The Yarra Valley

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Well the start of my flight was eventful as some bloke had disrespected the pilot and then refused to get off. Not being the most patient person in the world, I was foaming that this bloke was kicking up a fuss and delaying us. Malaysian security were far too nice, they should have smacked him and dragged him off the plane a lot sooner. Eventually we were up in the air and the rest of the flight was uneventful. Melbourne airport was rammed. I'm glad I was able to do the scan yourself in security as that was really quick and after queuing to tell them about my dirty boots, I was free to go. My friend was waiting in the arrivals hall and we headed to the car. Brr! Melbourne was cool and a little rainy. The drive to where we were staying took about half an hour and I watched the world go by from the car window, it was so different to Asia. We were staying at my friend's family's place. It was so nice to be in a real house again and I had my own room, which was huge (by my standards). I would be making the most of this.

After a lovely shower and a change of clothes I was ready to go. My friend had planned what we were going to do that day and I was happy just to go with the flow. We drove for about an hour, munching on some rice crackers, to the Yarra Valley. I enjoyed the drive to was nice to be out in the countryside. The Yarra Valley is famous for its vineyards, wineries and close proximity to Melbourne, as it's only about 50 kilometres east of the city. Our first stop was lunch since we were all starving. We had been recommended a place, Meletos, so we headed there. I can't remember if we had a reservation or not, but this place was busy for a Friday lunchtime, do people not have jobs. We ordered three pizzas to share along with some proper thick cut chips. We had a beer while we waited for the food. It felt good to be in a new place, but with a familiar face. The food was great and filled us all up nicely. We had ordered just the right amount. After the food we took a short walk around the garden out the back. We headed down to the vines to get some photos, it was quite cool and very windy, so far the Melbourne summer hadn't been too kind. It definitely reminded me of an English summer. We headed back to the car and drove to our first winery, Punt Road. This place was pretty quiet, only a few other people in there and we worked our way through the tasting menu. I love that you can try everything for free. I think we tried about six or seven wines in there. The tastes are only small, but it is enough to give you a nice buzz. I really liked the rose one, which was some kind of special wine and not one of the ones they regularly make. I purchased a bottle of that for later.

Back in the car, we needed a bit of a break from the wine, so we headed to the Yarra Valley dairy. It was time to get my cheese on. You can't visit the dairy, but you can visit the most important place the cheese shop. We had a look around the stuff in the store, a lot of it was expensive and then we headed over to the cheese cabinet to stare fondly at all the delicious cheeses. While we were standing there, the lass behind the counter asked if we wanted to try them.Yes please! We sampled quite a few of the cheeses and if I were rich I would have bought them all, but since I am not, we settled on three to get to take home. We got the chevre and dill, which was a soft cheese ideal for spreading on crackers, they also have list really cool cheese pyramid covered with ash. It could well be a total gimmicky cheese, but we wanted to take some home for the others to try. The last one we chose I can't remember.

Our next stop was the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie and Ice Creamery. This place is huge and filled with chocolate. You could help yourself to dark, milk and white chocolate. They say not to take too much, I didn't follow that rule. I totally stuffed my face. But I did buy a few boxes of chocolates, which were pretty expensive for us to enjoy later on our trip. When I was paying for the chocolates, I think I shocked the cashier a bit as she was asking when I arrived and I don't think she was expecting me to say that morning. I must not have looked as knackered as I felt. As we were leaving the chocolaterie, we spotted all the delicious ice creams outside. We all really wanted one, but we wanted more wine more, so we decided to head back later. Since the day was getting on, we had time to visit one more winery. I really wish that they didn't all shut up shop around 5 pm. We headed over to De Bortoli, this place was super fancy. One of my companions was going to a wedding there later in the year, I bet that cost a pretty penny to book. The tasting menu here was huge and unfortunately there was no way we could get through it all, so we settled on a few of our favourite types to try. The wines were all delicious.

Our last stop was back to the chocolaterie, so that we could get some ice cream. I got a huge double cone, I forget now exactly what I chose, but it would probably have been something chocolatey, peanut buttery or salted caramel, since those are my faves. While we were there, we heard about the trouble that had happened in the CBD that day, I'm glad we had headed out to the countryside and not into the city. I enjoyed munching on my ice cream on the drive back home. That evening we chilled at home, sitting on the sofa, relaxing and watching the second Magic Mike movie on TV. It was a great bit of cheese to end the day with. I was so tired, I was tucked up in bed pretty early. First day in Australia was great! Hopefully many more great days to come!

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