Yarra Valley Wineries

On the second day with Sandra and Des, we drove through the stunning Yarra Valley, stopping at numerous wineries along the way. It was drizzling off and on, but sometimes the sun would burst through and give us some amazing views of the surrounding hills. Everything was incredibly green, which I guess is unusual, as rainfall isn't that prolific here.

All of the wineries had "cellar doors," which was their lingo for free wine tastings. The area is known for reds, pinot noire in particular, and chardonnay. We had great fun at all of the tastings. 

We also got to take a tour through a Moet and Chandon winery. They took us through the whole process of making "sparkling wine," which is Champagne made outside of Champagne, France so it has to be called sparkling wine. The picture below shows the sparkling wine going through the process of riddling, where the wine is turned 90 degrees every few months so the yeast sinks to the bottom. The tour guide asked our group, which consisted of Asian people and our party, to guess who invented the riddling process. I blurted out in a loud, desperate tone, "Tom Riddle!" then commenced to chuckle at myself for my one stroke of cleverness allowed per month. Unfortunately, no one got my Harry Potter reference except for Drew, and the silent response was quite deafening. Harry Potter? No? Darn, I thought that one was a winner.....

After all of our wine tasting, we needed a place to picnic on our coat of arms sausage, tasty cheese, and crackers. No, tasty is not an adjective, but it is actually a type of Australian cheese that is amazing! Some kind of extra sharp, extra aged cheddar that all cheese enthusiasts should try. Anyways, we stopped at a park with a covered picnic table and went to town. Eventually, we noticed the park was full of parrots, many of them staring at us from the trees. Des, who must have a secret language with the parrots because they loved him, decided to try to feed one. All he had to do was hold a crumbled cracker on his outstretched palm, and the parrots came swooping in! I've never had a wild bird eat right out of my hand before. And they were such beautiful birds! 

Eventually, the rest of us decided we had to try too. 

Dinner consisted of local cider, which was delicious and came with a free mustache! We also finally tried kangaroo, which was actually quite delicious. It was leaner than beef and had more of a gamier flavor, but it was certainly milder than say venison or elk. It was matched with a recurrent jam, and the end result was fantastic. 

Healesville Sanctuary

Did you know that Australia is known as the land of the parrots? I had no idea! But it's true; every park we went to had beautifully colored parrots. Take these two, for instance, which were just hanging out in a park in Melbourne. The prettiest bird we have in the US is arguable the cardinal or the bluejay, but they have nothing on these two colorful guys!

After staying two nights with Frances, we met up with our friends Sandra and Des. We originally met them while on our trip to Bali, and they graciously invited us to stay with them when we came to Melbourne, so we did! Thanks Sandra and Des! Sandra lives near Lilydale, very close to the Yarra Valley, a beautiful area NE of Melbourne. Our first day, we went to a wildlife sanctuary to see all of the native Aussie animals. Did you know that 80% of Australia's plants and wildlife is found NOWHERE else in the world? It's quite a unique place!

The first order of the day was to have my "magic moment" with a kangaroo! You could pay an extra $12 to spend 15 min petting and feeding an animal. Since you couldn't actually pet a koala because of its claws, another animal was a small rodent, and another was a dingo, which I assumed would be similar to petting Trig :), I went with a roo. These were grey roos, making them much smaller and less aggressive than the giant red roos. Plus, these ones are used to being fed by strangers every day, so they were very gentle. My roo was named Kiki, and she would eat food right out of my hand. Her fur was soft but thick, sort of like a horse's. 

Next, we got to see a Platypus! Talk about adorable. They were much smaller than I imagined, and were just as cute as a button. This one would actually let the trainer tickle her belly.

We went to a bird show and saw more beautiful parrots. I've never seen such vibrant color on an animal before. 

Birds of prey! 

The tasmania devil! (No we didn't actually see a devil while in Tasmania). These guys are smaller than you'd think too. I've seen overweight cats bigger than them. Sometimes they have a white strip on their chest or backs. Apparently, when they get angry, their ears turn red :) I am going to guess this was just the light shining behind its ears, and that he wasn't actually angry. But these little guys do live up to their names by eating an entire carcass. Bones, fur, everything. 

A koala with its baby. Nahhh.....

While in a open air bird cage, one just decided to have a snack on Drew's shoulder. Drew didn't see it land, so he had no idea how large it was until it flew off. 

This is Sandra. Smaller birds would come eat out of dishes filled with sugar water. They would actually lick the nectar with their tongues. 

A bearded lizard! Had to take a photo of this guy, as he is a character in the Rescuers Down Under, my original introduction to Australia. It's Frank!

 

These guys are echidnas, or spiny ant eaters. Super cute.

The last stop of the day was a chocolate factory. I was in heaven. 

Of course we had to try something. I got the world's best brownie, while Drew demolished an ice cream sundae the size of his face. 

Melbourne, aka Coffee Heaven

The second day in Melbourne we spent exploring the city itself. Melbourne is known as the cultural capital of Aussie (but don't tell Sydneyians that) as there is always something going on, a fair, festival, general festivities... 

Melbourne is also a very bike friendly city, automatically increasing its hipster population. Before we left the house that morning, Drew made sure his mustache was thoroughly combed, made his hair as "swoopy" as possible, and wore the thickest framed glasses he had.  Not only do they have bike lanes, but they also have rent-a-bikes, which was exactly what we did. There was an initial $5 fee, but as long as your rides were shorter than 30 min there was no additional charge. So, we covered the whole city on bicycle, going from site to site in 30 min intervals. It was a lovely way to spend the day. Drew and I have decided it is one of our favorite ways to see a new city. However, we also realize how impossible that would be in some SE Asian cities, such as Kuala Lumpur. 

First order of the day was breakfast at coffee shop #1, St. Ali. It looked like the inside of a garage converted into coffee house. Plywood, metal tracking, and extend-a-wire lighting. 

Drew making a hipster pose while our hipster waitress shimmies in the background. She was actually just walking past, but a picture never lies :)

Our Melbourne experience got off to a good start with this to-die-for breakfast. 

Melbourne is known for street art. This wall was outside the breakfast joint. Dumpsters, street art, and bicycles. 

After breakfast, we rode our bikes to the University of Melbourne. Talk about a gorgeous campus. I've never seen so many beautiful buildings on one campus. 

Next we rode through a charming neighborhood by the college and discovered coffee shop #2, Market Lane Coffee. Melbourne is actually known for serving some of the best coffee in the world, so, of course, we were going to get our fill, as Hong Kong coffee is so horrendous. 

Melbourne is chock-full of lovely gardens and parks. They also nailed the large-tree-lined-avenue concept. One garden had a statue to the gardener who designed the park 200 years ago. Could you imagine being that gardener planting those trees, knowing in 200 years from now, it will look like this? Could you imagine the slack he probably got? Why did you space these skinny little saplings so far apart? The lane looks almost bare! In 200 years, you will see what I see in my mind today. 

Melbourne also did a really great job preserving old, historic buildings. You could really feel the history there, and it gave the city a familiar charm.

This building is actually the city library. Why is the library lawn so packed you ask? I have no idea. 

Coffee shop stops #3, #4, #5. By the end, Drew and I had a severe case of the jitters, but we got our coffee fix for the foreseeable future. A legit drip! 

You know it's hipsterville when the wall decor is a fixie. 

Coffee shop #4's ceiling was entirely covered in chairs. Seemed Mary Poppin-esque to me...

Coffee shop #5 had a giant bowling pin. I think Drew actually beat me in the frowny-face competition! Inconceivable!

We were checking out a dinner recommendation, which turned out to be a dive bar in the back of an alleyway by, again, dumpsters. My face shows I was slightly uncomfortable about it all, but I'm sure it would have been delicious. 

One of the parks we walked through had the home of Captain James Cook, as in the Pocahontas guy. According to John Green's Crash Course in World History on Youtube, a series which I highly recommend to everyone, Captain Cook was a heck of a discoverer in the Pacific. He essentially put Australia on the map. His house was in England, but they moved it here and reassembled everything, brick by brick. Oh, the things we do for history.