The
late afternoon heat of a sweltering day saw us arrive at the bucolic
estate of ‘Belliyup’. Joined by campers and campervans we
claimed the magnificent homestead and wide verandahs as Citroen
territory for a pre Australia Day evening BBQ.
John
and Scott have developed their Cardup block over 5years planting
hundreds of trees and developing a luxurious garden around the
encircling verandah perimeter with numerous bird attracting
grevilleas, banksias and westringias so that the ambience was set
with thornbills twittering and 3 types of honeyeaters singing, chooks
scratching in the nearby green paddock grasses, horses Chester and
Nelly munching contentedly and of course there was Bob the Dog! We
were all under strict orders NOT to throw Bob a stick. Bob, who
disagrees with this order, spent the entire night and next day
dutifully locating minuscule, small and medium sticks ( and the odd
semi log ) and placing them at the feet of everyone present ever
hopeful that someone would commit the ultimate sin and throw the
doggie a stick. A game evidently that once started NEVER ends!
By
midnight the pre Aussie Day group of revellers had succumbed to sleep
replete from the shared barbie of meats, salads and Philippe’s
lemon meringue pie and tiramisu complete with chevron sign. The
highlight of the evening for me was helping John place a spotlight
under a humungous Redgum. The silhouette was a truly beautiful sight
of the ancient specimen and a reminder of how insignificant we humans
really are - ‘mere
custodians of the environment’ as John said.
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Australia
Day morning dawned with perfection and thankfully the day remained
cooler. Mother Hen Eileen ( I say this with immense respect) and her
helpers busied themselves in the kitchen while John stood at the
barbie and cooked and cooked and cooked – sausages, chops,
bacon, eggs, hash browns, tomatoes ...... we had a feast! Huge
platters of fruits, cereals, yoghurt and toast completed the
gastronomic event.
Cars started arriving at 8 am
and kept on arriving! All in all about 40 lovers of all things
Citroen enjoyed the camaraderie of our club function. Wendy was
applying Aussie tattoos with gusto, children were waving Aussie flags
and the Aussie bunting was fluttering in the breeze when the first
wine was opened at 9 am - some things never change
. By mid-day only a handful of happy people were sitting on the
shaded verandah amiably chatting ................. they could still
very well be there such is the bountiful hospitality of John and
Scott!
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All
in all Australia Day was one of laughter, hugs, smiles, shared
stories and a great BBQ breaky. Thank you to all who made it so much
fun. Oh and of course thank you to John and Scott – we’ll
see you next year!
PS Our hosts kindly donated
back to the club all the contributions made to cover the cost of
breakfast. Not only are they perfect hosts but generous as well.
Thank you guys!
Denise McGillivray