Sunday afternoon at the Chestnut Festival in Kalorama
We were not sure what to expect but thought going to the Kalorama Chestnut Festival would be a fun thing to do. The weather was nice and its always a pretty drive from our place through Montrose and up the tourist road to Kalorama. We left around midday planning on getting something for lunch either at the festival or Olinda. It soon became apparent as we got closer to the Kalorama reserve that parking was going to be a problem. We had a go at getting a park close to the market but got blocked in and decided to get out and try somewhere else. We continued past a line of cars parked on the side of the narrow road and ended up at fiveways and found the last park at the Silvan Dam Lookout carpark.
Parking Silvan Dam Lookout at Fiveways
We worked out it was going to be a 15 minute walk back to the Chestnut Festival if we parked at the Silvan Dam Lookout Carpark. It was a bit hairy in places as the stream of traffic wizzed past us as we wove in and out between the parked cars on the damp leafy ground. Half way there was an opportunist parking ticket guy sticking tickets on cars that were over the line, in the bus stop, or in no standing zones.
Where are the chestnuts and what is that brown thing?
There were plenty of people and stalls with a great carnival atmosphere. We meandered around looking at the stalls and taking pictures at we went. We went around the outside stalls and apart from a stand selling chestnut and pumpkin soup we hadn’t seen any chestnuts yet. I did sub consciously see a large life size brown thing with legs earlier on but did not work out it was a chestnut until we were up closer to it. And funnily enough the bright yellow sign saying ” hot chestnuts” now was blaring at me and at the same time I worked out the brown thing was a chestnut mascot. I got a photo with the chestnut and we watched the process involved in roasting the chestnuts at the back of the chestnut stand.
The Art of Roasting Chestnuts
The prepared chestnuts were being roasted on the bbq’s at the back of the chestnut stand. I started talking to the chestnut expert ( lovely man who loved his chestnuts and wanted to tell people all about them) who was turning the chestnuts to remove the hard shell. Just as he was telling me every chestnut needs splitting with a knife to avoid popping… a chestnut made a loud bang and shot out past him! There were plenty of people lined up to buy a bag of freshly roasted chestnuts.
Late Lunch at Mount Dandenong Bakery
While there were plenty of stands to buy food at the Chestnut Festival we decided to try Olinda for lunch. Once we got to Olinda it was crazy busy, with no where to park, and most cafes looking full even though it was close to 2pm. We drove back to Mount Dandenong and bought a pie and pastie from the Mount Dandenong Bakery. We enjoyed a Steak, Cheese and Onion Pie and a Pastie ( Pastry great but a bit too carroty) to share. The Pie was delicious! ( Should have passed on the pastie and bought 2 pies)
Kalorama Chestnut Festival
Kalorama Reserve,
Mt Dandenong Tourist Road,
Kalorama VIC 3767
chestnutfestival.org.au
Silvan Dam Lookout
2 Barbers Rd,
Kalorama VIC 3766
Mount Dandenong Bakery
236 Ridge Road
Olinda, Victoria, Australia 3767