I sat up in the front seat and had a nice chat with David, the driver. We spoke about all sorts of things- the US, my studies, his family. He actually just moved to Australia from Kenya, a year ago, with his wife and two children. That's right! A white Kenyan. He said in Kenya there are about 100,000 white people to about 30 million total citizens. Talk about being a minority. The drive to the Yarra Valley was about an hour - hour and a half. It was quite enjoyable and beautiful with the mountains surrounding the valley. The people in the van got very situated with each other, and I felt a bit left out being all the way in the front, but I was able to sit in the back later on, which was great.
The Yarra Valley
We visited 4 wineries on our tour. The first winery was De Bortoli Winery. This is one of Australia's largest wine exporter. They handpick about 75% of the grapes and are all organic and do not use any pesticides. We started our sampling, with perfectly measured tastes. At first, we thought we could only taste the ones they offered us, but soon we found the menu and were told we could ask to try any of them. We ended up trying probably 15-20 wines. Of course, we began to lose track. A quick glance at the watch, assured us, that we were in fact alcoholics: 1130am. And already tipsy.
Casto, Laura, Katie and I with our first sample of wine- Completely sober!
After some fun photographs, we hopped back in the van and headed to our next destination. With everyone loosened up, the talking and laughing in the van began to increase. I sat in the back and started talking to our new friends: a family originally from Scotland, but living in Australia now. Stephen, who is 23, moved to Australia when he was 3 years old, so he is basically Australia. His Mum, Linda and her sister Kathleen, who would be around my parents age were on the tour, as well as their friend Sandra, and Christopher, who was basically family of theirs visiting from Scotland.
Cheers!
We arrived at the second winery, Train Trak. We explored the grounds a little bit, and found out that they were not picking grapes this year. It has been a rough year for them economically, as a micro-winery, and they decided it would be more economical not to pick the grapes. After some sampling of several wines (at least 7) we were ready for lunch. By this time, we were all friendly with each other, and took several group shots.
Group shot #1
Wine is very much an ice breaker, and before I knew it, I felt like we had all known each other for ages. There were also 2 girls from Australia on our tour, and they were really sweet too, though not as wild as the Scots! We headed into the beautiful dining room which had an amazing view looking out to the valley and vineyards. The food was just as amazing as the view. To start, they poured us all a full glass of wine. Uh oh, this was going to definitely push me over to the edge.. of drunkness. The meal started with some warm bread and anti-pasta. Main course were 3 different pizzas which we all shared. The first pizza was a 3 cheese, the second was a tomato, basil and prawn (I took the prawn off, yuck), and the last pizza, my favourite, was sausage. We ended the meal with coffee, but I didn't have any, and instead asked for more wine. My offer was declined, since our table had used up their 4 bottles of complimentary wine. I was sad, but it was for the best.
Everyone at Lunch
By this time, everyone was sufficiently full and drunk and we hopped back in the van after David hurried us along. Poor David, having to deal with a bunch of drunk people. The ride from Train Trak winery to Yering Station was absolutely hilarious. We were all singing to the radio and dancing in our seats and being crazy. I literally felt like I had known the Scots for ages. It was an absolute ball... you'd have to be there to understand.
Stephen Dancing, while the van is in motion..
The bottle is bigger than I am!
After David coaxed us into the van, we headed to the 4th and last winery. On the way there, the Scots opened a bottle of wine and passed it around the van... and we all took turns chugging. It was absolutely hilarious.. and so very illegal. But we were all having a good time. The last winery was Chandon. They seemed to specialize in sparkling wines. After a tour around the grounds, and being told off by a tour guide (Stephen's fault cause he tried to do a handstand against the wall but promptly fell over), we finally got to the tasting room. Stephen and I went up to the tasting bar and had a few tries to decide which we wanted to our complimentary glass of wine to be. We decided on the Sparkling Cuerve Riche, a sweet, delicious wine. I ended up buying a bottle to give to my parents when they arrive tomorrow, for 31 dollars. While the group of us sat and drank our Sparkling wine out of plastic cups (thank goodness), that is when we all realized just how intoxicated we were. First, Stephen spilled his wine on Katie and in her hair. We decided we needed to go outside, since we were basically making fools of ourselves and went running around the grassy area. Not sure whose idea it was, but Stephen began picking us up one-handily, and he took turns on each of us. I was mesmerized.
I am obviously highly amused by Stephen's ability to pick Laura and I up!
One of the funniest moments of the whole day
We arrived back in Melbourne at who knows what time. We said bye to our new friends, in hopes to see them again, and stumbled up Swanston Street. Katie, Casto, Laura and I stopped at McDonalds to get 50 cent cones... and it was a complete blur.
We allegedly got 50 cent cones?
This photographs sums up the Bus ride
And that was my day. Hopped into bed early, around 11, and went straight to sleep.
What a wild day in the Yarra Valley. It was so much fun, especially since we met Stephen and his family. A day to never forget.... or remember.
And if you would really like to get a better idea of how amazing this day was:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LxjjhOFNqk
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