SATURDAY MARCH 19     YARRAM

The morning was cool and grey, with a few early showers.

While John was sleeping in, I went to the shops and bought the Saturday papers.

John was uncertain whether bowls would go ahead on the wet grass greens. We could not really make plans for the afternoon until he knew. So M and C went off driving, to explore up in the Strzelecki Ranges and visit the Tarra Bulga National Park. That’s what I’d wanted to do!

After an early lunch, John drove off to bowls, with the agreement that, if I wanted to go exploring, I would walk there and get the car. He didn’t want to have to carry his bowl bag if he didn’t need to.

I thought about taking myself and dog off for a drive, but by myself and in the chill, it wasn’t all that appealing. So I read the papers, checked my emails and the like, without venturing out into the cold, apart from to walk Couey a couple of times.

Yarram site

We had invited J and D to come to happy hour this afternoon, but had decided this morning that it was too cold and damp to sit outside. So I’d phoned J and arranged to meet them at the Sports/Country Club for dinner instead. The caravan park man had told us this place put on a good meal.

John arrived back at Bus from bowls – on foot. He had assumed that I would have been to collect the car, so hadn’t even looked for it. He and Couey walked back to the Sports Club to collect it. John had enjoyed the bowls game.

M and C arrived back from their outing, which had turned out to be more adventurous than intended. Up in the hills, signposts were not plentiful, logging tracks were, and there was lots of vegetation down on the roads. They had managed to get to the National Park Visitor Centre and do the walk to the Suspension Bridge, but plans to return to Yarram via Tarra Valley went astray. They found themselves having to take different tracks to avoid fallen trees, clear some off tracks, and ending up not knowing where the hell they were. At one stage, they came upon a sign showing they were well on the way to Mirboo North! Eventually they found a way back – without ever getting to Tarra Valley.

Wonder what adventures I might have had, if I’d gone out driving?

The3 bistro menu at the Country Club was surprisingly extensive and the dining room was deservedly well patronized. Some of us ordered entrees as well as mains. I thought a starter of Turkish bread and dips was tempting. There was a beetroot dip and a slightly spicy capsicum one, a little bowl of olive oil and balsamic. The bread had been very thinly sliced and lightly fried in olive oil. Different but very good. Then my main course arrived: salt and pepper calamari. It was a large bowl with a great number of calamari rings arranged around a central salad, with a thick tartare sauce drizzled over the calamari. I shouldn’t have had that starter! The calamari was absolutely delicious and so tender.

John had a seafood platter for one – a real assortment of seafoods and so large that he could not finish it. Rare for a plate of food to defeat him! The others all had calamari too, except for C, whose plate of scallops featured twelve huge ones. Very yummy, apparently. The bar served draught apple cider on tap, which John tried and loved.

In all, a wonderful meal and a great night with friends.