A Ride, and a Party.

Our weekends start on Friday night with that stress relieving bottle of bubbly and a light movie of whatever is on Telly. Then with a slightly heavy head on the odd occasion, I'm out with my friends on the bike for a brisk Saturday morning 80 kms along Beach Rd by Port Phillip Bay. This Saturday morning where you look across a glass like surface of the bay with only a whisper of wind and a cloudless sky. Mind you while I'm writing this (Sunday morning) its windy and overcast. A piece of our gum tree has fallen into the yard, another job to do today.


The Bayside Bandidos - Mid Life Cycling Club.



Is there room left for MY bike??? 10s of thousands of dollars hang here.



Taking over the local Coffee Shop. Check out the smiling faces.
Amazing what some exercise does for your humour.

We were looking forward to Saturday night with an invitation to help celebrate a friends 30 years of service with his employer. I'll call our friend Nico, why, well that's his name. Just a country boy from rural Victoria and a bike rider in his younger days and now a "has been" like the rest of us, just enjoying a life time passion.
His employer opened his home to Nico's family, friends and many work colleagues over the years. The house backs on to the Yarra River which divides Toorak on one side and Richmond on the other.
In days gone by, the residents of Toorak most probably were business owners of the manufacturing that went on over the other side of the river in Richmond. The shoe industry was particularly big and the Yarra was littered with Tanneries and other river polluting industries. As in most cities today, subsequent governments have set in motion projects to beautify the rivers.

Twickenham Ferry on Melbourne's Yarra river (est 1880) prior to its demise 1930.

An etching of Twickenham Ferry on the Yarra and its namesake on the Thames.

St Georges road off Grange Road where the house is situated meanders down towards the Yarra and the road crosses via a bridge to Burnley and Richmond. This was not always the case as the bridge is relatively new as it was built in 1934 or thereabouts.
Prior to that a ferry was used to transport people across the river. It was known as the Twickenham Ferry. It was established around 1880 and continued in service up until the MacRobertson bridge was built.

Anyway - back to Nico's milestone celebration. It's not overly common these days that people work for the same company for that long but the Nico family, we learnt on the night have a history for loyalty and longevity in their working life. His employer obviously appreciated his loyalty and the growth be brought to the company to open up his home to us all. The suburb of Toorak has changed over the years as most suburbs have. In the past it was the home to the establishment, old money and many grand homes were built here. Many have disappeared and been replaced by "new money" houses. To walk the leafy streets some of the older homes still hide behind big brick walls. Its well worth your time to travel on foot or bicycle through Toorak.

Twickenham Ferry was most likely not far from this section of river bank.

Looking down from the house towards the river is this stepped garden.

Looking up to the house from the river bank.



As night fell, the place took on a magical look on a still warm evening.



And the guests dance through the night.

The party was stunning with great finger food, a superb a Sauvignon Blanc called Mud House ( I must look for it) and a fantastic live band. Lisa Edwards supplied the music. She's been in the industry and like Nico, has a history of longevity. As a session singer, she's supported Daryl Hall and John Oates and even Stevie Wonder along with the Australian giants of the music industry.

Lisa Edwards with Stevie Wonder.

Lisa with the Hall and Oates Band



The cover from one of her solo Cd's

 But its back to reality with a Sunday of food shopping, re grouting of the family room tiles, maybe some gardening before going back to work Monday Morning.

Here's a You Tube clip of Lisa Edwards - a little of something we had the good fortune to experience in the atmosphere of an intimate private function. Thanks Nico.