Recently
Max and I celebrated one year of Mario Kart games and noodle soup meals so we
decided to go on an adventure. If I was in any doubt he is the guy for me, Max
then brought it upon himself to book a treehouse. I HOUSE. IN. A. TREE. IN A
TREE. GUYS.
Anyway
this beacon of joy was in Emerald, just 45 mins or so from Melbourne in the
Dandenong ranges. I feel like my blog gives quite a bit of love to the
Dandenong ranges, but that is entirely justified because it really is a lovely
part of the world - a complete escape from Melbourne whilst still being very
close. Emerald, I discovered, seems to be the major hub of the area
because it’s actually much bigger than I had anticipated.
Once
we got ourselves settled and i calmed down (it’s a house in a tree!), we
headed into town for fish and chips and some sunshine. We also found a little
park right near the Emerald puffing Billy train station which meant we could
eat and see it pass by without needing to pay $45 for the privilege of actually
riding it.
Post-fish
and chips our afternoon consisted of getting together all the necessary cheese
and dip requirements for the evening and heading back before the rain started.
We ate much cheese and I absolutely annihilated Max in monopoly which i suppose
means he’s a much better hippy then I am.
Oh,
I forgot to mention! The treehouse where we stayed is actually part of what
used to be the biggest nursery in the region, providing tree seedlings for all
Avenues of Honour in Melbourne and beyond during the late 1800’s and early
1900’s. It fell into disrepair but the property is now being lovingly brought
back to life by a couple who spend lots of time in the garden uncovering the
old architectural elements of the nursery. From the treehouse itself you get
three full walls of glass looking out into the overgrown garden.
The
rain had stopped by the next morning and so we headed out for a walk through
the garden/jungle/overgrown tree area. The paths we were following were
original nursery ones being slowly re-hashed out by the owners. We followed the
path and found ourselves near the lake that forms one side of the Emerald
Country Club, a beautiful golf course despite being well past it’s heyday. It
reminded me a lot of the holiday club in dirty dancing minus all the practice
lifts in the pond (if you know what I mean.)
Coffee
was in order shortly after our walk so we took the recommendations of our
lovely hosts and visited a new cafe in Gembrook to fill up and to insure
I had enough pollen in my eyes and nose to get my hayfever raging for the rest
of the weekend.
Much
romance. Many tree. Wow.
6/5 tree houses
