Day 9 - The Yarra Valley

Day 9 - Yering Station Fortified Shiraz
Originally uploaded by photog larry.

day 9 was australia day. the day the brits invaded australia, and beat up on the aboriginals. similar to Canada day. at any rate, it was a national holiday, and allowed us to head out to the yarra valley with debra, steve, and mr ian moore. ian rented a car, and debra drove as well, so the boys decided to give debs and Linda a chance for some heart to heart time on the drive up. the valley seemed somewhat dark in areas, and we were told that it was due to some bush fires in the area. we started to wonder if the wine would smell like smoke for the 2005 season. our first stop was de bortoli winery, where I had my first wine sampling session. we wanted to buy a few bottles, but held back, thinking that we still had a full day ahead, and not really sure whether we wanted to carry bottles around for the rest of the trip. so we ended up buying one bottle of merlot sangiovese that we liked. ian, meanwhile, stocked his car up, as expected…

next stop was lunch at yering station winery. the restaurant looked great, with some nice views of the valley, and the food was decent. afterwards, we headed into the cellar for some more tasting, topping off our lunch with a nice fortified shiraz, that we ended up buying. after this, it was time for debra and steve to take their leave, since debra had to get back to the city for her top secret commonwealth games rehersal.

we decided at this point, instead of doing more wineries, to check out the healesville sanctuary, since we still weren’t sure if we were going to head to a zoo later on. we got there, and it was virtually empty, since the weather was in the high 30’s (again). nonetheless, we headed into the sanctuary, and saw pretty much everything we needed to see, in terms of wildlife! Photos photos photos! Dingos! Lizards! Wombats! Wallabies! Echidnas! KANGAROOS! Ian even got to get a glimpse of the elusive Platypus for the first time! oh…and oh yes….Koalas. Them lazy lazy Koalas. Sleeping 23 hrs of the day, and eating for the other hour. Sounds like a life….

Heading back to the city, we decided on dinner at an Italian restaurant in Carleton. Then attempted to get to the fireworks in Southgate. However, by the time we got there, either they were finished, or the fire ban in the city precluded any fireworks. We still don’t really know whether there were actual fireworks or not. Oh well, who cares, we saw koalas!