St Kilda & the Yarra Valley

We're off the the Yarra Valley for wine tasting!
Saturday and Sunday April 22 & 23 – This Tuesday is ANZAC day which is probably Australia's most important national occasion. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. Because of this holiday and the fact that we have to work the weekend during Open Day next weekend, we ended up getting a long weekend off. We had originally thought that we would go to Tasmania but we left the planning of that trip too long and everything was already booked. We decided it would be nice to stick around Melbourne and enjoy more of the city and nearby areas instead.

Saturday we slept in and got a leisurely start to St Kilda. We ate and relaxed there, browsing through shops and enjoying the atmosphere. There were lots of funky shops and funky people. We thought we might go to the Queen Victoria market as well, but again we hadn’t factored in the tendency for places to close much earlier than we are used to and the market had closed by 4pm. It’s an open air market with food, crafts, and entertainment. Guess we’ll try to go next weekend.

On Sunday Jhaneen had offered to take us on a tour of the Yarra Valley which is very similar to the Napa valley in California. It’s a beautiful rural area with tons of wineries and tasting opportunities. Laura came with us as well and we had a lovely day. The area generally has a cool climate which is well suited for the grapes to make white wines and Pinot Noirs. At a winery called De Bortoli we also did some cheese tasting, yummy! We had a late lunch in a town called Healesville. It was a relaxing way to spend the day.

Susan at Boat O'Craigo where she got two free bottles of wine as she had met the owner of the winery while playing in a poker tournment! Good networking Sue!

Autumn in the Yarra Valley is beautiful as leaves and vines are changing color.