Yarra Valley Wine Tasting

One of the reasons for coming to Melbourne for me was to go to Domaine Chandon.  Having been a part of the original Chandon Club when Moet-Hennessy opened up the first French winery in Napa in the 1970s I knew about the Australian winery and really wanted to visit.  (It did not exist when I visited Melbourne in August 1981,)

Domaine Chandon Australia is now one of six satellites making sparkling wines around the world for Moet.  (The others are in Argentina, Napa Valley, Brazil, India and China.)

they bought an old farm and the rest is history

tasting six sparkling wines

the tasting bar

tables even look like champagne corks!

our tour guide Randy took our picture

Then it was off to Soumah Winery, for lunch.  (Oh yeah, we tasted 6 wines before lunch -- and got to choose anything on the tasting menu to accompany lunch.

this was just the appetizer --
chicken with sundried tomatoes over cous cous for lunch

the view from the restaurant

We were ahead of schedule, so we made a quick stop at Rochford, not for a wine tasting but for some shopping.  As we walked to the tasting room/boutique, we could see workers topping off barrels.

barrels

hard at work

The winery was getting ready for a big concert in conjunction with this weekend's Harvest Festival.  

Off to our third winery of the day, Helen and Joey Estate.  We started our tasting with a can of chardonnay.   Six wines later, the girls were climbing up on the unicorn.

canned wine

Pinot Noir grapes

their logo unicorn 
at the edge of the tasting area

the winery currently sits at the top of the hill
(they are building a brand new winery at the bottom of the hill)

Off again to our final winery, Helen Hill, where we were supposed to taste six wines.  We were tasting a sparkling blanc de noir, when the cellar door manager said we were close enough to 4 o'clock, that he wanted to add one more wine.  (His tradition is to celebrate RGT [Roman Grace Time], so he broke out a special sparkling wine for us.)  We also got to taste a special reserve shiraz here, so there was a total of 8 wines.  

He noticed that Scott and I were pouring out wines after one or two sips... all our practice in Napa paid off.  We never would have survived the day's 26 tastings and one glass of wine with lunch otherwise.  

their outdoor tasting area

their logo hawk

crushing operations going on
behind the scenes

Best Laid Plans

We had a day all set for sightseeing, but mother nature intervened.  We were finishing up breakfast about 8:30 when Scott's phone lit off with a "LIGHTNING DETECTED IN YOUR AREA" message.  Considering Scott gets reports on weather in AK, OR, and CT, we checked and found out it was actually for Melbourne.  We raised the shades and watched the storm roll in.  The downtown area got hammered - there was some flooding in low-lying areas and the commute really got messed up.  The local news station kept showing their weather camera... what normally is a glamor shot of the Yarra River and high rise buildings was a black cloud (you could barely make out the buildings).

The storm actually only lasted about an hour.  But with all the water, we couldn't take the scooter out.  So I devised a plan to use the Circle Route of the Yarra Trams to see the city.  Melbourne has a free tram system for the downtown.  In fact, our apartment is at the last station for the trams in the docklands -- we can step out the door and right on a tram.

The Circle Route uses some of the oldest trams in the city, so we knew there were no handicap cars.  We could transfer from the docklands to the circle, easily, so off we went.  Only to discover that the Circle Route was not running.   We tried to use other trams to repilicate the circle route, but with the weather and lunchtime crowds, it was not easy.  We made only half the circle, before returning to the apartment.

Gor a few pics of things in the city:

Flinders Railway Station, oldest RR station in Australia

town hall, from the tram platform

Federation Square

With all the clouds, we ended the day with a spectacular sunset

view from our balcony

the library across the street

canoe club finishing practice
(boat club next to library)

library scrulpture

Melbourne, Docklands

 Our apartment is in the Docklands, a development west of the Central Business District.  We are at the end of the Collins Street tram line and overlook the Dock library.

the library, across the street

Scott doesn't like heights, so the 19th floor balcony in Auckland was totally ignored.  Here we are on the 4th floor and have a good view of neighboring buildings.  He was sitting on the couch watching the news, and suddenly realized there were window washers on one of those buildings.

We got out ahead of the predicted rain and checked out some of the neighborhood.

across the Yarra River, south of us

Behind the library, we could look across the docklands to the north shore, including the Melbourne "Eye."  You will notice the kayaks at the bottom of the pier.  Right behind us were about 30 people who were going on a kayak tour, all trying to get into their gear.  It made the walkway a little chaotic.  Later, from our balcony we could see the 2-person kayaks going down the Yarra.

Lyttleton post script

If you remember Sydney's post, the GP sailboat race was disrupted when the Canadian boat was demasted.  Then in Christchurch, we discovered that the next race was due to be in Lyttleton harbor.

Well, it happened over the weekend, and with the Kiwi's trying to edge into the Australian crew's overall lead in the team standings, it got lots of TV coverage.  After five races it came down to a final race -- NZ, Australia and (with a strong finish against Britain) the team from Canada.  

It turns out the Canadians had turned to a Kiwi to skipper their boat, so he had a bit of a home field advantage. Phil Robertson had done the broadcast coverage for the America's Cup in Auckland, and, in an interview he said he couldn't cut it as a commentator, so he had to go back to a "paying" job.

All the focus was on the rivalry between the Kiwis and the Aussies, but the dark horse Canadians took off at the starting line and never looked back.  NZ finished second and Australia, third.  This series will finish off in San Francisco next month, with the top 3 racers going for a million dollar prize.

from the TV coverage

Auckland 17-20 March

 Auckland is a compact city.  We found our hotel was only a block off Queen Street, the main shopping district of the city, so there was plenty to see.  

Queen Street

Venturing out on Saturday it seemed everyone was wearing green and orange.  We had forgotten that Friday was St Patrick's Day, and we discovered Queen Street was closed for the annual parade. Luckily the parade was just breaking up.  "Kiss me I'm Irish" ties and buttons look a little strange when worn with Hawaiian shirts... but the best was the little oriental lady all dressed up like a leprauchan.   

We ventured on down to the waterfront, to the ferry building and the port

port entrance, foot of Queen Street

Ferry Building

ferry quay

plaza at the foot of Queen St.

Weather was threatening, so we returned to the hotel.  Nice thing was, between the alleyways and arcades and awnings over the sidewalks, we got back with only getting rained on when we crossed the street.  

We discovered across from the hotel is Albert Park.  I explored a bit and found an interesting mix of monuments, trees and visitors.  

park entrance off Victoria Street

artillery monument

  

trees lined the pathways

Auckland's Sky Tower, from the park

We leave Monday morning for Melbourne (bright and early). 

the front of the hotel, before dawn Monday

Auckland, Thursday 16 Mar

Auckland Harbor at dawn

We arrived at the port of Auckland bright and early, and got through customs & immigration without problems.  The neat thing about landing at Queen's Wharf, was to look at the flooring in the pier shed -- huge, old planks showed this building has been here for a long, long time.

Avani Metropolis Hotel

We got to the hotel, expecting to just drop our bags, but the hotel had a cancellation and was actually willing to check us in at 9 am!

Our real goal for the day was a reunion with Scott's AFS foreign exchange student from high school.  He had not seen Shona Hammond Boys since graduation in June 1964.  She had been living on the north coast (Opotiki) on the Bay of Plenty, but just recently moved to a retirement village in Auckland.

Eastside Retirement Village

Auckland skyline from the park across the street

The place she is living is near Maori land at Bastion Point, south of downtown Auckland.  Bastion Point was the site of a 500+ day protest where Maori's moved in to stop the government's efforts to sell Maori land for high-end development.  The land was eventually returned to the Maori's.  Shona has had a lot of dealings with the Maori and with government, and hopes she can use her skills in this area to make her new home more inclusive.

She took us up the hill to the grave of Joe Hawke, one of the leaders of the Bastion Point protest.

Bastion Point

climbing the hill

at the memorial

After lunch, Scott and Shona got all caught up on THS Class of 64 news, and Shona told us stories of what she had been able to use her art, writing and film work to do.  She had Scott don a Maori cape made out of wool and pieces of driftwood.

a statue of Shona wearing the cape 
when she was a delegate to an internaional meeting on children

I even got to try a feather cape
(the traditional woman's cape)

going over family albums

Shona has been journaling all her life, often using her own art and calligraphy.  She shared some with us.