More Visiting

On Thursday Reis and Nima came to Rosemary's for lunch. We hadn't seen Nima since 1988, other than a quick hello when they traveled through Charlottesville about 15 years ago. Nima was the librarian at Woodstock while we were there, and her daughter Anu was in Dirk's class.

Friday late morning Reis and Nima picked us up for an outing. We had lunch at a winery in the Yarra Valley, a lovely area to the northeast of Melbourne. It was raining quite heavily on the way, so we couldn't see much of the mountains. After lunch, we were happy to see the sun peeking out between the clouds, and it continued to improve throughout the afternoon. We headed to the Healesville Animal Sanctuary, where we hoped to see a platypus show. As it turned out, we missed it, but we did get to see the platypus in its habitat. One of the most unusual animals in the world, the platypus seems quite improbable with its bill, fur, and flat tail. We finished off the day with a cup of tea at their home before returning to Rosemary's.

Once again, our travels have been enriched by seeing old friends.

Dan taking Digby for a walk in the morning

Reis and Nima at the winery

Wagyu beef burger

Flat iron steak sandwich

Platypus -- bill on left, tail on right

Closeup of banksia growing at the sanctuary

Artist showing emu eggs to be painted and/or carved

Emu

Shingleback lizard with head to right

Winery as the clouds were clearing

Nima and me at her house

Dan, Anne, Nima, Reis

Anne, Rosemary, Dan