Sirens Kiosk, St Leonards and the National Celtic Festival, Portarlington

On the King's Birthday weekend, when we went to stay the night with my parents in Geelong, our first destination was the Bellarine Peninsula, first to the lovely Sirens Kiosk in St Leonards for lunch and then to the National Celtic Festival in Portarlington to enjoy some Celtic music and crafts.  It was a drizzling as we drove there and then as we entered St Leonard's the sun came out.  This was welcome when we arrived at the Sirens Kiosk with its outdoor seating.

When I told my mum we were going to St Leonards she said there was not much there.  Sylvia had other ideas after reading about this cute little kiosk.  It is a small booth at the start of the pier with some simple tables and chairs and a great view of the sea.

Sylvia prefers plant based milks so she was happy that there are no extra charges for this option.  The display cabinet has lots of tempting treats: Caramel Anzac Slice, Banana Danish, Lemon Butter Berry Cookie, Brownie Boy Cookie Pie, Raspberry Rosewater White Chocolate Meringues and more.  I also saw someone giving their dogs very cute paw shaped biscuits.

Sylvia had been looking forward to the iced strawberry matcha latte; they also have a warm variation of this drink.  It came with freeze-dried strawberries sprinkled on top.  I had a hot chocolate which came with a huge marshmallow on top.  Sylvia enjoyed her strawberry matcha but noted it was sweeter than her favourite one in Melbourne.  The Sirens drink was more like a strawberry milk with a bit of matcha than a matcha latte with some strawberry puree.  I liked my hot chocolate.  It was lovely to have a hot drink on a cool day.

She also had the toasted and buttered banana bread.  It was very nice but not fully toasted as we had hoped and parts of it were cold.

Far more pleasing were the jaffles.  I ordered a spaghetti jaffle.  We always called them jaffles when I was a kid and I remember toasting them in a jaffle iron over the fire at a holiday house.  (My dad also remembers jaffles fondly but think they should be round!)  It seems more common to call them toasties these days.  I now rarely have tinned spaghetti with tomato sauce but it was something we loved as kids.  Tinned spaghetti in a jaffle is a childhood comfort food for me.  And it was the right time of year for a hot lunch.

Sylvia loved my jaffle so much that she ordered the cheese and baked beans jaffle.  Did I mention that the jaffles came with salted crisps.  This one was also great and warming. Sylvia rated it very highly.

Then we had a walk along the pier where I bumped into a former colleague.  Sylvia and I didn't have time for a walk on the sand but if we hadn't had other plans perhaps we would have done so.

As we drove back through St Leonards I saw this nostalgic street art that harked back to old milkbars.  I loved the kid climbing over the wall (top left on above photo) and the coloured fly strips on the doorway.  The pelican on the rubbish tin below is also a lovely bit of artwork.

We then headed to the National Celtic Festival.  (Only a 10 minute drive away.)  This is a festival we have visited quite a few times over the years.  This year I put my name down to volunteer but a cold and cough in the week or two before meant that it did not seem wise to stand around for a hours in the cold.  It was disappointing that I had to pull out.  Instead we had a quick visit to look around the festival.

When we arrived, we heard the poignant strains of the bagpipes.  We walked up the hill and stopped to listen to the Geelong RSL Pipes and Drums play on a patch of land overlooking the sea.  Then, with the Scottish vibe, we headed to Mowatts Scottish food truck and had a tattie scone each.  It was nice but not as freshly crisp as we have had.  

We would have liked to have some of the other food but were full from our jaffles.  If I had had more space in my tummy, I would have loved to have tried the special festival toastie at the Splatters food truck.  It had potatoes, caramelised onions and a blue cheese.  Splatters has a cheese train (like a sushi train) in Pakington Street in Geelong that I would love to visit one day!

This piper scarecrow was on display to promote a scarecrow from the Great Australian Scarecrow Competition.  Apparently some people do not like bagpipes!  Maybe birds don't either.

As we weren't hungry, we had a look around the craft market.  It is one of the nice places to visit when we don't purchase a ticket.  We could also hear the occasional tune from one of the performance tents or a busker.  The grass was damp and I heard someone say they were tired of all the rain.

This collage gives a glimpse of the creativity and gorgeousness on show.  Garden gnomes dressed as members of the band Kiss, macrame, knitting, warm beanies, shamrock baby shoes, clothes, jewellery, artwork and honey bears.

We were quite taken by the crochet stall.  Sylvia really loved the positive potatoes, especially the one at the back with the top hat.  Seeing all these beautiful crochet flowers makes me wish I could crochet.  I tried it last winter and did not get far but maybe some day I will get the hang of it.

Likewise I wished I could make such beautiful small fairy houses like the ones of display at this lovely stall.  This was the stall with garden gnomes and fairies among other things.  A little girl came up with a $5 note and asked to buy a fairy well but the stall holder graciously told her she needed more money.  Last I saw the little girl was looking at the tiny bottles of fairy dust.

The last stall we looked at was the honey stall.  This is where the honey was sold in tiny bear bottles.  The range of flavoured honey was amazing.  The straws of honey with different fruit flavours were tempting.  Instead of purchasing we went to the honey tasting.  I had to taste the chocolate honey.  It was very good.  Sylvia really liked the creamed honey.  I was surprised as I have always found the idea of creamed honey quite odd.

We sat for a bit watching some Irish dancing.  The discipline and stamina of the dancers is amazing.

On our way back to the car, we walked past the playground where Sylvia used to play when she was younger.  I am not sure they had all those sculptures at that time.  This dolphin sculpture is quire lovely and kids enjoy climbing it.  If you look closely you will see a head of a little boy who is making his way up it.

As we left we had a lovely view of the You Yangs mountain ranges and the sun struggling to shine through the grey clouds.  We decided the patch of the light on the water looked like some sort of alien activity.  After all we have seen enough tv shows where everyone enjoys a village event while something odd happens nearby unseen by almost all.  We were in the right place as observers to see what was going on at the festival and around.

Sirens (Miss Buzz) Kiosk
The Foreshore (entrance to pier)
St Leonards, Bellarine Peninsula
Open: Mon, Thurs, Fri 8.30am-2pm, Sat, Sun 8.30am-2.30pm
https://www.instagram.com/miss.buzz.sirens/

National Celtic Festival
Portarlington
Friday 7th - Monday 10th June 2024
https://www.nationalcelticfestival.com/