What a wonderful day... from beginning to end.

From super trails to Christmas Trees to gorgeous children. Today had it all. Up at 5 and non-stop to mid-night.

At 5:15am this morning Mick Ritchie and I were out the door and on our way to Smith's Gully (St. Andrews) for a MTB exploration morning. We had never ridden these trails before and were looking forward to finding out how good it really is.


As we cruised north the weather was absolutely beautiful. Sunny skies and warms temp. From what we currently understand, that's not how it's supposed to be on a Saturday. We should be getting at least 30mm of rain!

My enthusiasm got the better of me as I texted Bruce in Bright to say how pleased I was that they had such a beautiful day for the tour (big road racing weekend this weekend for the Tour of Bright - 15 6am-ers in attendance). I heard later it was raining up there... he must have thought I was taking the piss!

Anyway, we discovered what a delight it is to ride the trails of Smith's Gully. It was absolutely as good as it comes. The single track is extensive, well maintained and heaps of fun. The scenery is wonderful and the coffee at the shop at the end is as good as anywhere. The whole package really.


Towards late afternoon we headed out to Wandin to choose our Christmas tree. This is the one...


And later, Karen headed off to a 50th birthday and the kids and I went out for some tea. We had one of those treasured nights that are never planned but just happen. Jack's wish for quite a while was to go to Formosa House Chinese restaurant so I sucked it up and went (I'd much prefer Thai or Indian... maccas for that matter).

The kids felt extremely special simply because of the fussy waiters, white table clothes and candles on the table. They absolutely loved it and couldn't hold back their appreciation (I reckon each of them thanked me twenty times!). Funny!... I never get that at McDonalds.

We had to finish off with a massive ice-cream each from Dairy Bell and home to bed by 10, yes - 10.

Grouse!