Yarra Valley

On Saturday we got up early... or as early as we could all manage... and drove up to the Healesville Sanctuary. Since Jason and Kari only had a couple of days we figured this was the best way to see Aussie wildlife up close.

We watched the raptor show and learned how to properly throw a returning boomerang:


Petted bored kangaroos:


Spotted the echidna in the wombat enclosure:


And met an emu up close. Too close. Emus are rather frightening in person -- they make very loud, dinosaur-like growling noises. I would rather not meet one in the wild...


We spent the afternoon winery hopping. After a rather disapointing experience at one of the big wineries we went to our beloved Badger Brook and asked them for some recommendations. Thanks to their advice we discovered two wonderful wineries -- Warramate and Lirralirra. Warramate was lovely across the board -- the wines were delicious and the views from the porch were spectacular. I wanted to move in...

Lirralirra is a tiny winery, the smallest in the valley. The wines were more hit and miss -- the whites weren't to my taste but their '04 Pinot Noir was the most interesting Pinot we have tried down here. I regret buying only one bottle:

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks like a very nice trip.
The red kangaroo does look bored and emu is pretty angry looking bird.
Olga

Tina in CT said...

I wouldn't want to meet the emu in the wild either.

That is some laid back kangaroo.

Home Education Family - Melbourne said...

Sounds likes you had a good time over all.

Wineries are hit and miss everywhere. Would you mind telling me which big one was not so good?