Raspberries!!

When I was researching activities in and around Melbourne, I found an article about Kinglake Raspberries - where visitors can pick their own fruit.

(I've spent a lot of time in New Zealand, staying with a very dear friend and her grandparents most December/January holidays during high school - and have returned a number of times since. Raspberry picking/eating has always been high on my wishlist during those visits, hence I was eagerly anticipating a trip to a raspberry farm)! 

Nick was working but the rest of my troupe were also keen for the adventure, so we packed up a picnic and headed North-ish.  There was some lovely countryside along the way.  We called in at the Whittlesea Visitor Information Centre and picked up some brochures of the surrounding attractions. 

The volunteer was a bit vague about the area's highlights but it may have been that her attention was elsewhere, as our arrival had interrupted her reading of "Fifty Shades of Grey"!

We thoroughly enjoyed our picnic lunch in the nearby Lions Club Park - eating pies, sausage rolls, danishes and meringues from one of the town bakeries.  After lunch we drove on another 20km to Kinglake Raspberries and spent some lovely time wandering along the bushes and plucking the beautiful fruit.  We collected just over 1kg and paid $17.90 - an absolute bargain considering the same amount would have cost at least $48 at supermarket prices (and a trip to the local Woolies/Coles would not have been anywhere near as much fun)!

I have to brag a little as I've been rather wimpish since our Melbourne arrival, choosing to travel by tram rather than drive on the roads with them - and I drove all the way out to Kinglake and back (120km round trip) without GPS or incident!   To be fair, Erin navigated on the way out using a printout from Google Maps but I drove home without any assistance, so am very proud of my efforts!