Melbourne Diary VII

Day 7: Saturday, March 21, 2015

Woke up to a brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Melbourne morning. My moisturizer was frozen, ditto the lip balm! They were made for Indian temperatures.  Hope the day warms up. 9 deg is lovely but only when the sun comes out!!

We’re off to another day in the mountains. An area called the Dandenongs. My cousin tells me that the last time, they went up the wrong mountain and she won’t let her husband forget it.  I am intrigued!

Well we did go up the right mountain and we made good time too.  We went up a turning, twisting road lined with the greenest greenery to a Bavarian tavern called The Cuckoo! We stepped into Austria (or Bavaria) literally.  The tavern was authentic last down to the smallest detail including the pretty girls in dirndls. Live bands played popular music. There was wine and beer to be had. Pumpkin was the soup of the day. Then came the help yourself, eat as much as you want buffet: entrees, main course and dessert.  Believe me, I pigged out.  The chicken liver pate with crackers was heavenly.  The fried fish, potatoes in sour cream sauce, pasta in a creamy herby sauce went down a treat with my Liebfraumilch to wash it down and the dessert bar – a little bit of heaven – held such a wide selection I am lost for names.  Just let’s say I have had to let my belt out a few notches and dinner will have to be missed. The palate cleanser was a slice of water melon.  My cousin and her friends chose their own poison.  I stuck to mine quite happily.

The music and entertainment was superb. Our host welcomed one and all and everyone who had a birthday was greeted. We clapped and sang along and tapped our feet. There was a 90 year old lady whose family was celebrating her birthday – she was unbelievable.  Arguably the youngest 90-year old I have ever seen.  Johann Strauss must have been twitching in his grave. We sang something unusual to the Beautiful Blue Danube: to the lilt of tra la la la, la la, la la, we chorused: ‘We want more beer, ja, ja, ja, ja!!’ Our Dutch friend at the table – Rickie – also had a birthday and the band sang ‘happy birthday’ in Dutch; such a beautiful melody.  And the medley that followed included some really old favourites- Che Sera and Vaya con Dios. And straight out of the Sound of Music: Edelweiss and Doh a deer which had all the children following the singer in and out the tables.  We even had a performance with cowbells – authentic Alpine bells, made in China and played in Australia: they rang out ‘Home on the Range’!!!!!

The tavern is named The Cuckoo because it possesses the largest cuckoo clock in the world!