28 Jan : Barossa Valley

Jill captured this moment: the shirt and the power of the wine about to be "tasted"

We're here! Marc's Mecca! +Jill and I got up and looked at breakfast at hotel and decided to find something in town. We ended up at a German type cafe with meat pies and other stuff. It was ok (and the hunt would be on for something better).

We then drove over to Torbreck arriving 20-25 before our 10am appointment. Michael walked out to inform us that we were early and that license laws prevented a start before 10am. No worries - we expected to plan a little in the car anyway.
Once we did walk in, well hello! They have a list of 19 wines and they would have poured 18 of them for us. We ended up with 16 :-) but we were definitely pouring out a lot of each glass. Here is the conundrum. All the wines were good and we are very much in the Barossa version of Rhone heaven. We had a fantastic experience and as it turns out they are a rare winery that you can order online in the states. They actually partner with a winery in Sonoma (Quivera in Healdsburg!) of all places and then ship from there. Uh oh.

This resulted in a hilarious "caption contest" on Facebook since it's Marc and Harvalicious

We then went to Charles Melton for lunch and a tasting. I saw "Nine Popes" which drew us there. Apparently the winemaker mis-translated Chateauneuf du Pape but it stuck and he rolled with it and the wines are pretty good. Typical Aussie exchange happened here:

Customer: "I bet the Nine Popes is better than Chateauneuf du Pape."
Pourer: "Well it is very Australian."
Customer: "Hence my point. It is probably better."

He tasted it and truly believed it is better than any CdP.

Sadly, I must say that there are several producers in CdP that are in fact better but Aussies can believe whatever they want. After this, we went to Rockford because several people told us to go there but honestly we were not that impressed in the end. They did have the best Sparkling Shiraz we have had yet, but nothing we would bother ordering or carrying in luggage.

This leaves us with Seppeltsfield who specializes in fortified wines. We got the full experience here. They have a plethora of stuff to taste including 100 year cask/oak aged vintage ports from every year continuously since the late 1800's. They just released the 1913 vintage. Due to evaporation, this stuff is syrupy goodness. We tried a bunch of other stuff first and then took a great 45 minute tour of the property with a good history lesson before the 100 year old taste. We ended up liking the Tokays best (out of Tawny, Muscat, Takay) but they make them all. In addition, I liked the 1991 Para Tawny 21 yr old because it was sweet while Jill liked the 1989 Para Tawny 21 yr old because it wasn't as sweet and very drinkable.

Marc literally licking the glass of 100-year old port. It was yummy.

To end a rather long day, we went to a restaurant called Appellation. This is funny since they don't use that word here. They have zones, sub-zones, regions, sub-regions instead. The food was great and worthwhile. We got another Hobbs wine from Artisans that wasn't open yesterday. Overall, a great start with some insane Barossa wine. We will be working out constantly this week.

Sunset over the Barossa from dinner at Appellation at The Louise

27 Jan: Dunkeld (VIC) --> Tanunda (SA).

Yep, a wee kangaroo (insert sarcasm) hopping around on Jill's morning run

Another state in Australia for the Becks! Yep, +Marc and I crossed the border on a longish drive from the Grampians to the Barossa Valley (aka "Marc's Mecca"). The day started out with me getting in a quick 5k run before having to sit in the car for a long stretch of time. After the previous night's events with the kangaroos, I opted to run in the middle of the paths and streets within Dunkeld so I could hopefully have more notice if any 'roos came out of nowhere. Fortunately no incidents other than seeing a pack of them in the distance on my run.

The ride over to Barossa was long, but uneventful. They take their quarantine rules pretty seriously in the state of South Australia, but somehow we managed to escape needing to have our car searched. Reason for the serious searches is because of previous diseases that have decimated crops in the state. So they are REALLY careful out here - i.e., lots of Germans out here who own vineyards and possess guns, so going for a run in a vineyard isn't considered a smart thing to do. Who knew?

Marc is a HAPPY boy - BAR-ROSS-A!

We arrived in Barossa and realized that we are in one of two time zones in the world that offsets by 30 minutes instead of 60 minutes from the next time zones on either side of it (the other one is in India in case you were wondering). What that also meant is that we had an extra 30 minutes to go check something out, so we opted for the heavily recommended (by our somm friends and some local winemakers we got connected to) Artisans of Barossa. BONUS!

John Duval Wines at Artisans of Barossa

Artisans houses 7 wine labels, and these folks have a pretty serious set of pedigrees between them. One of them used to be the main winemaker for Penfolds Grange for many years before starting his own label (John Duval Wines). Other labels that came highly recommended were Sons of Eden and Hobbs. Since it was a holiday weekend, not only was there extra staff on hand to work the tasting room, but a number of the winemakers were present as well and opening up stuff not typically available for tasting. What a treat.

One of the winemakers, Howard from Teusner, came over and poured wines from all of the labels for us. He told us about some of the nuances of making wine in the Barossa and what this season was shaping up to be. Howard was super generous with his knowledge and time, and we learned a lot. A couple of gems from Howard, which I guess are typical Barossa schools of thought:

View of some of the Barossa Valley - it is pretty significant in terms of how much wine is produced

"Friends don't let friends drink Pinot."
"Syrah is Shiraz without flavor."

So there you go. After tasting, we walked over to a local pub for dinner and to watch the men's final of the Aussie Open. The pub had many solid and local selections available by the glass with respect to local wineries, which was a bonus.

Overall a fun but tiring day. Yet I know the next few days are really going to knock us out with all of the wine tastings we have lined up. I know, we signed up for this so we're not complaining.

26 Jan: Dunkeld (VIC) -- Australia Day.

Important point from the previous day that will become very relevant in today's update towards the end (almost resulted in me crapping in my pants - LOL). When +Marc and I arrived in Dunkeld (in the Grampians) and got settled in the B&B, the proprietor comes out for us to see a kangaroo right outside of the premises. This dude was freaking huge. To the point the owner said to stay away from it because of its power (we reckoned it was at least 6 feet). Ok point noted.

View of the Pinnacle from the morning hike

We got up this morning after sleeping like rocks after yesterday's amazing and long day. Marc and I drove over to Halls Gap, where many of the trails for he Grampians leave from. The weather was gorgeous to get some great views. It was Australia Day and a Saturday, so the path was fairly crowded. Regardless it was a nice short hike of 3.75 miles with a decent incline so that was good.

We grabbed lunch at a local cafe and then went to seek out some wineries in the Grampians region that were well regarded. Also this is the region for Sparkling Shiraz, so that was of keen interest to us as well. We went to what were probably the 3 top producers in Australia and we didn't come away impressed. More because it didn't taste like we thought it would and wasn't refreshing like other sparkling we have had in the past. That said, we did taste a couple of nice Shirazes from Mount Langi Ghiran, so that was nice.

Marc making new friends around the world

We had some dinner at a local pub, watched the women's Aussie Open final and uploaded more pictures. Good stuff. This is where it gets interesting.

So we are walking home from dinner and Marc wants to take a different route back to the B&B that is pretty dark but easier to see the stars, which were plentiful. My wonderful husband forgets that kangaroos like to congregate at night. And as we are walking home, we hear rustling in the park and it is, of course, a pack of kangaroos. Now I am thinking, "Great, now we are going to get jumped by a bunch of kangaroos because we startled them!" Who needs to worry about people gang violence when you have the potential for kangaroo gang violence?! Marc quickly realized that we should get to a better lit road. But WTF?!

Since you are reading this, it is safe to assume that we made it back without incident.

25 Jan : Melbourne --> Dunkeld via Great Ocean Road

This was our longest day to date. +Jill and I got up bloody early and on the road by 4:45 so we could get to the start of the Great Ocean Road by sunrise and catch a view from a beach or cliff. We got there at 6am in the nick of time as the clouds were starting to show pinks. Their cooperation and coloring made a pretty spectacular start to the road and the day ahead.

Sunrise at Torquay overlooking the Southern Ocean

 After enjoying that for a while, we slowly drove south stopping at several viewing locations to take in the drive and snap some photos.

"Official start" to Great Ocean Road

Eventually we made it to Kennett River - a tiny town with a dirt road up into the "mountains" that has koalas in their natural habitat, i.e. sleeping in trees 20+ hours a day. We drove up slowly and spotted at least 5 of them along a few km of road. We got lucky with one that was high in a tree from the ground but that tree was over a cliff from the road and right at our eye level. Boom!

Awake koala sighting in the wild! Wow!!! Just Wow!!

After this diversion it was time for "brunch" down the road in Apollo Bay. I couldn't resist a dish of pesto and eggs on ham and sourdough called "Green Eggs and Ham" on this day. To top it off, a mom was at another table reading "The Lorax" to her son.

Weather cleared up just in time for our arrival

It was now time for the main attraction to this wonderful drive. The Southern Ocean and the Twelve Apostles. These are rock formations in the water after years of erosion created by relentless waves. Eventually these stacks also erode away and collapse into the sea.

Looking west on some of the 12 Apostles from the lookout

This was something I wanted to see on the trip and we got there as it was clearing so the lighting was interesting with a constantly changing sun/shade mix. It was well worth the long drive and I took a ton of photos to go with our effort.

Looking eastward from the lookout on to some of the 12 Apostles

After this and several other stops along the Southern Ocean, we headed north to the Grampians. As we approached, it was so  unusual to be driving on essentially flat farmland and see this small/isolated mountain range just sitting there.

We did a "shake the legs out" hike for 45 minutes to the peak and back of the Picaninny with great views of the southern Grampians to prepare us for more hiking the following day up north.

Royal Mail Hotel: Egg Yolk and New Potatoes, Salt Fish and Crackling

We came here for hiking and of course Jill found a well known restaurant called the Royal Mail Hotel. Several people we have met along the way have told us to have dinner there and Jill informs them that we are doing just that.

Royal Mail Hotel: Tomato on Toast, Hand-Made Sheep's Ricotta

I cannot do this part justice  in writing, maybe Jill can, but they have an omnivore or vegetarian multi-course dinner. They did a great job of substituting when the omnivore option did not appeal to me. The service was fabulous and everyone worked well together as a team the entire evening.

24 Jan: Melbourne (VIC) -- day trip to Mornington Peninsula.

Thank goodness the "Vista Wine Glass" from 2008 remained intact during the festivities

Let's just say that the motivation wasn't exactly overflowing to get up and workout after last night's festivities. Chris and Shelly stayed up later to clean up, and I think +Marc and I crashed around 12:30am? Anyway we slept a little later and then headed down south for our day trip of wine tasting in the Mornington Peninsula.

I chose to head down there on this day because the temps were supposed to be in the high 30s (Celsius) which means mid to upper 90s in Fahrenheit. Being that the Peninsula is close to the water, I thought that might mitigate the heat factor and fortunately, it did. By about 4-5 degrees Celsius.

We made an appointment at a winery recommended by +Erik called Principia (pronounced Prin-kip-ia). Darrin, the owner and winemaker, met us and basically said the 2011 vintage was really bad and had to trash a few barrels along the way. For most of the country, 2011 was a really rainy season for growing grapes. which probably would have included late 2010 from a calendar year perspective. He explained some of the differences climate wise within the region (aka appellation), which was helpful as we tasted throughout the day. His 2010 Pinots were really tasty as were his Chardys (the Aussies abbreviate pretty much everything if you haven't noticed). He thinks that since it has been warm for his vines that he plans on picking his grapes early and veraison has already kicked in for his red grapes. Another great reco by Erik.

View of Sorrento after we walked around the town

After meeting with Darrin, Marc and I decided to break-up the tasting with a quick trip down to a beach town called Sorrento. We walked around by the beach and checked it out before heading back to Red Hill, the location of the wineries where we were tasting. We had lunch at the Port Phillip Estate, which was gorgeous. But we also had lunch there because the estate also owns Kooyong Wines, which was a label that was recommended to me by several people. Over lunch, we had two Pinots and one Chardy. All very good and well balanced. No 2011s served. :-) Nice reco by Jeff, +Chris, and Luke.

After lunch, we went over to Eldridge Estate where the owner and winemaker was in the room working on some sample estimating. He was trying to figure out his approximate yield for this year's harvest. Interesting exercise. He thinks that he will be picking on schedule, but is kind of holding his breath on the smoke taint possibility from the brushfires in Gippsland. And the smoke does travel. Again, it is going to come down to veraison which could be theoretically happening now or soon after (depending on region). The wines were ok, but not great.

BTW, the wine opinions in this one are mine since Marc is not a Pinot or Chardy wine guy typically.

Marc and Jill post-lunch at Port Phillip Estate overlooking vines on the Mornington Peninsula

After Eldridge Estate, we went over to a winery recommended by one of the winemakers we met in Yarra a couple of days earlier - Main Ridge Estate. Apparently they are the grandfather of them all in the region. As luck would have it, we met Nat, who is the founder and owner of the winery. Nat was probably about the same age as "Crusty" (and funny) Bill Chambers, but had a completely different demeanor. Very friendly, soft-spoken and low-key. And his wines were very good as advertised. Nat said it was a pretty warm year for him, and he thought he may be picking earlier than usual, but he couldn't confirm. Typically picks in March, so obviously the smoke taint and heat will continue to be a factor.



After that, we headed back to Melbourne to meet Shelly and Chris for dinner. But first, we had to get Marc to try some vegemite, an Aussie favorite. It definitely is a "love it or hate it" thing. People don't seem to be on the fence about it. So we captured it on video and Shelly used a cracker instead of toast to serve it on. It wasn't a favorite of Marc's, but good for him for trying it. As an aside, my marmite and vegemite days are long gone.

Dinner was in Chinatown at the longtime mainstay in Melbourne called Flower Drum. The 4 of us went family-style and the food was proper Cantonese (not Western Chinese). Oh, and it was good. Thank goodness the weather cooled down enough for us to walk home because we were all stuffed! It was a wonderful way to wrap up our action-packed "booza-palooza" with the Blacks. We are definitely sorry to be leaving as we really enjoyed spending time with them and getting to know Melbourne and the surrounding areas.

23 Jan: Melbourne (VIC).

Jill picking out the "best looking" Moreton Bay Bugs because she has so much experience with them - errrr.... not really

[NOTE: +Marc and I know we are slightly behind on our entries. It is going to take us a couple of days to recover from "Booze-A-Palooza" with Chris and Shelly in order to catch up. :-)]

Yeah for IPsec and Windows Vista/WS2008

When you travel for a bit, technology can help out a ton but it can't do everything and some things require manual intervention. Hair cut for Marc, shipping souvenirs back to Sydney, paying bills, reviewing the next set of things on our itinerary to see if any tweaks are necessary, and food shopping. It was a gorgeous day and fortunately the Blacks' live in an awesome neighborhood to get all of that done. But food shopping was more involved because of what was on tap for the evening.

Chris and Shelly were part of the original "Open That Bottle Night" crew in Seattle. When they moved to Australia, Marc and I were sad because they were people we really enjoyed hanging out with. As the trip got closer, the 4 of us knew we needed to resurrect OTBN on one of our nights in Melbourne. But things were complicated by the fact that we (Becks) didn't have our usual arsenal of wines at our disposal for the celebrations, and the Blacks had their stuff in storage in Brisbane (a long ways away).

Jill recognized her "chicken scratch" immediately on the 2002 RWT and went into shock

Chris took over sommelier duties and we contributed a dessert wine that we had the other night at Vue de Monde that we all loved and found earlier in the week in our sojourn to Rutherglen. 

Chris did awesome with his picks and why they were picked. In an absolute shocker (no sarcasm!), Chris had a bottle signed by me and a styrofoam cup entitled "Vista Wine Glass" from when we shipped Vista. He found a later vintage of the same wine in the local wine shop. Well played, Mr. Black, well played.

Shelly did a fab job on the 'roo! Marc LOVED it!

Shelly cooked up a great salad and some "roo". Yes, that is kangaroo. Our 1st try at eating it. It didn't taste like chicken. , but more of a cross between lamb and beef. We expected it to be more gamey like lamb. But we enjoyed it. I also made "bugs", a local seafood specialty here. They are called "Moreton Bay Bugs" and I can best describe them as mini-lobsters. Marc made a great dessert and took care of cooking the duck once I marinated the breasts. I think I also got Shelly over the hump of the virtues of using dried beans instead of canned the next time she wants to serve cannelinis. 

Booz-a-palooza & OTBN merge

We had a great men's quarterfinal match going on in the background with some 80s music on a warm, but windy night. It was so much fun. We toasted to many things over the course of the evening and laughed a lot. Told them about our last OTBN in Seattle where the term 'spatchcocked' was used in many different contexts. What's funny is that you see that term on many menus here in Australia. Go figure. 

Let's just say that Marc and I were happy that we didn't have to work the next day....

22 Jan : Melbourne --> Yarra Valley

The day began with a mad dash to Crossfit for the 6am class. Our instructor for the morning was from Vancouver BC so the accent was familiar :-). Sadly, going to a Crossfit class has not been familiar enough for me lately.

Hmmm... didn't know they slept upside down

After a quick shower, off we went to the Yarra Valley for some time with unfamiliar animals at a sanctuary and then some unfamiliar wines at some small wineries that we got recommendations to see/taste.

Fortunately the Tassie devil wasn't allowed to roam around outside their "area"

The Healesville Sanctuary was chosen for the platypus exhibit. It was good Jill suggested we go there at opening time as we had the entire thing to ourselves. Unfortunately (for photos) it was slightly dark and they wanted no flashes (which I respected). Our photos are a dark blur of one platypus swimming by at a time. It was fun to see them in person. We then walked around the rest of the grounds to see koalas, Tasmanian devils, and so much more. As we left, the parking lot was getting quite crowded.

Two of the many great wines we tasted at Mac Forbes in Yarra Valley

We spent the remainder of the morning and afternoon in the car or at wineries/lunch getting introduced to some great stuff and a representative sample of the region.

After a "commute" home, we walked over to Spice Temple which is a restaurant in the casino on the river. A friend I've known from Turkey - Ebru - (who lived in Seattle for a long time), virtually introduced me to Oya who is a connection from back in Izmir when they were young. We had a great dinner and conversation with Oya and Peter while sampling/sharing many dishes. There were several "hot" ones on the menu in RED and I got a chicken dish in this category. Our server told us it was lip numbing and she was not wrong. Fun, crazy, beautiful dish that made my lips "vibrate" and tingle.

Above mentioned chicken dish being shared between Marc and Peter

We met and talked to a lot of different people on this day. We learned a lot which is an integral part of the travel experience.

21 Jan: Rutherglen (VIC) --> Melbourne (VIC).

Outside of Jasper Hill, where we had a private tasting scheduled

"Chuckin' in a sickie". Non-Aussies/Kiwis: What does that mean? I know... now. 

Yeah, someone in our crew may have done that on Monday. I can't name names, but let's just say that the person is currently employed so that eliminates at least 2 of the 4 of us. Ahem. Anyway +Marc opted just to have some breakfast at the hotel and then head south to one of the smaller appellations closer to Melbourne on the way back into the city.

We were recommended to check out a place in Heathcote called Jasper Hill by our great friend, +Erik. It was appointment only, and Ron, the owner, graciously made time for us to taste the wines and learn about Jasper Hill. They were the first ones to make wine in the region and have been outstanding producers ever since. Ron actually still uses corks, which is rare in Australia, because he believes he has superior quality control with his cork producers in Portugal.

Ron, the owner and the winemaker, of Jasper Hill

We tasted some whites and then moved on to the reds. Ron has been to the States a number of times and we talked about Paso Robles, Rhone Rangers, etc. Then he started talking about how he had a bottle of '89 (not a transpo error) Argyle Riesling the previous night and he loved it. We told him that it must be time for him to come to the Pacific NW to get some more. He was passionate about his wine and the region. Very small producer compared to many, but quality comes first, which is great. And Chris and Shelly had their first ever barrel tasting, which I think they enjoyed!

Overall, just a great reco from Erik. Not that we were surprised. :-)

Then we went down to Heathcote Estate because they are part of Yabby Lake, a winery on the Mornington Peninsula, where we will be later in the week. The wines were decent, but I was a little bummed that they didn't want to open some of the Yabby Lake Pinots even though they had them to sell. This group of wine labels is owned by an entertainment mogul in Australia (guess like Coppola or something). 

After Heathcote, we headed back into Melbourne where we got to eat at the infamous "local" of Shelly and Chris - the Railway Hotel. Good, solid food and a couple of blocks from the house, which was perfect!! We got back to watch some tennis and prepare for our next day's activities and fun, which was going to start early.... very early.

20 Jan: Melbourne (VIC) --> Rutherglen (VIC).

After the fun from the birthday festivities, we got off to a slow start for our planned overnight trip to Rutherglen. Unfortunately our friend, +Michael Z., fell ill and we weren't going to be able to see him. Z. was a huge help to us with Purple Teeth Cellars and he repatriated back to Australia working as a GM for Campbells Wines.

I managed to squeeze in a good 5 mile run around "The Tan" (aka the Melbourne Botanical Gardens). On both of my runs in Melbourne, I was able to smell eucalyptus from the trees which was really, really nice. Wonder what Mare thinks I am thinking at this stage? :-)

These were the SWEET wines to taste - not pictured: another 25+ dry wines

We headed off for the 3+ hour ride to Rutherglen up north. Rutherglen is known for making "The Stickies" - dessert wine. When you pour those wines, you always up with a little on the bottle and yep, you guessed it, they make the bottle sticky as a result.

[NOTE: I am keeping wine notes separate from these updates, so if you want to see those, let me know. Most people don't, so I am only sticking to general observations here.]

We tasted at Campbells and Chambers. While they had dry wines to taste, Marc and I generally stuck to the sweet wines in both places. At Campbells, they had topaques (no Tokays anymore due to wine classification reasons) and muscats, along with a couple of ports to taste. The gentleman helping us was very nice and explained a bunch of things about Rutherglen, which is experiencing record heat. And as usual, Marc and I differed on our respective favorites. It was fun, but wasn't the same without "Z" being there.

Something tells me Bill Chambers wrote the above

We then went over to Chambers. At dinner the other night, we had an awesome Grand Muscat from Rosewood Vineyard, so we were hoping to taste that. Well when the 4 of us walked in, we saw an "older" gentleman there who ended up being the legendary Bill Chambers (his family has owned the winery since the mid 19th century). Chris and Shelly informed us that he is a "true Australian", and boy, was he a kick!

Bill told us about the wines - actually between the reds, the whites and the sweet ones, probably 40+ wines were available to taste. Again Marc and I stuck to the sweet ones, which still had 15 (!!) wines. We probably each tasted 10 along the way (spitting some out, etc.). And Bill keeps it old school. You pour yourself. Wow. Fortunately that led to me pouring a little less for myself, but it was funny. 

Bill would inform us when a wine was "hitting its straps" and had some other gems. All in all, a very funny guy who has seen plenty. I believe his children oversee the day-to-day operations of the winery now.

After tasting, we had some dinner at the respected hotel restaurant where they had a way you would sample other local wines, so we opted for that. Nothing really stood out, but it was good to try some of the other local labels. A very fun day with our hosts and we learned a bit as well.

19 Jan : Melbourne

Birthday! Chris and I share the 19th as a birthday. +Jill wanted me to get up and run but somehow I managed to sleep in which was nice.

Marc finally getting to another major outside of the US Open!

As I lounged around, Jill and Shelly went to the local South Melbourne market. Then off we walked to the Aussie Open! We walked around the tennis center a little before deciding our own seats at Rod Laver Arena were probably the best place to be based on the Saturday crowds.

Azarenka (eventual champ) serving to Hampton

We ended up with a GREAT match between #1 Azaranka and Jamie Hampton. Hampton fought off pain from two herniated disks, cramping, and dehydration to make it somewhat interesting. We also ended up with the Barry White voiced ump which was fun to hear.   Some ladies behind us called out the score of deuce at one point only to have our ump call it out immediately thereafter. Then there was the begrudging sigh from Shelly and Jill and acknowledgement that he just said it better.

Great view of the action from Rod Laver Arena

We walked around the grounds for quite a while checking it all out before deciding once again that our seats were the best despite being in the sun on a "cool" day. It was hot in the arena with no breeze there.

Andy Murray going for the serve

Once Andy Murray defeated Barankis, we found some water and walked home for some home cooking including steaks on the barbie. We opened up at Purple Teeth Cellars Viognier to kick things off along with some nice Shirazes and a tawny port from Rutherglen. We capped the meal off with a gluten free chocolate cake. 

Marc is such a friendly chap and always making friends

My quote of the evening: "Chris, I'd like to thank you for being gluten free because our [shared] birthday cake is chocolate through and through." Or something like that.

Shelly, Chris, Marc and Jill during a changeover

18 Jan : Melbourne [By Bike]

The day started at 5am when Chris got up for swim squad and I got talked into it so I got up 10 minutes later. Let's just say that almost 4500 meters with a 2100 meter main set was NOT an enjoyable part of the vacation although it did feel good to get that "yardage" in with all the food and wine going on here. Fortunately it wasn't crowded because people were out doing other things and coach Ben was in one of his "nicer moods" according to Chris.

Site of Chris and Marc's "Swim Squad" workout

Of course, we biked TO & FROM the pool which is 3-4 km each way. All of this on the same day that we had scheduled a bike tour of the city - lot of activity AND biking. +Jill and Shelly went off to Crossfit. Jill to WOD and Shelly to check it out to see if she would like it. An early start for EVERYONE.

Fortunately, today was cooler than yesterday for the bike tour. Shelly joined us and off we went to meet up with the tour guide at 10am at one of the "Blue Bikes" locations in Melbourne. These things are everywhere and people can rent a bike from one and return it in another rack somewhere else in the city. There are smart phone apps to tell you how many bikes are available in a location as well as how many open spots are available in one when you are ready to return the bike.

"Pup-arazzi" in Melbourne CBD (Central Business District)

It turns out that our tour guide met us first to take us into the city center to get the remaining guests. This unfortunately led to two safety briefings as well as photo delays among other things before actually starting - we started at around 11:20-11:30. You can imagine what this did to lunch!

We started with a few nice spots by bike including a "pea patch", an inner city park for kids, and a great view of the sporting megaplex from a foot bridge that includes the Aussie Open, the sporting oval (the main attraction), and more.

Biking through Chinatown

She then guided us to (and through) a walk-only area with restaurants, shops, etc called Degraves Place. We had to walk our bikes single file because it isn't a big/wide place and it was packed for lunch &/or shopping. Once lane walked through would be fine, but she took us through pretty much all of them. Not easy and it took a while. Even after we got out of there we had to walk the bikes a lot. We then locked them up at one of the main market areas and walked around some more. It was beginning to look a lot like a walking tour. At this point I asked when lunch was: "40 minutes. Maybe an hour." 40 minutes later we hadn't stopped walking around in the market. This meant more like 40-60 minutes more of biking BEFORE lunch. The saving grace was a coffee and donut I got while we walked around.

Jill making friends. Where is Jarrett?

Once we did eat, it was actually good. We had Spanish tapas that were true and the place had a great rooftop bar to check out too.

We ended up seeing some cool stuff post "lunch", but we were worried about getting back in time to shower and get to our 7pm dinner reservation at Albert Street Food and Wine. So we broke off from the tour and took our bikes back to the closest docking station to the house.

"Snickers Bar" at Albert Street Food and Wine

Dinner was awesome there and the dessert was great. They had a "Snickers Bar" knock off that was truly delicious.

17 Jan: Melbourne (VIC).

I started out the day with a nice leisurely run around Albert Park with Chris, while Shelly went for a walk. It was a gorgeous morning, and Chris spent some time orienting me around to different landmarks around Melbourne. After Chris did some serious tempo training without me, we went back to get +Marc out of bed. We were all feeling a bit rough after the previous night's post-Movida activities. :-)

View from Jill's run: Albert Park and Melbourne skyline in background - also home to Australian F1 Grand Prix every March

Shelly took the day off and managed to convince Marc to swim in the ocean in St. Kilda. The temps were supposed to climb to 40+ Celsius (100+ Fahrenheit) today and we figured that would encourage Marc to get in. It was a bit cloudy in the morning, so it felt "cooler" and a bit humid. But after our walk down to the beach, Marc got in. He probably took longer to actually get in and swim than he actually swam. He swam almost from one pier to another, and then got rewarded by having a pastry at one of the Jewish bakeries in St. Kilda.

Marc takes a dip in the water in St. Kilda

We headed into the city for lunch and to get Marc some new insoles for his trail runners. It was starting to get really hot. By the time we got back, the temps reached 41F. Thank goodness Shelly and Chris have A/C. After cleaning up a bit, we all headed over to Vue du Monde for dinner. It's on the 55th floor of the Rialto Building and is renowned for its views and food/wine.

Dinner at Vue du Monde

The views were indeed stunning and the sunset was absolutely awesome. What luck! We had some great food and wine, and did the degustation menu where we didn't know what was coming out. They catered to Marc really well and I tried a "bug" (which looks like a small lobster and tastes fabulous) as well as some cured wallaby. Both tasty. We had a really great time with Shelly and Chris, and then we all remembered that we all committed to getting up at 5:30am to work out (Shelly and I to Crossfit, and Marc and Chris to swim). Gonna be interesting to see how that works out since we didn't get home until about 12:30am. The sacrifices we make.

View of sunset from dinner

16 Jan: Boolara, VIC --> Melbourne, VIC.

And then you just have wallabies jumping in front of you to cross the path - TOTALLY normal, right?

We had a leisurely start to the day which included +Marc ending up at the same coffee shop as the day before and seeing one of the ladies we met yesterday. Funny. The plan was to head to Philip Island and hopefully see some koalas in their natural habitat, and then head to Melbourne for the "hard core" part of the trip. More on that in a moment.

We got to Philip Island and headed over to the Koala Conservation Centre. It's a place where they have a bunch of native animals just roaming around (no, not like Jurassic Park - ha!). We saw a couple of wallabies jump in front of us while we were walking around, which was fun. But we had trouble spotting the koalas in the trees. Oh noes! We have to get some pictures for +Jarrett!

Probably saw about 11 of these furry dudes today

Koalas blend in really well AND they sleep for 20 hours a day. The middle of the day is not a great time to see them, but whatever. Finally Marc spotted one and then spotted a bunch. Probably found about 11 in all.... all sleeping, but they are cute dudes with big claws for climbing those trees. It was great being able to see them though. Later in the trip, we will be going to a koala sanctuary outside of Brisbane. Jarrett will be happy with the photos. He might regret telling us about his love of koalas.

Should we bring this dude back for Jarrett?

After the koalas and some lunch, we headed to Melbourne for the start of the aforementioned "hard core" part of the trip. We were staying with our great friends, Shelly and Chris, and let's say many of our fun times involved really excellent food and wine. So we needed to be ready to partake given the restaurant line-up in store. We arrived in Melbourne and Shelly was waiting for us.

Chris joined us for dinner at a tapas place called Movida Aqui. Food was great and fresh, and we decided to have some libations later on. And the 7:30am workouts the next morning? Well, not sure the extra wine at home post-dinner is going to help with that.... hmmm.

15 Jan : Wilsons Promontory National Park

+Jill and I chose our accommodations in Boolara as the closest we could find near Wilsons Prom and it was a great setting for us. In the morning, we drove to the neighboring town Mirboo North to go to a chocolate and coffee place called Dalliance. Sadly it is closed on Tues and Wed so no luck for us.

View from our hike along Wilsons Prom

We ended up at a bakery down the street to get coffee and I spotted rum balls (which took some describing to me in the thick accent) as well as these crazy layered donut cakes with cream that were irresistible. This led to us chatting with a group of local ladies for 10-15 minutes. They were impressed with our itinerary and wished us well.

Marc pondering a dip in the water

Off we drove to "the Prom". Our planned directions went down the drain due to a road closure and our detour took us on dirt roads. This was slow going and took us over an hour to get back onto sealed roads again. It was slow going albeit beautiful along the way.

Squeaky Beach at Wilsons Prom

Our plan had been to hike Telegraph Saddle to Sealers Cove on the East side of the Prom. Unfortunately they had severe floods and it's been closed due to the repair work that is ongoing. We didn't really suffer though. We walked around the Tidal River area and all the way to Whisky Bay and back - about 8 1/2 miles total. Our pics say it all - it is a gorgeous area to stare at and enjoy.

Yep, we have adjusted to the new date format

We had a great time including walking on the sand at Squeaky Beach where it truly does squeak beneath your feet.

Sunset at the B&B in Boolara

14 Jan: Crackenback, NSW --> Boolara, VIC (Victoria).

Picture of where we stayed that reminded us of being back in Provence

After a great stay at the place in Crackenback, it was time to move on. The owner of the place we stayed at was really wonderful in ensuring that we had the quickest way to get to our next destination and told us where we would realistically be able to grab a decent meal, etc. When +Marc and I hiked Mt. Kozi the day before, she researched the latest on the fires and then gave us reliable websites for us to check going forward. And she LOVES America and we now have her thinking about the Pacific Northwest since she has been loads of other places with her family.

Most of the day was spent on the road. We encountered another kangaroo hopping across the road in front of us (7, I think now?) and saw signs for wombats, emus and other creatures. The wombat thing had me thinking - I thought I remember Luke Skywalker mentioning killing wombats when he was a young lad. I would have asked resident Star Wars expert, JCV, but the time zones made that not a good idea. But yes - young Luke did mention wombats just as he was about to blow up the Death Star in episode IV:

View from the B&B in Boolara

“It's not impossible. I used to bullseye wombats in my T-16 back home, they're not much bigger than two meters.”
~ Virgin Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker

HA! I knew it. Anyway the wombats in Australia are big and can destroy grills on cars so you need to be careful. If you hit one, you need to pull over and check to see if it has a baby wombat in its pouch. Then you need to call animal control. It's a process. Anyway, I digress.

We were doing our first AirBnB stay, so we picked up some groceries in a small town to head to our residence for the next 2 nights in an even smaller town. It felt good just to pick up some $15 bottles of wine, some meat and veggies to stir fry for the next 2 nights. We arrived at the property and got into a bit of a stall going up a dirt road uphill. The proprietor came out, gave Marc some tips and the tank got up the hill. 

Sunset over the hills over Boolara

[NOTE TO JILL: Change all car rezzies to 4WD/SUVs. This was the 1st stall, but we have already had some of the highways be made of gravel or of dirt because of construction. More to come, I imagine.]

Anyway, Jen was super nice and set up the telly to watch the Aussie Open. Unfortunately the local guy, Hewitt, lost his match but we had a chance to learn a bit more about our destination tomorrow, "Wilsons Prom" (aka Wilsons Promontory), and some of the surrounding area. It was great. Also the place where we are staying is very much a reminder of a French farmhouse (a la Provence), so the surroundings are very relaxing and quiet.

I am excited for tomorrow. Even though we had to switch hikes because of the trail I selected was closed, I think the conditions and scenery are going to be great! Hope so!

13 Jan : Mt. Kosciuszko

We've been mostly very warm and sometimes hot. Not today! Today +Jill and I scaled the highest point in Australia by walking up it on a steady path (9k up, 9k down from Charlotte Pass). Conditions at the start were 10 Celsius and got to 4 Celsius near the summit. This doesn't include the wind. And it was windy!

We *SO* have this. Rain will go away, right?

To make this even better, it was raining most of the walk. On the way down, I learned the first thing to go is manual dexterity in the fingers. I could barely pull out the camera, clean the lens, and push the shutter button.

Summit! Too bad we couldn't see a bloody thing!

Let's just say that most of this hike -- starting 1km from parking -- I wanted to return to the car. Nope. 18km of misery. Hoping for warmth in the coming days.

Unhappy (but good sport) Marc

12 Jan.: Canberra, ACT --> Crackenback, NSW (Snowy Mountains).

Crossfit 2600 -- great coaches

It had been awhile since we hit Crossfit and since they had one in Canberra (actually it was about a mile from McD's house), +Marc and I ventured out for an 8am class. The facility was well-kept but the class was packed. We later found out that a move to a larger space in town was imminent. The heat from the previous day lingered on so the WOD consisting of running, stairs, thrusters and then russian twists with a KG plate was tough, but necessary. The coaches were great on pushing everyone on technique. Glad we went.

After packing everything up, it was time to say farewell to our wonderful hosts. We had a great time with Ashley, +Christine (aka McD), Zachary and Jensen. Ashley continued to be very gracious with his knowledge of Australia - both geographically, politically and culturally, which we really enjoyed. And McD and the boys continued to be fun and enthusiastic about whatever came up.

Saw this on the way to the Snowy Mountains

We had a concern heading over to the Snowy Mountains because of a big wildfire near a town we would be passing through. I called the place we were staying to see if there was anything to be concerned about, and they said that the parks have been open, etc., so we ventured over. We did see a good deal of smoke at one point of the journey (near the town we were expecting to see it at), but fortunately that was the extent of our exposure to the fires on this trip.

Got to Crackenback and it was partly sunny. The proprietor of the accommodation where we are staying was very helpful on places to eat, conditions to be concerned about hiking in the region, etc. Really nice lady. On the way to dinner, we had our 1st encounter with a kangaroo on the road. Actually we had 3 jump out. We were warned that they do just jump out of nowhere. And guess what? THEY DO!

Wallabies in the wild just outside of our B&B

Grabbed some dinner in town, and kangaroo #4 came out. Guess this is life outside of the major cities of Australia, eh? And finally as we came up to the B&B to park, a group of wallabies appeared so that was our 1st sighting of those guys. Wow. Think we will have a new stat to track?

We have uploaded a bunch more pictures to the Flickr site, which includes all of the local wines we have tried out, random shots in addition to some of the scenery we have taken in. We also have added tags to the photos so if you want to overdose on pics of the Sydney Opera House or our hikes, you can select a tag to focus on what you are interested in.

Thanks for tuning in!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lifeasawaterclown/

11 Jan : Canberra & Canberra District Wine

 Well, the wine tasting at cellar doors (tasting rooms) as begun. And it'll only get more insane as we hit the warm wine regions.

+Jill and I began the day with a nice 5k+ run in 70-ish degree morning heat. Hot for Seattle-ites but we chose this weather as a means to escape the grey winter so we can't complain. After cleaning up, we drove to the town/village of Murrumbateman which is kind of the center of the Canberra District Wine region. It was lunchtime so we went to "Flint in the Vines" which is at Shaw Vineyard Estate. Our glasses of wine weren't that memorable, but the food was delicious and interesting. We had a pizza that had pumpkin and chili sauce with pine nuts, bleu cheese, and spinach on it. We also shared a chicken dish with quinoa, corn, pomegranate, and a side of carrots with jamon and sage.

Good idea for the Big Green Egg when we return!

For our first stop tasting, we went to Eden Road which is known for Riesling and Shiraz. We learned a lot about the region and tasted some good stuff. 2011 was a particularly wet and challenging vintage for this colder climate region. I really enjoyed their peppery Canberra Shiraz. These folks have a US distributor in NY and they make a nice cold climate syrah.

The other winery that "everyone" has told us to go to is Clonakilla. It is the oldest in the area and the classic example of cool climate Shiraz in the Cote Rotie Rhone style. They co-ferment with viognier and the 2011 is blessed with white pepper notes.

We ate dinner at a place in the capital circle at the lake with a view of the ANZAC Memorial across the way. The food was quite good and the wines we ended up with were really nice - a pinot and a syrah. The shiraz was from 1997 and still had a cork - definitely a novelty here. They're probably at 98% screw cap these days in Australia.

Sunset in the Parliamentary Zone with Int'l Flag Display

The service at this restaurant left much to be desired. Apparently after you have chosen, you should close your menu to indicate this. 2 out of 4 of us did this and me just by chance. So they ignored us for what seemed like the longest time. I didn't look at my watch but it was too long. Then after they cleared the 2nd course, we sat for 45-60 minutes waiting for our mains. It might have been longer, but we asked to speak to a manager to see what was taking so long and WHY no one was even stopping by our table at all. Totally weird. They rushed out the mains which half our table had eaten before all 3 sides actually made it to our table.

Our wonderful hosts, Christine and Ashley

Overall though, we had a good time in the capital so it was nice to see. Perhaps if the government had been in session, that would have made the bike ride more interesting. Over dinner one night, we heard some amazement at what we are doing together. Paraphrased (and anonymous): "You are spending every minute together for over 3 months. How can you do this? I can't even spend 3 months all by myself." Quote of the trip so far.

10 Jan: Canberra (ACT).

The day started out on a little adventure near McD's house early to see some kangaroos "in the wild" (aka not in a zoo). We had to get up early since they tend to be up and hopping around at dawn and dusk. So off we went to find them in a local park about 3 miles from the house. As luck would have it, we not only found a few but we saw one with a joey in it! Wow! What a score! What a "benny" of staying with locals who know this stuff!

View from Parliament building down ANZAC Parade

As noted yesterday, Canberra is a great place to tour around by bicycle. Loads and loads of paved bike paths. Our hosts generously loaned us their bikes and gave us some ideas for touring around. They live by a lake, which is about a 20 mile flat loop. +Marc and I knew that it would be warm for us relatively speaking, but we knew if we were going to tour around, today was the day to do it as the temps are slated to climb tomorrow.

Kinda like the opposite of Seattle's annual bike event in January known as 'Chilly Hilly', right +Keith? :-)

Crest of Australia: Kangaroo on the left and Emu on the right

We had a light breakfast and went off. First stop was the Parliament building in the Parliamentary Zone of the city, where many of the government buildings reside. Since it is summer holidays here in Australia, Parliament was not in session but it was still open for looking around. The building is relatively new and we got to see both chambers plus a nice viewing spot down the long avenue known as ANZAC Parade. We learned some interesting tidbits like the crest of Australia on Parliament and other government buildings has a kangaroo and an emu on it because it indicates 'forwards'. Neither one of those animals can move backwards, so it is a metaphor for the country always moving forward. Interesting.

Cool displays of Olympic athletes near the Museum of Sport

After Parliament, we continued on our bikes over to the ANZAC War Memorial, which was an actual museum compared to the memorial we saw in Sydney a couple of weeks ago. It was very informative and well thought out. Much of the focus was on WW1 and WW2, and while the extent of most Americans education about those wars tends to focus on Europe, Pearl Harbor and the atomic bombs in Japan, the museum covered a lot more about the battles being fought in the Pacific. Lots to learn and much sacrifice by the Australian Military Forces. For my friends who work at Boeing, you will be happy to know that they are a major sponsor of the museum (which is why you were tagged in this note).

ANZAC War Memorial - incredibly informative museum in Canberra

Grabbed some lunch and continued on the loop towards the museum that Ashley, +Christine's (aka McD) husband, recommended - the National Museum of Australia. This was comprehensive in covering prehistoric times, indigenous settlers (Aborigines and residents of the Torres Strait Islands) and through current days. The only thing that made this museum challenging was that it was free-form and no real pattern to work through the extensive material they had on hand, so you weren't sure if you were missing certain exhibits. That said, much was learned about the evolution of the land and the people of Australia.

Sunset over Canberra

We headed back out on the bikes and it was pretty warm, but we got in 20.4 miles. McD hosted a BBQ for us with another family in attendance, which was a lot of fun. One of them was a runner who was from Lausanne, Switzerland, and she let out a hearty laugh when I told her of plans to run Marathon du Medoc with my friend, Tricia, in 2014. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!! All in all, a great day in Canberra (they pronounce it Can-burra).

9 Jan: Canberra (ACT).

The day got off to a leisurely start with a run for Jill and +McD (one of our very gracious hosts), and a swim at a local outdoor pool for +Marc. It was pretty hot out so it wasn't the day to tour around the city on bikes. For those of you who don't know, Canberra has hundreds of kilometers of bike paths and they are well used by the locals. Tomorrow is supposed to be cooler, so Marc and I hope to get out then on the bikes.

Another great public swimming pool in Australia

We checked out a section of town called Manuka, where we had lunch with McD and her Mom (visiting from the States). Ashley, McD's husband, had to work -- hey, someone had to! And the kids were off at summer activities. It was nice walking around and we found a local wine merchant, where we were able to ask the proprietor questions about some of the Aussie wine regions we will be visiting. Very handy!

Jill and McD at lunch

Had a lovely BBQ at the house and just enjoyed the "cooler" weather. At the end of the evening, we did smell some of the smoke in the distance from the brushfires. We are not in danger where we are as the fire is 60+ miles away, but an obvious reminder of the situation that some are facing here in Australia, particularly in Tasmania.

We are having fun and learning a lot staying with folks who are residents of Australia. 

And don't forget to check out our pictures at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lifeasawaterclown/