Lovely drive out to the country.

Last week I'd told Ken I wanted us to go for a drive out of Melbourne on the Sunday before my birthday.  He'd spent the last two weekends up the country with his bike mates, and I felt it was my turn to be taken out!  So today we drove up to Warburton.  I'd been wanting to go up there for years, as I've been hearing about a fabulous patchwork shop up there, as well as a number of antique/second hand shops and nice cafes.  It took us just over an hour to drive from Eltham to Warburton, and as we entered the town the first shop I saw was The Patchwork Tea House. "Stop now and pull over!"  I yelped and Ken swung over to the kerb immediately, wondering what was wrong.  "This is our first stop, so we may as well have something to eat here" I said.

We were lucky to get a table at the front window with this view:

Ken ordered a pie and salad, and I had scones with jam and cream....yum.

I had a look around the shop after we'd eaten, and I can see why so many quilters come up here from Melbourne for the day!  The shop was full of beautiful fabrics, great range of threads and kits as well as finished quilts on display. 

For the rest of the afternoon, we strolled down the street, in and out of shops, galleries, and other places of interest.  Warburton is high up in the Yarra Valley, and the scenery is quite spectacular. 

All the shops and galleries are on the main street, mostly on one side, while the other side has a few galleries and an excellent tourist information centre with a huge old water wheel reconstructed and in working order.

Ken commented that it would have been terrifying on Black Saturday, watching the fires on those hills.
I said there are two reasons why I would not like to live there - the risk of fires in summer, and the snow in winter!  But it is a lovely place to visit, and we'll be back again some time soon I think.

 The Yarra River starts up around here, and flows all the way to Melbourme.

 A new housing estate looks very attractive but I still wouldn't live there.

 Apart from lunch, we made just two purchases.  Tiny TINY little china kittens!  That is a sugar bowl behind them.

And a gorgeous rooster painted on tin - just right for our kitchen.