Most Liveable: Sept 2009 - Dunkeld & Royal Mail Hotel

On Friday 11th we took the day off and drove to Dunkeld (Southern end of the Grampians) taking a long route through Ballarat, Ararat, Hall's Gap and finally Dunkeld. We had a lovely lunch in Ballarat at L'Espresso and stopped at a few antique, bric-a-brac stores along the way.

Arriving around 4pm, we settled into our room at the Royal Mail Hotel. We went for an exploratory walk around the town (very quiet, only 420 permanent residents) and then had dinner in the bar.

On Saturday we took the walk to the Homestead which is about 2h30m return and had to avoid 2 very territorial (and swooping) large birds. The winds were quite strong but it was a lovely morning of about 23 degrees and I got a little bit sunburnt.

After returning, we took the car and drove into Hamilton and had a late lunch at the local Chinese restaurant before returning for our massages.

After a relaxing deep tissue massage each, reading the papers or the animated Great Gatsby (for my October book group), we waited for Lori & Markus to arrive.

They had all sorts of dramas and after starting in their own car, it overheating and waiting for it to cool down, they had to return to M's parents to grab their car for the weekend and eventually arrived at 7.30pm instead of 5pm!

We had a glorious 10-course degustation meal at the Royal Mail Hotel restaurant which has won numerous awards and recently confirmed 2 chef hats in the 2010 Age Good Food Guide as well.

Lori & Markus come from premium hospitality industry and we were treated to excelent service from Ainsley, whom Markus knows from Verge days.

1. Sardine, jamon, radish & smoked tuna