Golden Point

Now that Stella has moved to Ballarat, we felt we needed to find an alternative, or even a replacement for The Dava, the pub in Mount Martha that she and Tony had been going to since they first moved into Martha's Point. A five hour round trip by car is not really convenient just to go out for lunch!

There are, of course, lots of eating choices in and around Ballarat.And we are hoping to try many of them. But we were also looking for a place that is suitable when all you really want is fish and chips, or a parma, or just good pub grub.

Not far from Stella's place, heading in towards Ballarat is the Golden Point Hotel. From the outside it looks similar to The Dava. Pub, games room, bistro, pokie machines, that sort of thing. We decided to give it a go. Not only is it conveniently located and has plenty of disabled parking, but it is also friendly, spacious and even has alcohol free wines!! The food is adequate. More than adequate. The chips were hot and crunchy. My grilled fish was juicy and tasty. The ubiquitous-in-pubs salad was tasty. It was all very pleasant. We have nominated it as our Dava replacement

This is not to say that we won't go to other places. There's a pub in Buninyong that none of us have been to for many years. We thought we might give that a go. Plus there are also lots of country pubs that do good food which we might also explore. But it's good to have the Golden Point close by when we randomly decide that we fancy a Sunday Lunch out with no notice.

You may have noticed that we have had quite a bit of rain locally over the last week or so. We decided to go out to Lal Lal after lunch and look at the waterfall.

The first time I went to the Falls, four years ago.
There is a trickle of water, if you look very carefully

After a little bit of rain, about four months ago

And yesterday, after the Major Rain Event of last week

I have never, ever seen so many people, dogs and cars at the Lal Lal Falls reserve. I think everyone locally had decided to go out and admire the water. There are picnic tables and a barbecue/picnic rotunda, which were being well used. The viewing point was full!

There are walking tracks down along the creeks at the bottom of the falls. Strictly speaking, they are closed to the public, but you do see people walking along them. Funnily enough - not yesterday!

It was a good Sunday, even if I didn't get the things done in the garden that I am hoping to achieve. I have bought a mini-dwarf peach tree to add to my fruit collection. I have bought a celery plant. I don't use a lot of celery but I like to have a stick or two for flavour. There are very few places where you can buy a stick or two. One plant usually does me for an entire season! I have cut the grass in the front garden. I really must do the backyard and then I can carry on with the new fruit and veg beds. My seedlings are coming along and will soon need new homes if they are to flourish. I need to get wriggling.

(I do need to do some more zucchini seeds though; the ones in my cold frame seem to have snapped in half, which isn't helpful when they are so small)