there but as a tourist, the place itself did not carry a friendly vibe.







Wineries done, next up - chocolate!

No - this not edible..

It is not the mannequin, it's the metre long chocolate!

Book or chocolate or both? ;)

And - of course we had to have a takeaway ice-cream for the road trip back ;)



Side note: I think the secret to a good night's sleep is warm feet!

Ok. First things first - because I am in some slow-motion-timing this sand sculpture event has ended for the year 2015. But fear not, I heard this thing is an annual event so there will always be next year.

My initial perception before seeing it was it would be a much bigger event but it was actually quite smallish. Entrance fee was $13.50 per person. I took a train to Frankston and walked to the event site, meeting sis, BIL and little niece there. They met with a friend for brunch and I was being anti-social.

Coming out from Frankston station

It wasn't a long walk from the Frankston train station and the weather was perfect with white clouds dotting the ever blue sky.


It wasn't a long walk but I have no idea how to get there without google maps. I have not been to this suburb before but I noticed a family who looked like they were heading to the beach so I ended up following them. Hehe :)



The sand sculptures were not on the beach though but at a closed off area nearby. I reached before sis and co, so I lingered a little at the front waiting for them. Plus I was starving and texted sis to grab me some food :P


It was a Monday past Easter Sunday on our day of visit and there was an egg hunt activity too. Basically the sand sculptors had sculpted some eggs and we are to count them. Even if you got the count wrong, you still get a chocolate egg, or two. Lol. Anyway, here goes...

Winnie the Pooh and friends

Master Yoda

Darth Vader and co

Jabba the Hut

The adorable R2-D2 and C3PO

The Avengers

Ewoks

Spidey

Simba

Frozen

Peter Pan

The Incredibles

You know them...

Little niece was actually more interested in playing with the sand than looking at any of the sculptures. And yes, this is a lazy post - more pictures than words.


Side note: Time to roll on the bed again!