away with friends

Its taken some organisation to get seven lovely, busy friends away at the same time, its been way too long since our last big trip to Melbourne.

This weekend though saw us finally all away together at this great big house I found in the Southern Highlands, tucked away on land at the end of the road, bordered on three sides by the stunning Mount Gibralter Nature Reserve.

The house booked online turned out to be a great find. It boasts lots of bedrooms with crisp white sheets and big fluffy towels, two sitting rooms, one cosy with big stuffed couches and a wood fireplace, another light filled space with floor to ceiling picture windows looking out on the beautiful view. There was even a piano room, though we didn't get round to a singalong, this time!

On Saturday we lunched at the great Berkelouw Book Barn out of Berrima. My friend Jane comes here often and it didn't disappoint. The big light dining space is surrounded by shelves and shelves of books and bordered by a 15 foot sandstone fireplace. Sadly my phone battery died before I could take any good photos, but I did manage to immortalise my lunch of Blue Swimmer crab linguine with chilli and lemon zest, the important stuff! We had a long slow lunch tucked away out of the rain and cold catching up on our busy lives.

Yesterday after a slow breakfast at home we hit Bowral for coffee at the cosy Elephant Boy cafe in main street Bowral. We then spent a couple of hours of shopping, including  a browse at the lovely shop Three Wise Monkeys, and an inspiring visit to the Dirty Jane's antique market, a great find of lots of vintage sellers together under one roof. Both kept us distracted and happy for a good while.  We finished our time away with a very late lunch of potato and leek soup back at Elephant Boy, surrounded again with beautiful old books, before packing up and heading home.

I love these girls, and it was inspiring and relaxing to spend good long hours together, having time to catch up properly and talk about work, family, life and love. We fitted in a long walk one day before the rain started, and stayed up late into the night laughing in our pyjamas round the flickering fire.

I came back with few physical souvenirs, but lots of lovely memories and conversations to ponder, and another rich layer to each of these precious friendships. And plans for another trip, much sooner this time!