A Very French Day in Trentham

Trentham reminds us of France in many ways - its about the community in a small village maybe. Today was one of those days. We were invited to join in for a gathering of the French Solex motorised bicycles.
Our friends Geoff and Kerrie  opened up their old farm house to their fellow Solex enthusiasts which started with a small ride through the village, out to the Trentham Falls and then to the Pig and Whistle for a pot of Guinness before returning home for lunch in their old milking sheds.

Sue and I drove out in Celeste Citroen to the Trentham market first and then had a breakfast at one (of many) of our favourite local cafes - the Trentham Collective. We then drove off to follow the Solex riders on our lovely country roads.

A great Cafe - one of five to choose from.

We await the riders to catch up to Celeste. 

One of the cute French Solex bicycles 

Can't resist - another photo of Celeste - isn't she lovely 

Not only does Geoff have a couple of Solex bicycles but also this very cute 2CV.
Both our cars are the UK versions built in Slough.

Like us, I fear Geoff has been inflicted with the Francophile bug. He also owns a vintage Amilcar.

A great day was had by all.

SPRING is HERE plus other STUFF

Its been a long cold winter here in the central highlands of Victoria. We've had much needed rain and the Reservoirs are now overflowing. Snow even arrived in Trentham this year so it would be nice to see snow when we are living there next winter. Although we are thinking of a trip to the north next year, maybe Belgium, France and Spain. We'll see what happens.

SPRING has SPRUNG
The long cold winter is now behind us and the trees are starting to bud. Wild flowers are abound in the fields which have all turned to a rich green contrasted by the yellow of wattle and those little daisy things in the fields. We call them paddocks here.

The HOUSE STUFF
We had a meeting with our supervisor Clinton yesterday. He's a good bloke to work with and being a newish employee, he's doing his best to get the job done for us to move in before Christmas.
The painters, the electricians, the plumbers are all on the site and working to meet our deadline.

We were very impressed with our painters, especially after completing our feature lounge room. This room is the only area that differs in colour from the rest of the interior colours. Sue wanted a restful area, and very formal. Being a dark grey, it will be lightened by our light grey two-seater couches and then splashes of colour with accessories. When you look out from the lounge room into the kitchen, you see the kitchen island in the same grey.

The tilers are still working away and the herringbone style dark grey tiles in the en-suite and its looking good. Can't wait to see the basins and taps installed. We will eventually be able to brush our teeth in unison. How lovely. You'll be happy to hear that we don't have dual toilets!!!

Somewhere to chuck ya shampoo in the shower.

 I'm working on a plan for our landscaping. I'm sure it will change many times before we actually start. Its a good thing that our son Mitch is not only a gardener but increasing his talents by doing a horticultural course. There are several established trees already on the block - some conifers, elms and maples. We have a need for an addition car area in the form of a carport. Sue needs a veggie garden and we want some little gravel paths leading to secret gardens. I guess it will all come together with the passing of time.

I think my Petanque court may just have to make way for Sue's veggie garden.

This weekend we are off to our local market in Trentham, then meeting up with friends for lunch. My fellow Citroen friend is having a Solex day and we are invited. A Solex is a French motor assisted bicycle and he expects a gathering of a dozen enthusiasts on the day. Sunday the enthusiasts of French automobiles are having their All French Day gathering so I may just call in for a look as we will be in Melbourne. Gosh, retirement life is busy......

Modern Classic

We've always liked pre-loved furniture, weather that was a preference or just more suitable to our budget is a subject for discussion. Moving into our new life it seems our tastes are changing. After 30 plus years of maintaining a period home - I must have painted the timber Californian Bungalow period home 3 times on the outside......The interior saw many changes and renovations. In fact it got to the stage that I was renovating the renovations.

With the sale of the Cal Bung, we are now in the stage where we can treat ourselves a little in retirement. The new house is now coming down the home straight to the finishing line although we are still anxious to see if the builder meets our need for a pre-Christmas move-in.

If you have been following our saga, you would agree that our new home is designed for modern living and so we find ourselves moving towards a new style of decoration and furnishings.
Last Sunday we needed to be in Melbourne and so decided to look at a modular suite for the family area. We initially saw it in a magazine we regularly buy called Country Style.

We needed the versatility of a modular suite so that we could rearrange furniture to suit our various needs as a new home will become a party house. Since moving to the country, we have a constant stream of visitors. The suite can be converted from a full size one piece L-shaped couch to two 2-seaters. If we have more than two couples stay in the 2 guest rooms, we can convert the suite to a double bed or even two single beds...
It will be covered in mid-grey fabric rather than the leather shown below.

 But then as Sue walked around the showroom, she discovered a chair she just fell in love with. Once she sat in it, put her feet up, she decided it just had to be part of our family room as well. The fabric will be in a teal colour and I hear her planning to have some teal cautions or maybe a teal throw-over for the long suite to pull the two pieces together. How exciting?

We may have some more news on the house later in the week as the inside painting and tiling is coming to a close. We do have a few problems to sort out with the builder however it was always expected that the occasional stuff-up would happen somewhere - more on that subject later.

TURPIN FALLS

Only late last week we took a drive to another waterfall in our area. There are three that we aware of. Trentham Falls near our future home town is running well with the Coliban River flowing over the falls.

Another river, the Campaspe runs through Kyneton where we currently live. The Campaspe River runs from the Central Highlands and meanders all the way to Lake Eppalock where it meets the Coliban River then flows on to the great Murray River. With the historic rainfalls this winter, the Campaspe has widened its banks and is flowing very quickly. This creates some stunning scenery, especially as it reaches Turpin Falls.
These falls are nowhere near the height of Trentham Falls which are the highest in Victoria. Nevertheless they are stunning with the amount of water that is currently flowing over them.

I'm told that the falls are very popular with rowers being brave enough to take a leap of faith.

Looking down on the falls

Once over the falls, the Campaspe River runs to the next catchment area of Lake Eppalock. 

Our House is a very nice House

Today we had to meet the window furnishing people on site and it gave us an opportunity to see the progress on the inside. A few glitches have arisen however I guess when you get to this stage, it is expected. Unfortunately the Tilers discovered that our Builder under-estimated the amount of tiles to complete the job. Painters had not completed their work which also slow down the Tilers (probably an additional week).
I must say though that up until now, progress has been excellent and I think our Site Manager, Clinton is pushing hard for us.

However we forge on and keep the pressure on the Builder to perform to meet our expectations. I keep telling Sue, "We are the customer and we hold the purse strings". I figure that's good incentive for performance.

En-suite vanity and floor have now been tiled. The floor is a charcoal grey which is not unlike the floor tiles in our old home.

The splash back has been tiled in a herringbone layout.

All of our en-suite and the second bathroom have floor to ceiling clean white tiles.

Second bathroom is in keeping with the en-suite theme.

I now know how the tradies keep up their energy.