Seven on Sabbatical: Werribee Mansion

We had a free Saturday so went to see the Werribee Mansion. It's just a ten minute drive away.

It was built in 1877 by the Chirnside family. There is a sad/interesting tale of the love between Thomas Chirnside and his cousin Mary. Their marriage was refused by her parents, but she was later granted marriage to Thomas's younger brother Andrew. Thomas never married, but Andrew and Thomas remained business partners and built the mansion together. Thomas wanted Mary to live in the best home in Victoria, even if he wasn't married to her. He lived in Point Cook (where we live). Sadly, Thomas died of suicide in 1887. There are so many questions here, but it makes my heart hurt already.

Rubber Tree. It's just massive. Henry said it was gonna kill us.

The trunk of a tree. Larger than it looks here. It looks like a mythical creature should live in it's hollow and come out to offer us tea and biscuits.

The grounds of the mansion. It looks like a fairy tale setting.

And THIS:

It looks so perfect. Just enough age to look charming and inviting.

I just want to run out and sit in it. For hours.

And it has this charming tile floor! It's so perfect! I want one.

This is my dream.

Dream.

A huge oak tree. Jessica is already a tiny girl, but this makes her look even smaller.

In the courtyard of the mansion. This access was used by service staff to bring in supplies. They actually clouded the windows so the owners didn't have to see all the work going on out there. But to me it would have been a favorite place to be. It would be a great place to have a party. The concrete covers they are standing near are the openings to the underground water tanks that are filled by rainwater.

This large windmill would pump the rainwater up into a tank so it was ready for use indoors, including the large laundry house.

The laundry house that was the largest private laundry in all of Victoria. I love the wooden sinks. There were four of them.

The lace curtains have kangaroos on them!

There is a sculpture walk on the grounds. Some odd statement pieces including one that looks like a crashed airplane fuselage. This logging truck perplexed Henry. It looked like something to play in, and even had a steering wheel. But no door. He had to walk away unfulfilled.

It was called, "Portal to another place."

Hugh-MON-Gus Rubber Tree!

Did I say it was big?

Under the canopy was a whole world to explore! It is a playground, a tree house, a playhouse, a fairy land, and a hideout. The roots are as large as the branches. I could live here for months before anyone found me.

This was a curly leaved white succulent plant with beautiful coral bell blossoms.

I may or may not have snuck a little start of this.

These reminded me of perfectly round artichokes. They had a full spectrum of color from green on the inside to dark red on the outside.

This tree is awesome.

I love the horizontal folds on this bark. It has a name but I can't remember. The placard said it was on the significant tree register of Victoria. I'm gonna look that up and go see them all.

(for the record, I just spent 45 minutes trying to download an app to guide me to them all with my phone. I had to create a new AppleID for Australia iTunes purchases. For some reason it rejected my Australia Visa card. Waaaah. Someone in Australia gift this app to me! I don't even know if that will work.)