Cottage on Flinders – Mine Host Chris We’d booked a w/e at Chris’ place a couple of weeks beforehand with the idea of exploring that part of Mornington Peninsula – doing the loop, as-it-were – Somers to Flinders to Mornington and back to Chris’ place for our overnight stops. We did too. Typically, this time of year, we’ve camped in nearby Balnarring, but temperatures tend to climb as Summer begins to coast into early Autumn and the kids get ready for their next round of schooling, and we were not certain about camping in the heat this time. Chris reminded us that his place did *not* have air/con but, what-the-hell, we’d followed the weather patterns across the south-east during January and figured we’d have an even chance of catching a reasonable temperature pattern that w/e. Moreover, we took out insurance - we’d asked Chris to ‘move heaven & earth’ to ensure a measure of consistency that ours would be a non-air/con w/e; he’d said that he’d do what he could – he did too; we had gorgeous sunny weather with ambient temperatures in the mid-high 20s degC. What more can you ask for? Well, we’d read the Airbnb description and, whilst you can’t always be certain of things – language and photos don’t always explain everything clearly (some descriptions are, well, imaginative) – this time it came out right. Bed & breakfast were provided just as they said. Soft brown bread & creamy milk. Bowl of fresh fruit. When Chris’ wife (apologies – can’t remember your name) noticed that we’d a brought a popular brand of honey with us for our breakfast table – the couple walk across their garden in front of the cottage to get to the car/garage of a morning - she did an about stance and appeared five minute later with a small pot of their own honey. Nice touch - appreciated. They have a working hive around the back of the garage – away from the cottage. So, this is how those early settlers shifted across the land 150 years ago – in little twinky cottages of this kind – raising half-dozen kids; but, perhaps, with separate kitchen and dunny (and more sheds) around the back. Whatever, the modern version is a deal different. Chis offers 9x3 m2 cottage of three rooms that lead one-into-the-other: bathroom at one end, central living-cum-food room at centre and bedroom at the other end. Clean, presentable. Out front there’s a veranda 9x2 m2 that stretches the length of the cottage. This is where you move the table and chairs and take breakfast and, of an evening, watch the birds settle into the neighbouring trees with that typical rural cacophony of calls; loud doesn’t describe it. Once they are down, this is the ‘Land of Tranquillity’; quiet & peaceful. Well apart from the guy in the house across the way who likes 1950’s rock&roll – one early evening for an hour or so – but, we too, also enjoyed the...