Well, we're back.
Spent a lovely (long) weekend at the Ranch, with one of my best friends and our respective partners.
Nat and I got up there on Thursday evening, this time remembering almost everything we'd put on the to-pack list. You could tell they'd had a recent cold-snap: the house was colder inside than out (this despite the mist and endless rain), the wood damp and the fire taking well after midnight to get properly lit (and stay that way!)
We slept very late on Friday morning, revelling in the not-having-to-work-ness of it all, emerging to the sound of birds twitting outside the window and the crackle of the logs in the fire. Sheer bliss. Brewed a coffee and breakfasted at a most leisurely pace and awaited the arrival of Sal and Clint.
They arrived around lunchtime (for them, we were still savouring brekkie), and I was pleased to see that Sal packs as well as I do: enough for every possible contingency (warm, cold, flood, bomb-threat), despite only being away for three days.
Long conversations over pots of coffee started around here.
As it grew gloomier outside, I decided it was time to crack open the wine and see what we could do to get it mulled. We threw in all the ingredients from the Rochford's recipe, but failed dismally to get it tasting anywhere near as smooth and divine as they did, so we improvised. The final recipe ended up vaguely as follows (it still needs tweaking):
2 bottles of cab merlot
2-3 cups brown sugar
2 slices orange
2 slices lemon
3 sticks cinnamon (and maybe a few less shakes of the powdered stuff)
6 cloves (!!! too much - where are the tastebuds?!)
allspice to taste
star anise
2 tbs honey
handful strawberries (hulled and sliced)
Didn't quite taste the same, but it did the job, and we kept it simmering on the fire all evening. Until it got too potent and we decided that to cool it would be an excellent idea.
Friday night we went out to the pub for dinner, with Sal's uncle and long-lost friends. Late night, good food, good company, and the promise of a discount at the snow the following day. Excellent. 
Awoke to the sound of hungry birds and someone in the shower relatively early on Saturday morning, so padded out to stoke the fire and sprinkle birdseed. No sooner did I step outside than a kookaburra landed on the clothesline demanding his share of the bacon. So the bacon was sliced and I returned to feed it... in the rain, and still in my pyjamas. After he'd had his fill, we broke out fast with people-food, and packed for a trip to the snow.
Sadly, Clint seemed to have been poisoned by Sal's cooking. I no longer have the nickname "chucky". 
There was very little snow on the mountain, which was unfortunate, and made worse by the fact that all the snow there was was on the toboggan run. The middle of which became the general congregation ground for sightseers, one lot even seeming to have spread their picnic there! We only stayed for maybe two hours max, having skittled lots of children and improperly-dressed (who wears their cashmere Vuitton trenchcoats to the snow??) tourists who didn't comprehend the cries of "MOVE! MOVE OUT THE WAY! COMING THROUGH! GAAH!" as we hurtled down the muddy-snowy slopes.
Home again to a warm fire, a hot cuppa and lots of birds. This time, the parrots ate out of our hands, much to the delight of all concerned (everyone), as we delved into the jar of seed. Hands, arms, shoulders (yarr matey) and heads became the favoured landing spots, only leaving when fingers turned blue and a better offer (more sunflower seeds) was to be had elsewhere.
Late night, a few drinks and Pictionary. Need I say more? Well, yes, but just to add that those who challenge me and Nat to a game best be prepared.
We all fell asleep watching Dodgeball.
Sunday morning (this morning) was Nat's birthday. We let the fire go out, and spent the morning (after we'd awoken, emerged and he'd opened his pressie, that is) feeding the hordes of birds in the rain again. When they flew off with the arrival of Buddy the neighbour's dog, we were cold and damp and wondering why we'd been so stupid to let the fire extinguish itself. But never mind - instead we worked to clean the house before we left, ensuring it was immaculate for the next visitors (why doesn't everyone do that?)
Then into the cars; a brief stopover at the trout farm and pie shops before heading home.
We had all the family (barring Dave, who was conveniently out of the country) round for dinner to celebrate the birth of Nathanael tonight - I think it all went really well (although it may have been a shock to the system for dad). So much food, though: I'm about to pop 
.
Photos of said look on 
