Back to Laura

In early September we went back to Laura, the high end restaurant at Point Leo Estate. We’d been due to go there at the end of last year but had to cancel due to my ill-health. So we re-convened at a place called The Orchard in Thomas Road, Red Hill South. When we originally booked it was a B&B, now it is only a B. But a very pleasant one. Here is the touring party (sans me) exploring the grounds.

And this is looking back to our residence for the night.

And our view from the rooms which were very comfortable; everything you needed on hand.

With a little local sculpture thrown in (it was a big week-end for sculpture).

In the evening we were ferried to Point Leo Estate by a local woman who runs a bus service for people like us, visiting the restaurant and who don’t want to drive home! Very convenient. Weather was looming, to say the least.

We had arrived an hour early in order to enjoy the sculpture park. It was clear, we would have to get a move on if we were to avoid being rained on.

Joe and I had been here before, during the Melbourne Food and Wine festival, when the grounds had been very dry, and brown to boot. This night all was green. Here are some of the sculptures. This is Lady with Flowers by Dean Bowen.

This is Big boy by Zadok Ben-David.

You get a sense of the weather in this photo of the aptly named Horizons by Anthony Pryor.

But what you don’t see is that at this stage it is raining intermittently and we are taking shelter amongst the trees from time to time.

I liked Ancient range floating by Peter Blizzard very much.

This is Laura by Jaume Plensa. What came first – sculpture or restaurant name? It was hard to photograph in the rain!

The weather was closing in.

And then came this wonderful sunset, setting off Bruce Armstrong’s Eagle beautifully.

And reflecting on West Orbis by Robert Hague.

And on one of my favourite pieces, Rise 1 by Andrew Rogers.

It was also lighting up the restaurant.

And the sculptures near it.

It’s strange how clear these photos are when most were taken through rain and it was freezing. We were cold and wet when we finally arrived for dinner.

But what a dinner we had! Here’s the menu. It was meant to be of everything we ate and drank but does not include the oysters we had accompanied by sherry! Who would have thought that combination would work? Well, Chris did, and it did, to our delight. Everything was superb but the Nori tart at the start was a taste sensation! And all of the wines were great. It was a beautifully judged meal; no feelings of over-eating or drinking. But it was good that we had our cheerful driver and her bus to take us home. In part because it was pouring with rain.

Next day continued cold and wet. We had a lovely breakfast at Petit Tracteur at Main Ridge followed by a tasting at Ten Minutes By Tractor and one at the smallest winery on the Peninsula, Myrtaceae Winery. Taking advice from the lovely man at the latter, we drove up to Arthur’s Seat where we were hoping to have a walk but the weather defeated us. Instead we visited a wonderful nursery, Austplan Nursery & Gardens. It was beautifully laid out, exhibiting native plants in lovely demonstration gardens. There was more sculpture. I’m not sure where you would put this large animal. Not in my garden for sure. Although I liked these green moons. And wouldn’t mind this eagle.