Back to Melbourne

After a busy week at work I was glad to sink a few beers on Friday but had to cut this short when I remembered that, due to the high cost of flights over the Queens Birthday long weekend, I had to get up early to fly to Melbourne the next day. Departing 7:15 in fact. Ugh. Anyway I made the plane with no dramas, and looked out over the scenery of the Great Dividing Range on a sunny Saturday morning. This didn't last unfortunately, and it was out into a damp and chilly winter day that I stepped just after 9am. So chilly in fact, that I even had to put my jumper on!

(OK, it was only about 13 degrees, not exactly cold by UK standards, but colder than Sydney at the moment - I must be going soft!)

Transport from Melbourne's airport is a bit rubbish (no airport train) but I managed to book an airport shuttle that stops literally right outside Mal's place in Elwood. So by mid-morning I was back with Mal and Sarah, no doubt harassing them out of bed earlier than they would have liked but they seemed pleased to see me. After a bit of a wander around the city in the day time we met up with Scaife to see an AFL game at the Telstra Dome - Essendon (the bombers) vs Hawthorn (the, erm, hawks)- both Melbourne teams. The roof was on, which kept the cold out while we supped our mid-strength beers and stood to watch the action (Essendon won by 51 points, fact fans).

Note to those outside Australia: AFL (Aussie Rules football) despite the name is basically a Melbourne sport. The number of professional teams in Melbourne alone is in the double figures, with a few others elsewhere in Victoria. Sydney by contrast has one team and I can't think of another one in NSW. With the exception of the NT and Tasmania (who have none) the other states have two teams each, and generally these are teams who have relocated from Melbourne. So seeing an AFL game at the MCG or the Telstra Dome is a definite Melbourne thing.

Sunday was a beautifully clear day, cold and crisp, and we set off early in a car Mal hired for the Yarra Valley. This is a famous wine-growing area with about 30 wineries you can visit. Happy that we couldn't possibly see them all in a day we first headed to the small town of Healesville, where there is an excellent 'animal sanctuary'. We probably spent longer there than we had intended, but then again it's not every day you see your first Tasmanian Devil. Disappointingly we failed to see any wombats, but were rewarded with encounters with lots of other marsupials, including three different species of kangaroo, a rare rock wallaby known as "the shadow" and lots of other weird Australian wildlife.

Time for lunch, and we headed to practically the first winery out of Healesville on the Maroondah Highway back to Melbourne. The Rochford winery was quite a commercial affair, and was busy with tourist buses and hen parties. So busy our lunch took an hour to come out - Mal, the designated driver, looked like he might explode. Scaife, having come along on his motorbike, looked happy just to be out in the sun on his bike in the beautiful countryside ("just like the south downs, apart from all the gum trees and wombts"). Sarah and I went off to try some wine, and I attempted to impress the wine snobs with my vast vinicultural knowledge garnered in the wineries of Mendoza. It worked long enough to let us have a taste of the 'reserve' selection anyway.

Refusing to buy at the first winery visited on principle, we only had time to hit one other before they all shut. So randomly we pitched up at a really small place, completely different to the Rochford, run by a husband & wife team practically as a hobby. They were very friendly and informative and we splashed some cash. They also let us try a drop of some unusual (for the Yarra Valley) Cabernet Franc that they had made "for a laugh", which actually tasted great. We bought two bottles. And then to our surprise they gave us the bottle that had just been opened for taasting - the reason being that if we didn't drink it, the husband & wife team would have to, and then they wouldn't be able to get out into the vines to do some planting in the morning! The three bottles we now had didn't last long - we managed to polish all three off over dinner out that evening (hic!)

Monday was grey and damp again, encouraging me to buy a new jumper (woo). And then it was back to the airport and back to Sydney. Just in time in fact for me to pack my bags again for a trip up to Brisbane after work on Tuesday for an 8am meeting on Wednesday. After a busy few days of traveling I will be glad to keep my feet on the ground this weekend!

Robin