Hello everyone!
So today Jamie and I decided to hit the lovely residential roads of Altona and go for a run. Oh my god….. Seriously guys, I thought I was dying when I came back! As in actually dying. I was adamant after yesterday’s lovely winery tour that I would go for a jog. I don’t think Jamie quite believed me so when I donned my ‘most gym-looking gear’ he was a little dumbfounded but decided to jump on the bandwagon! We did a small few stretches to begin with then a 10 minute jog followed by a 2 minute walk and then repeated that again. I think it was enough for our first day after nearly four months of nothing!
But yesterday we had such a lovely day exploring the Wineries of Yarra Valley. The day began quite dull and raining however turned out to be a lovely bright sunny day. We purchased a voucher online for this tour via Scoopon for two for $165 (or €105) which in turn was with a company called Dancing Kangaroo Tours. We found the price to be pretty reasonable as it included lunch.
Our tour guides were Sean and Nok and they were great. Nok, Sean’s girlfriend is from Thailand and prepared a sensational spread for lunch including filled baguettes and a table full of hams, cheeses, grapes and some lovely dressings. It really was delicious. We’re quite a foodie couple ourselves so this was very much to our liking!
More details for DKT can be found online here: http://www.dancingkangarootours.com/. They are also on FB so be sure to check them out.
So we visited three wineries; Dominique Porter, Corniola Wines and St Huberts. Each one was almost better than the last however I must say our visit to Corniola Wines was my favourite. This gentleman had such a sad story as their whole wine farm suffered hugely during the bush fires back in 2009 and they lost everything including their home. However managed to come back from it and is doing better than ever. I bought two bottles of wine from them; Moscato which is a Sweet White wine and a Dolce Rosso 2015; a Sweet Red wine. Both of which are delicious. I can honestly say I’ve a better appreciation for wine now!
We also visited Maroondah Reservoir Park where we had a lunch, a really lovely spot which has an enormous dam. You can climb the steps from the walled side of the dam and walk along a bridge at the top overlooking the water on the other side. A really great view.
Our final stop before venturing back to Melbourne was The Yarra Valley Chocolaterie and Ice Creamery. If you’re a chocoholic like myself then this is your heaven! Our guide Sean recommended the brownie so I obviously picked this up along with a cappuccino. The brownie was absolutely delicious however far too much for one person as it included a little pot of melted milk chocolate and scoop of ice-cream. The brownie too was warm so the combination was just perfect! They can be found online at; http://www.yvci.com.au/.
That was another reason I decided on running today because I felt so full after all our wine tasting and chocolate yesterday. So here I am post jog, aside from feeling like death earlier, delighted I managed to go for a quick one at least.
If you’re interested you can check out the websites for the few wineries we did visit; http://dominiqueportet.com/
That’s it for now folks. I hope you enjoyed the read. Let me know if you any questions below in the comment section or via the contact form here.