17 Feb: Dunsborough (WA) --> Stirling Ranges National Park (WA).

Sunrise over Geographe Bay and Indian Ocean: Looking northeast towards Perth

The day started with me sleeping in a bit and +Marc venturing out to see the sunrise at the beach. He captured some really nice photos. To see one of them, check out his photo of the day album, which has that photo along with some other great shots from our trip.

We were going to do a smallish hike with our friends but then a storm rolled in, which only allowed us to check out the lighthouse at Cape Naturaliste and then Sugarloaf Rock from some viewing points which were easily accessible by the carpark. Marc, of course, did some research on how 'sugarloaf' became 'sugarloaf' so I'll let him comment on that.

Our gracious hosts in Western Australia

Anyway we checked out of our place in Dunsborough and headed to the town of Margaret River to taste some wine. We ventured over to Cape Mentelle and their wines were decent. They actually made a zinfandel (red) that wasn't overpowering, which was nice, but nothing wowed us like it did at Moss Wood and Cullen the previous day. Then we headed over to Leeuwin for another tasting, private tour and lunch. Leeuwin is one of the oldest wineries in the region and they have a pretty big reputation. Again Marc and I agreed that the wines were good, but we both enjoyed what we tasted at Moss Wood and Cullen more. I guess that is how it goes. The tour was good timing because our friends got to see some of the winemaking process in action being that grapes are now being harvested here.

Sunset at the Dutch Lily Windmill B&B

After lunch, Marc and I went our separate ways from our hosts. We headed over to Stirling Ranges National Park, where we were going to hike a place called Bluff Knoll. It's listed as one of the top hikes in Australia, and Andrew, our host in Perth, also recommended it. It took about 4.5 hours to get there and we didn't see anyone on the road at all for a large chunk of the drive. We were in the middle of nowhere. We did see some kangaroo packs on the side of the road, but fortunately none of them jumped in our path at dusk as they tend to do.

We finally arrived at the B&B, where they made us dinner (yes, dinner) and took in the view of the starry night. A long but good day.

Thanks again for tuning in to our adventures.

16 Feb : Dunsborough / Margaret River Area

+Jill and I "slept in" thankfully as Dylan went out early to the beach although we missed the sunrise. Sleep was needed. Jill got in a quick run along Geographe Bay. After everyone got some breakfast, we headed to the coffee shop and to a gallery by a local photographer. Great stuff to see there.

Our first stop in the Margaret River WINE region - well known for Bordeaux varietals - was ..... the Chocolate Factory! It's not truly all my fault really. I'm not complaining though. It was good - they make lots of stuff. I only picked up 3 small things to eat soon - it was hot. Melting chocolate is bad.

On the grass lawn at the factory, we played some baseball. We then headed to Sandalford right down the road. I'm pretty sure no one had anything memorable to taste there although none of us paid for the high end stuff to taste. Then we went out on their lawn and the Americans learned to play some "footy" - Aussie Rules Football.

After this it was tasting and lunch at Cullen. The person pouring for us knew his stuff so we were well taken care of there. The wines were good and the food was fresh and excellent. They have bee hives on the property to help plant pollination so the menu has some wonderful stuff incorporating honey or honeycomb that is so fresh and tasty.

At Cullen, we played a little soccer - Dylan has started associating wine tasting with sport. 

After this, we parted ways for the afternoon. Jill and I went for more tastings while Andrew, Fiona, and Dylan went back to Dunsborough beach. We went to Evans & Tate, which was ok and the 10 year old tawny port was good enough that I bought a bottle.

We then went across the road to Moss Wood for our only appointment of the day. Alex gave us a fabulous and informative tour where we tasted several barrel samples. Everything we tasted was good. Definitely winery of the day. We bought a cab to have for dinner in the coming week.

We headed back to the cottage in Dunsborough so I could swim. It turns out that a tiger shark has been roaming and spotted in the area and people are walking in the very shallow waters but not swimming. I walked out about 200 meters or so where the underwater plants start growing and then swam toward short until I simply couldn't perform an underwater pull without hitting too much sand.

The evening was capped with a great home cooked meal: steaks, salad, rice mixture, etc. Nice day overall.

15 Feb: Launceston (TAS) --> Perth (WA) --> Dunsborough (WA).

[NOTE: WA stands for Western Australia, the state here in Oz, not Washington State.]

Yet another day with an early start. A REALLY early start. Like 4:15am, Tassie time (translation: 1:15am, Western Australia time).

Our place for the weekend - stone's throw from Geographe Bay

Given the timing of flights to Perth (our flight destination), +Marc and I needed to be on a 7am flight out of Launceston. It was a bit rough but once we got on the connecting flight from Melbourne, Marc slept and I got to catch up on some overdue emails, wine notes, etc. We arrived in Perth late morning and connected with our friends, Fiona, Andrew and their 7-year old son, Dylan.

The 5 of us had made plans to caravan down to a wine region known as Margaret River, which has similarities to Bordeaux. Andrew rented a house for all of us in a town called Dunsborough, which is right on the Geographe Bay and feeds into the Indian Ocean. Wow, we're a far ways away from home now! I have been to Asia in the past but hanging out on a beach on the Indian Ocean is pretty darned cool.

Marc hanging out on a sand bar in Geographe Bay that leads into the Indian Ocean -- yep, we are REALLY FAR AWAY

We got down to the house and the beach was about 400m away on a private road. Very cool. It's clear that many families come here time and time again because it is safe, convenient and fun for everyone. Marc and I went down to the beach and the "sorta" sand bar (up to my stomach) went out about 200 meters. It was pretty amazing to look at the colors of the water and people just walking out what seemed to be a long ways away from the beach.

The 5 of us grabbed some dinner at a local Italian place, and then crashed. At that point, it was 9pm Western Australia time and we were pretty beat having been up for almost 20 hours (with a couple of cat naps on the flight out). Not a very exciting day, but a good day to set things up for our week plus in Western Australia.

BTW, Marc and I would like to thank everyone who have emailed privately, DM'd on FB, etc. about our posts, pics, and everything else related to the trip. We are so flattered that you are having fun following us along this adventure. We are very lucky people and hopefully our entries are somewhat reflective of that. 

14 Feb : Launceston Area - North Tassie

+Jill and I got up early (this is a common theme) to drive over an hour north to the Bass Strait so we could golf. I found this place called Barnbougle Dunes while searching online when looking for courses to potentially play in Australia. I had no idea that Mike Kaiser - creator of Bandon Dunes - is the one who helped make this place happen. He came over and convinced the farm land owner to turn his unused sand dune land into a golf course (two courses now). The place feels like Bandon circa 2002, although even then Bandon was definitely better overall. But it's rustic here like it was back then.

We had a great round just enjoying the course, views, and first golf experience in Australia. On the way back to town we stopped at our last Tassie winery - Josef Chromy. There was nothing super memorable other than the dessert white which had some character.

We headed back to pack, shower, and have our last meal in Tassie on Valentine's Day. Fortunately for me Jill doesn't treat this holiday any different than any other day. Since we don't go crazy for this Hallmark Holiday, we both just kind of laugh at some of the craziness surrounding the holiday. The "Black Cow" restaurant was full - including people 'dressed up' and celebrating - but in general it is definitely far more toned down over here. We had a good meal and a decent dessert involving rhubarb.

On to WA on the 15th... Western Australia...

13 Feb: Cradle Mountain (TAS) --> Launceston (TAS).

Just some wombats roaming around Cradle Mountain Lodge

After yesterday's hike, +Marc and I decided to sleep in a bit. We also saw that the weather wasn't going to be as nice so we opted not to do a morning walk, so we just took our time checking out of the lodge and headed over to Launceston.

On the way, we passed through a town called Topiary, which had lots of figures carved out of bushes. The best one was one of soldiers near a war memorial but we saw some interesting animals. Once we got into Launceston, it was too early to check into our AirBnB, so we opted for a 3 mile hike up and around Cataract Gorge. We saw some peacocks roaming around, and took in some nice views. Also very enticing was a very large 50m swimming pool for Marc, which we decided we would come back to later.

Cataract Gorge in Launceston: Marc later swam at the public pool below FOR FREE

We drove around Launceston, got a feel for the city (town), and got settled into the B&B. Yeah for places with laundry machines to use! We then drove back to Cataract Gorge where Marc was able to swim and I was able to catch up on updating photos on Flickr. It was sunny and warm. Nice.

Dinner was probably one of the best that we had on the trip - Stillwater River Cafe. The food was fresh, the wine was excellent and the service was wonderful. Something tells me this place makes the "Top 5" (Jill). The location over looked the Esk River, which had lots of people running along side of the river or rowing in the river with a nice sunset in the background. A great way to end the day.

12 Feb : Cradle Mountain, Tasmania

Early start to day. No I'm not talking about 6:30am so we could get breakfast right when they opened at 7am. We had a bat in our room buzzing our heads in the night. I thought it was a big moth, turned the ceiling fan on full blast to make it go elsewhere, stuck a pillow over my head, and eventually fell back asleep. +Jill thought it might be a bat but thankfully didn't speak this to me or I wouldn't have slept (and she didn't do so well).

In the morning Jill sees something right next to her suitcase and asks me what I think it is. I look at it and say "a bat". Yikes. It almost landed in the suitcase. I guess the high speed fan killed it. Traumatizing.

[Editor's note: It was beyond traumatizing thinking about what if it would have landed in suitcase.]

We went to the breakfast buffet to eat before hiking an unknown amount of time. After a decent filling, we picked up our "picnic" lunches for the road. What they don't tell you is that the Dove Lake loop is some version of "Lord of the Flies" and you cannot possibly stop anywhere for any reason let alone consuming food. Slow movement was fine and I suggested we eat while walking to minimize fly interaction. This also applied to taking photos of the lake - little to no stopping.

Let's get back to the walk before lunch though. Wow! It was serene and we were out there early. No wind and very few people (maybe 10 cars in the lot and the first bus had definitely not dropped anyone there).

We walked a LOT and got to Marian's Lookout before many people were on the trail. It was a great view in spot after spot on the way up there. The last stretch involved huge steps next to a chain to assist you up (or down). Down was more treacherous. Jill wasn't pleased.

After we went down, we walked by Crater Lake. Let's just say that it's not truly a crater and no where near the spectacle in Central Oregon. If you haven't seen that Crater Lake. Go there now. By the time we got to walking Dove Lake, the people (on shuttle buses) and the flies had shown up. Beautiful but we had seen so much beauty already so now we had to eat while walking and constantly move aside as people going the other way went by or they moved aside for us.

We were beat by the time we got back but spent time updating photos from several days back on Flickr.. It's a constant battle, we take lots of new photos, then we have to update them all. The lodge booked us on a "Tasmanian Devil Feeding" tour at 5:30pm so we went to do that. The expert was knowledgeable but not skilled on the presentation side. The tour was SUPER informative and VERY technical but just a deep dive with no overview. While informative, it lacked something. I will say it was REAL and worthwhile so it's hard to complain too much. We did learn lots and got to see the devils at different development states plus feeding. We also got to see some close relatives like the quoll.

We eventually headed to dinner where the service at the lodge restaurant completely bonked (and not just us but the two other tables next to ours) but the food was decent to good. The distraction of the day though had to be when a guest came in and said there was a platypus out in the pond. Boom out I go to capture a photo. I went out twice. Very cool.

11 Feb: Bicheno (TAS) --> Freycinet (TAS) --> Cradle Mountain (TAS).

Ah, Monday... a day to sleep in for the Becks. +Marc and I grabbed a quick breakfast in Bicheno before heading to Freycinet Vineyards, owned and managed by a good friend of a good friend of ours (+Michael Z). Some unexpected chaos was thrown in to our hosts for the morning, so we spent about 45 minutes chatting with one of Lindy and Claudio's able team members, Diana, in the Cellar Door.

Kookaburra at Freycinet Vineyards

We tasted some of the current releases and learned more about Tasmania and the culture as Diana is a native. She was very gracious to us until Lindy was able to free herself from her other commitments (READ: 3 kids) to show us around. Lindy went to university with "Z", a trusted friend, and she educated us on some of the very specific challenges of growing grapes and making wine in Tasmania, as opposed to the rest of Australia. It was a very interesting chat because it was not just about the geological and meteorological roadblocks, but also some of the political ones thrown by the "big companies", which is unfortunate for real wine consumers, regardless of price point. It is similar to the power distributors have in the US.

Tasmanian Pademelon sighting at Cradle Mountain: 1st of many while we stayed here

Claudio was finally able to join us after some unexpected chaos and shared with us thoughts on the 2011 and 2012 vintages. The 2012s are close to being released. BTW, I should add that Claudio and Lindy win awards annually for their flagship Pinot - not just in Tasmania, but across the globe. And we were grateful for the time they both spent with us on educating us about Tasmania and Freycinet with respect to winemaking and other things.

We then had a quick stop for lunch in Campbelltown (great sandwich place reco from Lindy), picked up a thumb/wrist brace for me with Saturday's unfortunate fall (after consulting with VERY trusted family friend - pretty much family - Jill K.) and then headed to Cradle Mountain.

Sunset against Cradle Mountain Lodge

The mountain was shrouded in fog and grey. The plan was to climb that tomorrow, but everything I read said that if clouds were present in the morning, do something else. So I knew at dinner that we needed a Plan B. We arrived at the lodge, which was nice, and took a couple of quick walks around the property to see some waterfalls, animals, etc. Tasmanian Pademelons (similar to wallabies) were everywhere. Saw a wombat too. Fun.


Had dinner at the pub and came up with our Plan B. We'll see what happens on Tuesday.

Thanks again for tuning in. Pics with descriptions are updated through the 11th of March. Check it out when you have time.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lifeasawaterclown/sets/72157632680608349/detail/

P.S. -- Yes, two trusted friends in one post. Marc and I are beyond lucky to have such fabulous people having our backs in life.

10 Feb: Bicheno (TAS) --> Freycinet Peninsula (TAS) --> Bicheno (TAS).

I was really excited for today's hike because it was going to be along a couple of beaches, which I knew +Marc would enjoy being Mr. WaterClown and all. The weather forecast had the morning as the best part of the day with respect to sunshine, so off we went to the Freycinet Peninsula -- home of Freycinet National Park.

Wineglass Bay on the Freycinet Peninsula

The hike was a circuit (aka loop) around Wineglass Bay and then along Hazards Beach along the Great Oyster Bay (oddly enough, I grew up in the township of Oyster Bay in NY). It was pretty sunny when we started and also very crowded on the trail. It was a Sunday so more people were out for sure, but the main lookout, which is where most people stop was in the 1st mile of the hike.

The lookout was great and we saw the beach which is on Wineglass Bay (gorgeous). We then moved to actually walk along that same beach. Met a couple from San Francisco, which was fun. They were still lamenting their Super Bowl loss but still in great spirits enjoying their time in Australia. We walked along the beach and boy - was that water cold!?!

After going in knee high, Marc and I set off for the rest of the hike. It crossed over a small ridge to Hazards Beach, which was also really nice. A couple more clouds came in, but we were still able to see clearly through the water as we hiked. We finished what was a fun hike, although the trail was crowded, and then ventured over to the Freycinet Lodge for a well-earned burger and chips. 

After cleaning up at the hotel and catching up on some email, we caught dinner at a local seafood place. The fish was fresh and simple, and Marc found something he liked as well. Not a super exciting

View of Hazards Beach into Great Oyster Bay during our hike

day, but a nice one in that we got to be outside when the weather was pleasant and the hike we took was scenic with much to look at.

All that aside, I think with the recent longish hikes that we are happy that tomorrow (Monday) is slated to be a rest day as we venture over to the other side of Tasmania to Cradle Mountain for, you guessed it, more hiking. :-)

Thanks again for tuning in. We really appreciate all of the messages, public and private, about us blogging and posting pics. I will continue to reiterate how fortunate we are to be able to make this journey.

BTW, we have updated with titles many of the pics from Tasmania (through Sunday). Go have a look at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lifeasawaterclown/sets/72157632680608349/detail/

09 Feb : Port Arthur --> Cape Raoul --> Bicheno

+Jill and I got up before 8am, packed the car, grabbed some breakfast to go, and drove over to the carpark at Tasman National Park which starts on private land and has two walks using the same starting path. On the way to the carpark, a peacock decided to cross the road in front of us! And we were the first car in the parking lot! Pick any spot...

We walked over 4 miles to the end of Cape Raoul without seeing anyone else. If it wasn't Saturday, we probably wouldn't have seen anyone on the return either. Since it was a weekend, we did bump into 3 other groups on the almost 9 mile journey. This area is yet another gorgeous place to see.

Unfortunately on the walk with about 2 miles to go, Jill took a tumble and seemed pretty concerned about her wrist or hand. I didn't see what happened, but let's just say that she screamed a  4-letter word upon impact to the ground.  So that says something given her experience. She also had some pretty serious scratches from the fall. Ouch.

After a late lunch, we drove up the coast so we could do yet another walk involving Wineglass Bay (no wine involved unfortunately)... We're staying in a town that's pretty famous for a penguin "parade" so a 9:30pm tour was part of the day. This made for a LONG day but we did get to see a lot of penguins at various stages of making their way up the beach to their burrows. They wouldn't allow any photos, but we are requesting some from the company which they said they would provide.

It was also a great sky night. The sunset was superb and the stars were really visible on the penguin walk. Quite a treat.

08 Feb: Hobart (TAS) --> Doo Town (TAS) --> Port Arthur (TAS).

[CAPTION OPPORTUNITY ALERT.]

The "Blowhole"

The day had the word 'extremes' written all over it. +Marc and I started out the day at Crossfit 42S (latitude) and had a nice workout. Dave, the coach leading the workout, gave us a reco for stopping off on the way down to our next destination - Port Arthur.

On the way down, we passed through the town on Dunalley, which suffered significant damage in early January from brushfires. For the folks outside of Australia, these were the ones that you actually heard about in the news in the global press. The damage was devastating and sobering to the both of us. Many fundraisers are still taking place and the community is still in recovery obviously.

Echidnas look like porcupines but are more agile and more mobile than you would think

Coach Dave told us to check out a spot called Blowhole because of how the water from the bay feeds into this one area on the peninsula. The kicker is that the Blowhole (that is the official name) is in a town called "Doo Town". This is where I expect the lack of maturity to kick in. It gets better. Each house in this very small town has a name with the word "Doo" incorporated in it (i.e., "Doo Me Right", "Thistle Doo Me" and my personal favorite "Doo F#@k All" with the owner literally sitting on the porch having a cigarette). It was so comical that Marc and I knew we had to take photos, which will be posted in the next day. Oh, and the Blowhole was actually pretty amazing along with the Tasman Arch because we actually saw our first echidna in the wild! Fun!

Our favorite sign in "Doo Town" -- Go ahead and judge us

But we had Port Arthur on our itinerary because our friends in Melbourne, Chris and Shelly, recommended seeing the historic prison. Australia had its initial western settlers set up a penal colony for the British Empire and Tasmania, given its even more remote local, was set up to host a prison. 

Some of Port Arthur's historic prison grounds

Needless to say, many bad events took place at Port Arthur, and one of the things Marc noticed was that many Roman ruins in Italy are in better condition than what we saw of buildings in the late 19th century. The reason for this was a combination of things - bushfires, vandals/thievery, and shame. Considerable debate took place as to whether the place should be completely destroyed given the atrocities that took place at Port Arthur or whether it should remain as a reminder of what took place. During this time, significant decay took place on many of the buildings. 

Yes, this was our view from our B&B

That said, I think the government has done a great job trying to preserve the buildings and the history with some integrity. Unfortunately, the Port Arthur museum has been the site of more tragedy in recent times when a gunman opened fire, which resulted in the murder of many (mid 90s).

After the prison tour, we went to our B&B. Sometimes better lucky than good because we struck gold with the view and location. We pretty much had a beach all to ourselves, although it was a bit cool for sunbathing. Anyway we just enjoyed the view, caught a quick dinner, checked out an amazing sunset near where we were going to hike tomorrow and called it a day.

Another day where we considered ourselves lucky, grateful and better informed about where we are visiting. Good stuff. Thanks again for tuning in.

But being that we want to end these entries on more of a positive tone, we encourage you to imagine if you had a house in 'Doo Town' and what you would name it. :-)

07 Feb : Hobart

After a tasty breakfast, +Jill and I drove to Old Springs (just past Fern Tree) part way up Mt Wellington. From here we did about a 5 1/2 mile hike to the top - up on the Zig Zag trail and down via the Ice House trail.

Both trails were technical rocky paths unlike some other "walks" we've done. But the way down was far more technical and for experienced walkers only. It was a couple of hours of climbing over rocks or walking in "dry creek beds" endlessly.

There is a fire burning nearby (not yet contained) so we did not have great visibility. In addition, upon showering before dinner, I could not help but smell a ton of smoke. What did we inhale today?

Once we got back to civilization, it was time for a few routine shopping errands along with laundry and catching up with all of our photos we recently generated over the past few days.

06 Feb: Hobart (TAS) --> Bruny Island (TAS) --> Hobart (TAS).

Marc enjoying the very placid waters within Little Oyster Bay Cove

Finally: South Australia pics (Barossa, McLaren Vale and Adelaide) are finished and posted!

+Marc and I had another early start this morning because we had a kayaking tour arranged outside of Hobart. When Marc was going through the Lonely Planet, he noticed a couple of interesting things to check out at a place called Bruny Island, and I wanted to kayak around there. So to make it work, we did a half day paddle and then spent the afternoon on Bruny.

I can't even begin to describe how amazing the conditions were for kayaking. It was warm (high teens/low 20s) and the sun was blazing. The water was calm and pretty much no wind or traffic was in the D'Entrecasteaux Channel, which is where we kayaked with our guide from "Roaring 40s". Reg was engaging, informative and passionate about the area having grown up on Bruny, but also having the perspective of traveling the world.

LOCAL seafood - as in picked off the side of the bay!

We checked out an old shipwreck, saw some interesting coves and I got to eat a very fresh oyster from "Little Oyster Bay Cove" of all places. HA! Yum! We paddled through some of the larger boats moored in the marina in Kettering before getting back to the ferry in time for lunch.

On the ferry, we saw some dolphins jumping around. Unfortunately we only got one picture and it looks a bit blurry, but I'll post it to FB anyway. After a quick ride, we made it over to the Bruny Island Smokehouse where I had smoked wallaby for lunch and Marc played it safe with smoked chicken. Both were tasty and definitely smoked for real (guess our Big Green Egg experience has to be good for something, right?). 

Jill and Reg (our guide) on a magical morning in the D'Emtrecasteaux Channel. H/T to Marc for capturing this amazing shot

After lunch, it was pretty warm but we headed further south to Cape Bruny, the southern most part of South Bruny. Some dirt roads were involved (yeah for rental cars) but overall it was a nice and picturesque ride. The tide was very low on the west side of the island for the entire afternoon, which we found odd. We checked out the lighthouse and weather station. I am pretty sure Cape Bruny is the southern most point in Tasmania (and obviously Australia) but I need to check that.

After visiting Cape Bruny, we worked our way back up north to HIBA, a local place that makes chocolate and fudge on the island. You can only guess who wanted to stop there. Marc got his chocolate and then we ventured more north towards the Bruny Island Cheese Company (yeah for fromage!). I got a cheese platter for takeaway in what can best be referred to as a pizza box. My cousin, Scott, who runs Scott's Pizza Tours would be so impressed.

Cape Bruny Lighthouse, South Bruny, Tassie

We made it back to the ferry and got back to Hobart for a quick shower and a walk down to dinner. I wanted to check out a place that seemed to be making the news as *THE* place to go to in Hobart - Garagistes. While the food was very local and the service was attentive, the menu felt a bit too limited for us. Also I was disappointed that they pretty much had only French and Italian wines to choose from. I don't get how you flaunt that you use local ingredients but not back it up with the wine. That said, we enjoyed the food and the portions weren't so big that you felt too stuffed.

We got back to the flat where we are staying and agreed that we were looking forward to sleeping in. We did note that a fire did start near where we were planning to hike so we would have to potentially have a Plan B if the park was closed. We shall see.

Thanks for tuning in.

05 Feb : Hobart --> SW Tasmania --> Hobart

Wow! Gorgeous! Unbelievable! Must see! +Jill and I got up early, grabbed breakie, and made our way to Par Avion - a small aviation company that flies people to SW Tasmania for [half] day trips or drops them off for their mult-day treks (bush walks).

We got one of the best weather days in recent memory - clear and calm - for our wonderful flight along the coastal area south over Bruny Island and the southern tip of Tassie on our way to landing at Melaleuca with a boat trip to/from Bathurst Harbour.

Words cannot describe this area fairly (perhaps only a poet could do it) and the few photos we've posted here do not suffice. Ask us for Flickr feed access if you want to see more of this region.

In the middle of our boat ride, we stopped and had coffee/tea and biscuits on an almost mirror like setting with natural beauty in 360 degrees. There was NO ONE else present whatsoever other than the 6 of us in a boat in a harbour bigger than Sydney Harbour. Wow!

After this amazement, we returned to Hobart by plane over some peaks that keep out a lot of the rain in the east. About 400 photos were taken but (just for you) we've narrowed it down to about the 150 best.

We had the afternoon to taste wine and this area is hit & miss even for "reputable" or recommended spots. We did find some good stuff - not all of which is available in the states due to our insane import laws. Oh well.

The evening was spent walking to Lark Distillery to taste the rum (the make other stuff) followed by a visit to a restaurant called Ethos. Ethos is a top 5 place for both of us in Australia so far. Simple, fresh, in-season, and just a nice meal, atmosphere, staff, etc, etc. This was a great way to end a spectacular day by walking to and from our studio apartment in North Hobart.

4 Feb: Hobart (TAS).

View of Cornellian Bay from the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens during Jill's 5-mile run

Ah, Super Bowl Monday! Who is excited?!

Definitely slept in until 8:30am or so after the long day yesterday. Started the day with me getting in a run along the coast to Cornellian Bay and back through the Botanical Gardens while +Marc swam for a bit. His ankle was a bit stiff so we were hoping that getting it moving in the pool (non-impact) would help. Fortunately it did but we decided to take it easy in walking around Hobart. 

It kind of worked out that we had allocated this day to watch the Super Bowl, which

started at around 11am local time. After icing the ankle, etc., we made our way to a section of town called Sandy Bay. Our research told us that one of the pubs there was going to have the game on and be serving lunch. They actually had the game on our TV in the apartment but we wanted to see if we could get some Tassie-atmosphere.

Super Bowl Monday: Tassie Style!

We missed Beyonce and the 1st half was a bit of a joke. We got situated at the Doctor Syntax Hotel (aka pub) as the 2nd half was starting and before you knew it, the power outage happened in New Orleans. As it was a Monday afternoon, the pub wasn't too crowded but we received assorted questions from locals on the rules of the game, who we "barracked for" (cheered for), etc. Also present was a 49'ers fan but really the bulk of us wanted a more competitive game and we had 21+ deficit going. Not good.

Well I guess the 49'ers woke up during the 30+ minute power outage. BTW, the LIPA references all over my Facebook timeline were classic due to their ineptitude during Hurricane Sandy. The game was interesting all of a sudden and the teams were separated by two points! In the end, the Ravens held on and that was that. But at least we had a good Aussie pub lunch and ended up seeing an interesting game.

After the game, we walked around Sandy Bay and Battery Point, where we found a Long Beach (give it up for the 11561!). Some nice neighborhoods and beautiful weather. Grabbed some dinner at a restaurant where I tried some local mussels (massive) and trumpeter (similar to halibut - good). Caught a sunset by the waterfront and went back. Another fun day and Marc's ankle got better as the day progressed. Woo woo!

03 Feb : Adelaide --> Hobart (Tassie)

We got up at 4-something to drive to the airport so we could spent the afternoon in Tasmania. We were earlier than any car rental counters were open and just dropped the keys in their secure bin.

+Jill checked us in online and they texted each of us links to our online boarding passes to show at the gate. Security for a domestic flight was a breeze. Anyone can go through the detectors and no liquids out in bins, no shoes off, etc etc etc... They scan your phone (or paper) at the gate and hand you a small receipt that the flight attendant confirms on the plane just to make sure you went to the right place.

We had to go through Melbourne for a layover and the domestic terminal there stinks for food options. Oh well... On to Tassie.

We arrived and had a booking via Amex for Alamo. There is no Alamo rental counter. Jill was not pleased and I stayed out of the way. The Avis person was really nice, helpful, friendly and so we got lucky that they had a car. Now Amex gets to hear from Jill. Ha.

We found our place for the week, stuck a load in the washer, and headed to the pier to get to MONA - the must see "art" museum. Let's just say that  most of it is not in my appreciated style and I did (honestly) take Art Appreciation for credit at UCSB. It's just that what I appreciate is before art became abstract crap or gimmicks.

We ended our long day with dinner in the Salamanca area which is cool. Not a bad first day but sleep will be appreciated and hopefully quite lengthy.

2 Feb: Adelaide (SA).

Semaphore Beach, Semaphore, SA

We got to start off the day Skyping with our nephew, niece and +Marc's parents to wish Mason a Happy Birthday. He opened the present we got for him and we got to catch up on what is going on in Brea, CA. Unfortunately Tanya was at work so we couldn't chat with her. Nice way to start the day. 

We had a couple of quick errands to take care of before we set off for the day, which was going to include a fair amount of walking by the time the day was done. We needed a good walk after all of the craziness of the past 2.5 weeks, which didn't really include much exercise over that period of time.

Marc wanted to head out to Semaphore Beach and of course I should have known the significance of the word 'semaphore' being married to a software engineer and all, but I didn't. If you don't know, Google it. It was more of a locals beach, as opposed to one of the more touristy beaches like Glenelg, and we got to walk around the pier, have some brekkie, etc. Good stuff.

1969 and 1971 vintages of Penfolds Grange in this case

Then it was back to the apartment to drop off the car so we could walk to the Penfolds Magill Estate just outside of Adelaide. It didn't look too bad - about 5 miles each way, but I didn't plan for a pretty steady uphill with the temperatures increasing. We got to Penfolds about 15 minutes late (argh!) but were still able to join the tour and tasting. The tour was very interesting as this estate (as opposed to the facility in Barossa where we were at on Wednesday) was where Grange and Penfolds all began.

No one will notice if a barrel of Grange is missing, right?

We saw many of the underground tunnels where wines are still stored today plus some of the keepsakes acquired over the years from producing Grange and other well-regarded BINs from Penfolds. Finally we got to sample ground up oak from American vs. French barrels to understand the differences in texture. 

Marc ready to try some wine!

We had a tasting where we tasted very similar wines to the ones we tasted on Wednesday, but different vintages. It was interesting for Marc and I to compare and contrast which ones we liked more on Wednesday vs. Saturday (today). Age and the type of vintage make a big difference. Also even though the Magill Estate is very historical in nature, wine is produced there including the very excellent Magill Estate Shiraz. Some Grange grapes are also sourced from the Magill Estate. We also got to try some of their tawnys, which were very good. Another informative tour arranged by +Erik.

We walked back to town and the sun was shining, which felt good. We were able to finally see Adelaide in the sunshine and snapped some photos. It is a very well planned city and very bike friendly. Loads of parks as well. On the walk to/from Penfolds, we were able to walk through a couple of neighborhoods that one could call "high rent districts", which had some really nice homes. 

Outside of the Magill Estate at Penfolds

At 6:30pm on a Saturday, we were pretty surprised at how quiet Adelaide was except for Gouger Street and a couple of other streets where restaurants and bars are located. We couldn't get into Marc's choice for dinner, Gauchos (as a tribute to his UCSB roots), so we went to another well regarded place, Wah Hing. The server recommended one of the house specialties - Sang Chow Bow, which were basically lettuce cups with chicken, garlic, ginger and a boatload of other goodies. 

Enjoyed dinner and headed back to pack up as we have an early start on Sunday (4:35am wake up call) for our flight to Tazzie. Good times in Adelaide and surrounding area though.

1 Feb : Adelaide --> McLaren Vale

Happy Birthday to +Jill's sister, +Lisa, as well as Happy Anniversary to her parental units, Harv & +Yvette.

We started off with an alarm so that we could go do a Crossfit workout and gauge what we've lost skill-wise so far. I'm down from 21 straight pull-ups to 7 already. Yuck! After a quick shower, we were off to McLaren Vale - a bit cooler climate wine region that Barossa but fully capable of ripening the big reds that I enjoy. 

We started the tour at Molly Dooker - Aussie for left hander. Sparky the winemaker went to university with Mike Z - our winemaker. We were given a great tour and history by Sparky's dad, Leigh. He's the one that came up with the name when they were desperate to name, print labels, and begin selling wine. He suggested it at a meeting and brought the house down. After everyone calmed down, they took a poll of attendees in the room that were left handed and 7 out of 12 were - so it was fate.

The tour was a great experience about how they treat the vines during the growing season and their vine management philosophy. We tasted several great wines and learned the "Mollydooker shake" for young bottles. In a nutshell, because wines are packaged with nitrogen gas, you empty a little wine out and then close it up and shake it to help release the gas. This is only recommended for young wines that are not sparkling.

After that great tour and lunch in town, we checked out other recommendations we've been given. Some odd things happened when we arrived at Samuel's Gorge. First, we ran into the same couple we had tasted with at Penfolds a couple days back in another valley. Next, the winemaker showed up and gave us a sample of the just about to be bottled 2011 Shiraz that no one outside of him/assistants have tasted yet - not even the tasting room manager who was there. He talked to us for a LONG time (and could have been longer but he had a private appt) and even though I'm not sure that we said anything impressive to him, he gave us a bottle of Sparkling Shiraz to evaluate and send him our thoughts. Wild!
 
We went back to the cottage we are staying at and cooked up some dinner and enjoyed both bottles we were given at Mollydooker during the tour. What a great day.

31 Jan: Adelaide (SA).

Adelaide Aquatic Centre

The day started off with rain and continued with a steady rainfall throughout the morning and early afternoon. This caused us to change our plans slightly. Instead of walking a couple of kilometers to the pool, where +Marc would swim and I would run around a local park, we would drive to the pool and I would skip the run for the time being.

The Adelaide Aquatic Centre was really nice and well maintained. It is a pretty big facility. Another thing to note about Adelaide is that even on a grey day, you can tell it is a pretty city with lots of parks, interesting architecture and different culture. We are hoping for some nicer weather during our brief time here.

Cheese stand in Adelaide Central Market

After swimming, we drove to Gouger Street where the Adelaide Central Market is located along with a number of great Asian restaurants that we could try for lunch. We sussed out the market since we are doing the AirBnB thing for this city and plan on cooking the next two nights. Gosh, they have so many stalls with fresh produce and meats. A cook's dream - great choices and reasonable prices because competition is so fierce!

This made us chuckle - lots of witty named stands

Once we knew the stalls we would purchase from, we decided to grab some Thai at a place that was pretty well regarded. Nothing fancy but we saw lots of suits in the restaurant which probably means the locals frequent it a lot. The food was tasty and fresh. Then we went back to the market and did some food shopping. It was fun, but it was also hard to not buy more - so much great stuff! Just like the South Melbourne Market.

Rare home cooking - Roo!

We got back to the apartment and the skies cleared up, so I went out for a quick 3.25 mile run. It felt good to get out there and run through one of Adelaide's many parks. Marc and I then cooked some kangaroo, other meats, beans, etc. It was nice and simple. Awesome. I'll also admit it was good to have a day off from all-day wine consumption too.

30 Jan: Tanunda - aka Barossa Valley (SA) --> Adelaide (SA).

Marc and Jill looking "SUPER official" as we get ready for our private blending session at Penny's

Given the amount of wine consumption this week, +Marc and I have been trying to be really diligent about getting some exercise in. This morning, we went out for a 5K run in the town we were staying in. After yesterday's run, it felt good to take it a little bit easier. 

Today was pretty much about Penny's (aka Penfolds). Our friend, +Erik, arranged for us to have 3 sessions (one of which is on Saturday at the original estate in Adelaide) with Penny's, including a tasting of the legendary Grange. In the morning, we had a blending session in the lab. We ended blending and experimenting in the lab where the Penfolds winemakers do their testing, so it was pretty kitted out with equipment, lots of white to identify color of wine and other characteristics of newer and older vintages and plenty of sinks to spit wine out. 

Marc and I were given 3 bottles to work with from the 2011 vintage and tasted the 2010 BIN 138. While 2010 and 2011 were very different vintages, it just allowed us to get a sense of a current blend before we started our experiments. We each had 3 trials, so really that meant that Marc and I had 6 since we would share anyway. The 3 varietals were very standard Rhone varietals and part of a very common blend in Australia called "GSM" (aka Grenache Shiraz and Mataro (Mouvedre)). But the "GSM" sometimes becomes "SMG" or "SGM". It all depends on what is coming out of the massive amount of vineyards that Penfolds sources its grapes from. The percentages of the grapes also differ from year to year. Again, it is vintage dependent.

Marc's results from his blending lab session: so much fun!!

My final blend that I got to bottle as the equivalent of a 1/2 bottle was 54% Mataro, 36% Shiraz and 10% Grenache. Marc's was 55% Shiraz, 33% Mataro and 12% Grenache. Since we will be cooking dinner in Adelaide tomorrow, it will be fun to drink these and try them out.

Based on our conversation with our host for the day during the lab session, Suzanne recommended a couple of wines for us to try at the tasting bar before lunch, which we did. Penfolds has such a large array of wines that it is hard for us in the States to figure out what we really enjoy and don't enjoy from them (outside of Grange). So the tasting helped us out on that front since Grange isn't exactly an everyday drinking wine. :-)

We had a lunch break at a winery up the road called Saltram. The weather was perfect to sit outside and we had a couple of their Shirazes with our meal. Really nice and relaxing before our afternoon tasting session.

The Grange tasting session was with another couple and they were really nice. Suzanne walked us through the history of how Grange came to be as well as some of the other wines. The most interesting tidbit (for me anyway) came from how the BIN 707 came to be. A gentleman who used to work for Qantas in marketing came to work for Penfolds and was enamored with the Boeing 707, and hence you got the BIN 707. It also happened to taste really nice. Of the non-Grange stuff, Marc really enjoyed the Magill Estate Shiraz and I stuck with saying that the RWT was my fave after the tasting. We tasted a 2007 Grange, which is very young for that wine. It had been double decanted before our tasting, but it was nice for sure.

Jill looking "SUPER OFFICIAL" again at Orlando Wines Pernod Ricard

After Penfolds, we had one more stop to make before heading to Adelaide. Our friend and former consulting winemaker for Purple Teeth Cellars, +Michael Z. (aka "Z"), connected us with a bunch of people in the wine business here. We met one of his "uni" buddies, Steve Clarkson, who is a general manager of Orlando Wines. Orlando is part of a much larger conglomerate that includes Jacob's Creek, Brancott Estate, etc. It was really interesting to get his perspective since they produce so many wines and yes, they produce higher quality wines than we generally receive in the US. Because of import laws, we just don't see them. Anyway it was a very informative chat.

It took just over an hour to get to Adelaide and we got to see more kangaroos on the road on the way in. We found our AirBnB pretty easily and walked to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. Really great flavors and nice local seafood. Marc even got to have "sushi" - ok, it was a wagyu beef roll but hey...

All in all, a fun day, especially thanks to "Z" and Erik for hooking us up with really smart and generous folks. It's supposed to rain the next few days in Adelaide so we will see what that does for our plans.

Thanks for reading and please feel free to ask questions!

29 Jan : Barossa and Eden Valley

And the days just get stranger... We worked out a better breakfast in Angaston called Blond Coffee which had all around good stuff as well as a crowd (always a good sign!)...

We showed up at a small to medium producer called Two Hands and were extremely well taken care of BY EVERYBODY THERE. The "body count" of stuff tasted is unknown particularly with all of the barrel samples as well as lots of bottles over a 2 1/2 hour period. Luckily we were spitting and dumping because this could go bad otherwise. We even missed lunch completely (fortunately we had bars in the bag to eat). The 2012 vintage seems really good based on barrel samples here and elsewhere.

At Two Hands, Ben as well as Michael the owner were knowledgeable, talented, and well traveled. We had an absolute blast and would have easily stayed at least another hour at a minimum if not for another appointment across the valley.

[Editor note: Lunch consisted of a Power Bar each for Marc and +Jill. Please do not judge.]

We had to drive to and attend a Henschke tasting/tour as well. This was another fabulous and informative tour of the vineyards. We also tasted 10 wines over the last 90+ minutes and they were beautiful.

It wasn't a physically active day (although Jill did run and I swam at a great facility in Tanunda). We mostly just gained some purple teeth and experienced some spectacular wines. What a day and region.

We ended with a walk to dinner and our first kangaroo at a restaurant. It was good but  the home cooked version by Shelly with three presentations was actually better.