La Famiglia

On Sunday morning Darryl went surfing down near Torquay, so the boys and I hit the local beach.  Before we left however, I had to have another go at whipping up some poached eggs.  You see, I'd boasted earlier in the week at how good I was at poaching eggs.  Typically, the poached eggs I served up to Bruce and Darryl on Saturday morning looked like they'd been in a train smash.  Never had I had such a poached egg disaster!  So I had to try again.

Perfect this time!

The sun was out and we spent a wonderful few hours wandering along the foreshore, kicking the soccer ball and stopping at playgrounds and jetties along the way.  There were thousands of people out (I mean, locals must have to make the most of it, coz at any tick of the clock there could be a tornado warning!) enjoying the beautiful sunshine.  We stopped at the perfectly situated Sandbar Café for a mid morning coffee and snack before meandering back towards Darryl's place.

After a bite of lunch, we headed up to Sunbury, a short 35 minute journey from Melbourne, to enjoy an afternoon/evening with our Piscitelli cousins.
 

  Darryl got to know his new girl cousins

Jack and Jonah got into some soccer...

 



...which soon turned to cricket.



Maria cooked up an buonissimo Italian meal, but she did stress that some credit need go to Rosa, the family matriarch, whose homemade produce had been sent down from the family property in  Mildura.

We enjoyed a sensational meal with a warm and welcoming family!

The Little People's table

 

After dinner the boys - big and small - went to the park for a while for more soccer, while the girls enjoyed the peace and quiet.  And the bubbles.  Lots of bubbles.

 

The rest of the evening passed in a blur.  Not sure whether any of those infamous Dirty Piscitelli drinks went down, but I know 700 mls of Limoncello did!
 



 And things got a little crazy!

 

I guess this was to be expected when we hadn't seen each other for 25 years.  Luckily there is no further photographic evidence of the evening's events.  None that I am prepared to publish, anyway.

No prizes for guessing I wasn't feeling a million bucks next morning.  Bruce however, having offered to drive last night, was up early and off for a run through South Melbourne before breakfast.

It took a strong coffee or two, but eventually we got our belongings packed into some semblance of order and thrown in the car.  We said our farewells to Darryl and hit the road once more.  A big thanks to Darryl, my BFAM, for your generous hospitality over the past five days.

We headed first to Melton, and while I was in the hair salon, the boys rocked the playground at MacDonalds.  By 1pm I still wasn't feeling quite right, so what better way to fix a queasy stomach but with some greasy junk food?  The boys didn't think they'd heard right when I told them we were going to eat at KFC.  First time in Jack's nine long years!

He approved!

 

From here we headed back to Sunbury, just a short drive away.  I love this about Victoria, by the way.  EVERYWHERE is just a short drive away!  When we had organised to meet up with the Piscitellis on Sunday night, it was planned that another cousin, Mario, would also be joining us.  Mario lives in Van Couver, Canada, and by chance happened to be flying in to Melbourne this weekend.  Unfortunately, however, he couldn't get a standby flight and so couldn't join in our night of fun and frivolity.  He did arrive today, however, and we couldn't leave town without at least saying 'ciao'.

 



We had coffee and reminisced about the fun we'd had 25 years ago when we were all still uni students, the stand out memory being the crazy Mexican night.  I am sure I still have a photo somewhere of us wearing ponchos and sombreros and drinking wine out of a goat's bladder!

With Mario about to catch a plane to Mildura and us on a schedule to get back to Bacchus Marsh, our time (and laughs) together were all too brief.  We said our goodbyes and with promises not to leave it another 25 years, we took our leave.

Soon after we were warmly welcomed back by Lynn and Michael at Bacchus Marsh.  The van was still in one piece, despite a tremendous storm they had copped during our time in Melbourne.  We were spoilt for dinner with Lynn offering us the choice of her food van menu.   We all went for burgers and I have got to say that it was by the far the BEST lamb burger I have ever had the pleasure of devouring!  The boys shared cheeseburgers and chips and finished up with an ice cream.  No wonder there were tears when we told them we were to be leaving Bacchus Marsh in the morning!  Well, I am sure it is not JUST Lynn's wonderful food that they will miss.  We will all miss her wonderfully warm and loving Bell nature.  Thank you so much for the treasured memories you've given us of our stay at The Marsh.

Note:  BFAM = Brother From Another Mother