Wine tastings

• Elana's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Healesville

Trip Start Nov 24, 2007 Trip End Nov 27, 2007

  Healesville, Australia
Tuesday, November 27, 2007

I love wine.

I spent the weekend driving through the Mornington Peninsula and the Yarra Valley wine regions in Southeastern Australia. It has taken me the 3 days of driving to finally feel comfortable in a vehicle in this damn country! Thank God for Lauren. Brian and I realized that if it were either of us driving, we would have had an accident before we hit the first traffic light after pulling away from Trifty. Holy crap. That first turn that she made onto the wrong side of the road (well the right side here) Brian and I screamed and just freaked the shit out. Hana, you know what Brian and I screaming for our lives in the car sounds like. So thanks to Lauren, Brian and I didn't have to get behind the wheel at all. Our roles were pretty clearly defined instanly. Lauren the driver, Brian the DJ and Elana the navigator. Not a good role for Elana. It didn't take long before Lauren was looking at the map behind the wheel. I mean, Brian was sleeping so I had to be the DJ. Can't live without music right?

Lauren has definitely taken on the leadership role. She is kinda like our director or puppeteer and Brian and I the marionette's. This is something very new for me, since I'm always the one making all the plans, running around like a madwoman. I can definitely say that I'm loving everything about this! I can just sit back and enjoy what Lauren has planned for the day. It is great. Brian and I seem to stop every five minutes to get food. Or in the wine region I would stop to do a tasting. There is so much sushi here! Every corner you could get a hand roll for 2 dollars. Any kind you can ever imagine in your wildest dreams. SUSHI! Speaking of food, I was just hungry for a salad but a man pointed us in the direction of a popular Italian restaurant. He insisted that we try it because of its old reputation and being so cheap, so we did. We thought AT MOST we would pay 8 dollars for a bland plate of pasta, cheap on the sauce. This is the kind of pasta I could have made by myself at age 8. Absolute garbage. It was also a hole in the wall. Anyways, so we paid 14 dollars for the worst meal in our lives. There were no menu's there. They had a chalkboard with 6 dishes, written in Italian and no prices listed. Hello. I'm not in Italy, I'm in Melbourne! When I want to be surrounded by the beautiful Italian language and equally beautiful Italian men, I will GO to Italy (which I can't wait to do). Until then, I will avoid the awkwardness of having to pay a price that I barely have enough cash to pay for.

The Yarra valley was incredible, wineries everywhere. It almost seemed like it was just one big vineyard but the grapes that grow 10 minutes away from each other, make a huge difference in the taste of that wine. The biggest type of wine made in the area would be the pinot noir. I was not very familiar with any good pinot noirs until I did some tastings. The grape is too hard to grow in our Canadian climate. Umm umm. I was in heaven.
The night that we stayed in the Yarra valley we decided that we weren't going to pay for our accommodation. We had to pay for the rental car and buy lots of wine so we couldn't afford (or didn't want ) to pay for a place to sleep. We decided to camp out in a park. A city park. Actually the biggest dog park in the region. It is very illegal to camp there but we figured we'd be able to get ourselves out of any trouble if it came our way. We are all pretty negotiable. It turned out perfectly fine. Lauren and I had a great sleep in the tent and Brian had an awful one in the car. But we saved 30$ and had an adventure.

The first night we camped at an actual campsite. I was freggin' paranoid out of my mind about snakes killing me. Every time I closed my eyes I would imagine being attacked by a snake or a gang of snakes. By the way, I got a lesson from the wildlife lady about how snakes attack so I was prepared. Not like I could ever prepare myself for seeing a snake. If a snake was on someone I knew I would just run for my life. That is how afraid of them I am. So I couldn't sleep because I created sounds in my imagination and thought I heard shit. There is nothing to say about this other than that I have become a crazy paranoid snake freak and I've got to get over it if I ever want to enjoy the land of Australia to its extremes.
I am now in search for a shared house or apartment. It is not very easy but I have found an incredible hostel in an ex nunnery to stay at in the mean time. I have a job interview tomorrow so we'll see how it goes. It would involve paid travel around the country so it would be amazing if it works out.
I had a huge epiphany when we were in the Yarra valley. It took me forever to understand and I never seemed to try and listen to someone explain it. But it is so simple. Everything is completely reversed here! Oh my God. I knew that the roads were opposite and I wouldn't have to worry about that anyway but just walking down the street I run into trouble. Always stick to the left side. Well I'm always walking on the right wondering why people keep on coming towards me, probably saying in their heads "Get the hell over. Move out of my way". As you go north here, it gets warmer. Now, that makes sense since the north is closer to the equator. For some reason, I never thought of it before. Right now I am in Melbourne, which is South so its cool here. The first day of summer is Dec 1st. These silly little things that I never would have thought of have come into my life. It is fun adjusting to the small changes. They make me laugh.

Healesville hotels Slideshow Share

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

The crazy wino writer	mmmm	Swans are nice here	Great relationship
Black swans	Evening walk	beautiful bird	palms
some Melbourne	Beaks	TRAM ride	Central station
sand water	infinity	rolling hills	Winery stop "The Cups"
Barrel	Tasting. The way Laur and I do it	Tasting. The way Bri does it	Very interested
Hmmm	vineyards	water	fence
me	earth formations	greeeeeen	more mossy
compare	moon craters	levels	more levels
ah	walk	preparation	Laur and I spelling CAN in sand
Getting there	CAN represent	I have the power	up and around
grey	walls	Little beach shacks	shell eye
headlights	arch	sediment	Melbourne from a far
surfer dot people	stroll	shipwreck	Innocent Bystander winery
Wine	Me and the innocent bystander.	Innocent Bystander	tree
view from campsit in dog park	vineyards	Hostel at the nunery