'Nebea' - COONAMBLE (1-4 Oct)

BRUNCH CLUB GOES ON TOUR!!!

Well, where to start. After much planning and in fulfillment of a promise made almost 20 years ago, the Brunch Club set off at 6:00am from Petersham to make the long journey to Coonamble for breakfast at the ancestral home of the Lampe clan.

We stopped at the Foxwood Cafe in Running Stream for our first coffee of the day - a delightful spot, with delicious home made pies, and a fire to sit around whilst we had coffee.

More coffee at the Butchers Cafe in Mudgee excellent coffee and discussion on education policy

The brunch that awaited us was more a feast of Biblical or perhaps Royal proportions. Farm-fresh produce, coffee, pots of fine tea, and something a little stronger for the the weary travelers was all lovingly prepared by our hosts in the new kitchen which looked like a page from a Vogue magazine,

brilliant work by local Interior Designer Susan Jane Lawrance well done!! 

Brad was a little taken aback by the initial enquiry, 'would you like to see the shag in the pool?' and may be why we only scored 12.5 in the quiz. And this was despite having no fewer than 10 people contributing and Rohan even knowing the capital of Mongolia. The theologians (read: Andrew and Brad) were ashamed not to know how many days Jonah spent in the whale - 3 by the way, but all was soon forgotten when Andrew suggested taking urine samples to test the theory about asparagus.

In short, this legendary brunch started at 1.30pm and went on until 6.30pm that evening. It's success overwhelming and reflected in the scores:

BRAD: 6 golden eggs (out of 5). What can I say? Talk about country hospitality! All is now right with the world.

SAL: Hear! Hear! A Triumph on all fronts! I give it as many golden eggs as the scale will allow.

ANDREW: 555 out of 5.  Mum, your new kitchen is breathtaking which earns my inflated score.. 21 years late but still in every way worth the wait. Nowhere can every beat home especially after returning from a very mixed quality overseas trip.
LAMPE HOSTS: Just wonderful to have our most loved in our new beautiful kitchen.

Men around a fire...

Other highlights of the weekend included:

Quad bike riding where the lessons were short but Hugo had full confidence in the driver!
A visit to the historic Nebea Woolshed. What a treat to see this piece of Australian history still standing.
A side trip from the shed to the shearers quarters evoked recollections of a scene from Wake in Fright!

Ah, country life!...

Week-end Guests included Bethel and Betty, Netty & Graham, Malcolm, and local fang farrier Mark.
We were also guests at Sunday lunch hosted by the fabulous Helen and Frank, tennis played, camp oven produced a wonderful lamb roast, fire by the Castlereagh.

Return journey via Mudgee - lunch at High Valley, red wine from Peterson's and olive oil from Bling. A visit to the Lawson homestead and a wonder in the garden to see the Tea Drinkers by Tom Bass. Onward to Springwood where we had to break into the family home for a cuppa to revive us for the downhill run. What a memorable week end!