Dec 2017 Christmas Lunch

A great time was had at the Christmas lunch this year. Many dressed for the occasion in a variety of Christmas outfits, or decorated themselves with Santa hats, antlers, holly with flashing lights and many others.The craft group provided fancy boxes to hold the small Christmas gift for everyone who attended. The door prizes were hampers filled with Christmas goodies, and the 3 winners were full of Christmas joy. We also held a competition to see who knew their Christmas carols - the first letter of each word in the first line of the carol was provided, and you had to guess the carol. It was lots of fun with some members joining in singing the carols as they were announced. Oh, and the meal wasn't too bad either.

Nov 2017 A day on the Bay

The ferry left from Victoria Harbour Docklands down the Harbour and across the bay to Portarlington on a beautiful sunny spring day.
The Portarlington Golf Club provided courtesy buses to collect us from the Ferry and took us to the golf club for lunch: a pretty good deal - $12.00 (one course) or $17.00 (two courses) - Free tea & coffee.
and then take us back to the Ferry. After lunch the buses transported us back to the town (about 2k's) for a wander around the town, and some remained at the Club and sat in their nice lounge and chatted or played the pokies and were then transported back to the Ferry.
Many of us caught the Train to travel from Glen Waverley Station to Harbour Esplanade and return home. A great day enjoyed by all (except those who were late getting to the ferry and had to wave as we sailed off)

August 2017 The Naked Racer for Lunch

The men had lunch at "The Naked Racer" Bar Café & Museum, beside the Moorabbin Airport.  Don't be fooled by the name, it is not a naked café. The Museum is awesome and has a fabulous collection of model planes, aviation bric-a-brac, motor bikes and mechanical artefacts and sundry other items hanging from the ceiling. The bikes range from the latest Indian to a large number of preowned bikes including Harley, BSAs, Nortons, and from modern to classics. . 

The food was excellent, and very well presented. They served the tallest hamburgers I've ever seen, and the side salad with the Calamari was delicious.

 August 2017 Synchrotron Tour

A synchrotron is a large machine that accelerates electrons to almost the speed of light - 99.9999985% of speed of light - around a circular track. As the electrons are deflected through magnetic fields they create extremely bright light. The light is then channelled down beam lines to experimental workstations where it is used for research and medical purposes.

High Tea Lunch at Zest June 2017

The Zest Restaurant, at Glen Waverley/Holmesglen TAFE was the venue for this High Tea Lunch which featured - Selection of Finger Sandwiches, Hot Savouries, Pastries and Tartlets, followed by assorted Cakes & Sweet Sensations and Desserts to die for.  Eats were followed by tea and filter coffee only (extra for Latte, cappuccino or Hot chocolate). 

 

Walk at Hedgely Dean June 2017

This walk was at Hedgley Dene Gardens Central Park, cnr Wattletree Rd and Kingston St, Malvern.

Hedgley Dene is a very tranquil garden with beautiful trees and an ornamental lake with meandering paths.  Central Park has a varied collection of trees with some dating back to the initial planting of the early 1900's. The walk continued through the local streets to see some beautiful homes in the area, very different to where most of us live. Coffee at one of the local cafes was great.

March 2017 - The Briars Mt Martha

Another beautiful autumn day for an excursion to Mt Martha. Members travelled to Mt Martha by car, and on arrival saw a short documentary history of 'The Briars'. The Briars is a homestead and wildlife sanctuary that was completed in 1851 and was occupied by Alexander Balcombe. After failing to find his fortune at the goldfields, Balcombe farmed the land and tended 40 hectares of vineyards – experimenting unsuccessfully in wine production. We then had a guided tour of the homestead, followed by a tour of the surrounds. Much was made of the connection to Napoleon, as the name of The Briars originates from where Napoleon was incarcerated on the Island of ??. The homestead was filled with much Napoleonic era furniture supplied by the National Trust, as well as genuine furniture from the era of the homestead. Following the tour we walked or drove a short distance up the hill for a complimentary glass of wine and lunch in Josephine's restaurant. The outlook from the restaurant over the homestead and the valley was great. Lunch was a bit of a surprise to some, as we had put our order in weeks ago, and couldn't remember what we had ordered.

Feb 2017 - Blackburn Sanctuary Lake Walk

Tucked away within this residential area is this serene and peaceful Blackburn Lake Sanctuary Park, set in bush land with lots of bird life and fishes in the lake. The walk was relatively flat and easy, and what a surprise in the middle of suburbia to find such a quiet and peaceful lake and bush walking tracks. After the walk (about 45 mins) we adjourned for refreshment at a coffee shop opposite the Blackburn Railway station on South Parade.