“Rain or Shine…

...you can always taste wine!"
 -One of my most favorite quotes eloquently spoken by my wonderful vino-loving hubby. 

My new sibling in-laws, Caitlin and her husband Darren, and Patrick and his girlfriend Courtney, gave Jaime and I a very thoughtful wedding gift before we headed to Australia. They all chipped in for two nights at the Sunrise Cottage in Healesville, which is an hour east of Melbourne and nestled in the Yarra Valley, Victoria’s prized wine region. They did some really great research and found us the best weekend get-away. I called the owners to make our booking as soon as we arrived in Australia. Their little cottage attached to their house is so popular that in August the earliest weekend we could book was February! So I said, Perfect! And we put it on the calendar to look forward to. It really is amazing how quickly February arrived! The night before we left, Cyclone Yasi violently tore through northern Queensland and by Friday evening the remnants of the showers made their way south to Victoria.

We arrived to Healesville before the rain and settled into our little one-bedroom cottage. Everything about it was perfect. The drive was quick and easy and the cottage was so cute with a nice view of the mountains and everything you could possibly need for a weekend away. Healesville is really cute little town and we ate at the local 'hotel' (Aussie lingo for restaurant) where we were told that the meat and produce were brought in from the farm, which was literally right next door. We had a great dinner and headed back to our little cottage just as the rain started to pour and settled in for the night, snug as bugs.

The next morning we made breakfast with our 'provided provisions' and despite the continued rain we set out on our vineyard tour! As Jaime said..."Rain or Shine you can always taste wine!" We picked out a few large vineyards and a few boutique wineries to experience the range of the Yarra Valley and had a wonderful day tasting wine, enjoying the rolling hills of vineyards, and chatting with the really friendly locals. Our day got even better when we discovered Punt Road. Punt Road is an excellent vineyard that makes Jaime's new love...Apple Cider and Pear Cider Wine by Napoleone & Co. You drink it like a beer but since it is made from the actual fruit (as opposed to concentrate in beer) it is light and absolutely delicious and we had never tasted anything like it! We said my favorite, and very under-used exclamation, "We'll take two!" Between our new cider wine and my favorite Shirappa from the Barossa Valley our suitcases home are going to be quite heavy!

We ended our day at the popular local restaurant/winery that houses two varieties of wines called Giant Steps and Innocent Bystander and specializes in cheese and pizza, which we enjoyed all of the above. (This place was made for us, Spoiled rotten!). I also discovered some really nice liquid soap that I know for sure I can make myself and have thus begun a new challenge (more about that later). As the rain continued we made our way home to again settle in for a cozy, rainy night.

Giant Steps winery, larder and pizzeria!

Tastings!

The next morning we had meat pies and scones in the sunshine at the local bakery and headed for the much talked about Healesville Sanctuary. Throughout our time here in Australia, we have seen tons of Aussie animals in the wild, in the zoos, and in the sanctuaries, however cozy little Healesville sanctuary has definitely been one of our most favorites because they have everything in a very open and intimate setting. The animals even look happy! 

See how happy this Emu looks!

As we made our way to the koalas we were learned about all the different types of eucalyptus and how they differ in smell and even taste. These koalas were the most awake koalas we have ever seen! Koalas are nocturnal and are usually lounging and sleeping during the day, but these guys must also enjoy a nice flat white (Oz style coffee) in the am because they were bright-eyed and slightly bushy-tailed, only slightly because they don't have much of a tail and they were all wet from the previous rain. 

The star of the show!

They were so lively that we get to share this rare performance with you...The Jump!

I didn't even know koalas made sounds!?

And this one...My Two Favorite Koalas.

We also checked out the reptiles exhibit with the most poisonous snakes in the world...most of which live...here, as mentioned in my earlier blogs. We stayed around for the zookeepers reptile show and mostly learned about Charmaine, a giant monitor lizard that spent most of the talk crawling around the zookeepers head. We learned this:

We passed through the sanctuary animal hospital where they save all the animals and perform surgery in the OR on birds wings and kangaroo legs or they might set a koala's arm in a cast or stitch up a wombat's lacerated eye. Jaime felt an odd sense of familiarity in this little hospital. :)  We made our way to the platypusary next where we were excited to finally be able to see the nocturnal and elusive platypus! This particular platypusary was designed by the same architect that designed the sleek and modern private practice of Jaime's current attending in the Melbourne CBD. We arrived during the zookeepers talk and we learned about little Millsom. Millsom was brought to the sanctuary by a local who found him in a wetland when he was only 8 weeks old. Something scared Millsom's mom and she ran away, leaving him behind, and so he has been raised in Healesville and is now a playful adult platypus. He was really quick and hard to catch on film but we got em eventually with the trusty Flip! I loved Millsom so much that I told Jaime that whenever I get upset with him that all he needs to say is..."Remember Millsom" and I'll smile. :) 

The sanctuary was excellent as was the whole weekend in Healesville. I have taken several visitors back already! The day we headed home, Australians were remembering Black Saturday, it was the two year anniversary of the tremendous and unrelenting bushfire that swept through Victoria, leaving 173 people dead and 500 injured, more than 2,000 homes were destroyed and the number of affected wildlife climbed into the millions. As people remembered the tragedy of the fire as a result of a long and hot drought, two years to the day, this same area was now covered with flood waters from the remnants of a rare cyclone. 

Flooding in the Yarra Valley

The day after we arrived home, we hosted one of my best friends, Karen, and her boyfriend who came from Vancouver for a month-long Aussie Adventure. They spent 2 nights with us in Melbourne before heading on their way. We had a fun two days and since they couldn't make it to Phillip Island for the regular penguin parade, we tried out the viewing area for the local Melbourne fairy penguins. There is a small colony of these little guys that live just past the breakwater off the pier in St. Kilda, which is Melbourne's happenin 'beach' area.  We were able to see a few little guys making their way home including this little one who came bounding right up onto the sidewalk. 

Just another day in Oz.