week forty | ruffy, victoria

I had a hunt for a travel quote about traveling with friends but couldn’t find one that even came close to describing how lovely my weekend away with friends was.

Our friend Kaisha’s family owns a beautiful property in Ruffy in country Victoria – a place I’d never heard of before. You would be forgiven for driving right through it. It’s an incredibly small town, with a restaurant/café and a one-room primary school and not much else. As far as weekend getaways go though it has everything we could have ever dreamed of.

We headed in on Friday night as the drive isn’t very long, and before we knew it we were all rugged up, wine in hand sitting by the fire and playing cards.

As the sun rose the next morning it was time for a big brunch followed buy a walk to visit the cows and check out the view.

For the rest of Saturday and Sunday life was a blur of laughter, rest, sunshine, small naps on the couch and lots and lots and lots of food. Knowing the six of us though, that was to be expected.

It was exactly what I needed and really can’t wait to do it all again really soon. Sometimes you just need a place where there’s nothing to do but relax.

5/5 beers by the fire 

week thirty nine | olinda and sassafrass, victoria

My friend Rose and I have been friends for going on 16 years. Wow! That seems like a while when you put it like it, and considering we’ve probably only lived in the same place for three or four of those I’d say we’re pretty lucky girls. A few weekends ago Rose was in Melbourne for work and we were able to spend a whole day today, something that happens so rarely that when we get the chance we make the most of it. We agreed on getting out of the city and heading to the Dandenong Ranges, a perfect choice on a very cold and wet day.

We began in Olinda, stopping at Pie in the Sky for a delicious pie (shocker) and then headed out into the cold to have a poke around the shops along the strip. Olinda is a really adorable place, almost out of a story book and it just shines this time of year – with little lit up shop windows and smoke pouring out of little cottage chimneys.

After a bit of a shopping we urged our freezing bodies back down the mountain to see what Sassafras had to offer. As it turns out it was much the same thing. By this stage it was getting really cold so we stopped for coffee in a dark tearoom filled with warm candles. The place was stunning, and because it also happened to be Mothers’ Day it looked like the perfect place to bring mum for afternoon tea one time soon.

I always love my time in the Dandenongs, and I think it’s a perfect place to spend a horrible weather day. Plus as Rose mentioned a couple of times; it really felt like we were on a holiday.

5/5 cosy hot chocolates