We left around 10.30, and stopped off at Ararat for lunch... at Rotten Ronnies. The locals were as feral as can be expected, and the food - well, it was ballast. It was on the road again, arriving in Bendigo just after 3.
It was a warm, windy and wonderful night. Used to the freezing cold and recent constant wet that we had been having, it was lovely to sit on their back patio, sipping on Brandy Alexanders and catching up with friends we hadn't seen for over nine months.
Charu and DexterJemima enjoyed catching up with 'her' brother, Dhruv, as did Caitlin. They played Guitar Hero on the Wii and kept themselves amused.
Dinner was amazing. If Charu ever wanted to give up medicine, she could have a successful career opening an Indian restaurant! After dinner (and a few wines/scotchs/beers), Michael amused us all with his ability to take any subject, any style of music and any accent and make a little ditty, usually with a swear word or two in it.
Sunday morning, we had an amazing version of scrambled eggs, served with chapatis (what's the name for it, Jayant?) and then a trip downtown to play bowling. Do bowling. Whatever the correct terminology for hurling a heavy ball down a wooden runaway to hit some poor unsuspecting pins is.
Charu and I opted to be the cheer squad, whilst the others played. Jemima used a special ramp they had for young kids. You place the ball on the top and then push it down. Of course, it works better with a run up before the push.
Dr J and Michael checking out the balls
the final score!Then it was home for lunch (a fantastic biryani), and a walk around the hill behind Jayant's house, checking out the old mine sites before heading home after 5.
It was an uneventful trip home, though Michael managed to find an amazing radio station in Bendigo... that supposedly played people's unusual requests. We had Hello Mudder, Hello Fadder; They are Coming to Take Me Away and some other bizarre songs playing! We stopped to 'dine' at Ararat again, though neither Michael nor I could stomach any bog burgers after the wonderful cuisine of Chez Charu, so we stopped off at a fish and chip place.
We arrived home, exhausted, just after 10pm. The dogs were ecstatic to see us - it'd been a whole 36hrs since they'd seen us! Oh boy, oh boy! Lick, lick, lick! So, after the fond greeting, they got shoved into Jemima's room to sleep with her and the rest of us tumbled into bed.
Only I was woken at 2am by the dogs whining and scratching Mim's door. I let them out and they indicated that they were desperate to go outside. My first mistake was letting them. They bolted off. After a few minutes, I called them, but nobody came. So I went outside to look for them. (Bear in mind that I was too tired to unpack my PJs so I was only wearing a Tshirt. And it was about 5 degrees). Sarah came to me but I couldn't see Jess. After five minutes of calling, I knew I'd have to go on a search mission. Came inside, got dressed, grabbed the torch and shut Sarah in the dogbox. Closer inspection showed that the side gate had enough of a gap that Jess would have squeezed out, and gone to play with sheep. But not our sheep, they were still grazing in the western paddock, their eyes reflecting in the torchlight. The silly bitch had decided to go through the neighbours fence and check out their paddock. Apparently there was a dead sheep somewhere there. I called her, and she came back.... but she had taken the opportunity to roll in shit! Sheep shit or cow shit - it didn't really matter which, she stank! And then she decided that it was important to round up our sheep, at 2.30 in the friggin' morning, under the starlight. By the time I was able to catch her, I was not a happy camper. Trying to catch a barking, rounding up dog, with the added noise of Sarah howling from the dogbox, wanting to be in the fun, is not conducive to being able to easily go back to sleep!
Needless to say, soap and water do NOT get the smell of shit off one's hands!!!!
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