Christmas Eve in Nelson and Golden Bay

After our mountain bike ride on the Queen Charlotte Track, we hit the road again and drove to Nelson, a funky little place about two hours from Havelock. We had lunch and did a beer (for Zack) and cider (for me) tasting at a restaurant called Sprig and Fern (thanks for the recommendation, Kate!). Then we spent a couple of hours browsing in the stores and walking around town. It had a very hippie sort of vibe; it reminded me of Boulder, Colorado.





Next, we headed to our campsite for the night in the Golden Bay area of the Abel Tasman National Park. Like last Christmas Eve, we camped right near the beach. In this picture, I'm standing right outside the back of our campervan, and you can see the water through the palm trees.










We had chili for dinner (which also happened to be what we had last Christmas Eve!) and enjoyed our Saint Clair wine with strawberries and cheese and Makana chocolate. While we were snacking, Santa came around and handed out candy to all of the campers!










We later took a walk along the beach. There were several other people doing the same thing, so it was a festive atmosphere, especially with the music provided by a bagpiper. Because nothing says Christmas like a bagpiper on the beach, right?!

Also like last Christmas Eve, we had a beautiful sunset to enjoy on the beach. I'll end with two of my favorite shots from the night. I'm not sure if this was our last Christmas Eve we'll ever spend on a beach, but I wouldn't mind doing it again if it looks like this!

Marlborough Wine Region

After our awesome swim with the dolphins on Sunday morning, we drove North toward Picton. A couple of hours later, we arrived in the Marlborough wine region for an afternoon of wine tasting. This area is world renowned for its wine, especially the Sauvignon Blanc variety. Our first winery stop was Cloudy Bay (the cellar door is pictured here), where we enjoyed sitting in the sunshine for awhile after our tasting. 

While Zack rested at Cloudy Bay, I went across the street to Allan Scott Winery and tried a few of their wines. Though I had never heard of it, I really liked the Gewurztraminer wine, so I bought a bottle!

Next, we stopped off at Makana Chocolate Factory and sampled some of their yummy candy. We bought some white chocolate cranberry bark to enjoy as a Christmas treat.

Saint Clair is a pretty famous winery in the region, and their Sauvignon Blanc was delicious. We bought a bottle after our tasting and ended up buying another one at a grocery store later in our trip (since we had already finished one). I think it's our new favorite wine!

The last winery we stopped at, on a recommendation from someone at Saint Clair, was Wairau River. We got there right before they closed, but we were still able to taste a few of their wines. Good stuff, but the Saint Clair Sav Blanc was still tops in our minds.

I've always seen wines from the Marlborough region on the shelves here in Australia, and now I can say I've been there. I've never considered myself a big "wine person," but after our visits to Yarra Valley, the Mornington Peninsula, Margaret River, and now Marlborough, I guess I'm learning!

Mornington Peninsula Weekend Part II

On Sunday morning, we all went out for brunch and enjoyed some delicious scones with cream and jam. Scones are basically what we would call biscuits. Here a biscuit would be more like a cookie. Anyway, we then we headed to Arthurs Seat, which is a lookout area with some trails and viewpoints and such. The water is a beautiful shade of turquoise down in Mornington Peninsula. It reminded me of the Caribbean (though much colder) or the view from the gondola in Cairns. 

Some of the views from the lookouts on the drive up to Arthurs Seat were actually better than the view at the top (in my opinion). But we didn't do any of the hikes, so that could have made a difference. It's hard to believe that this is only just over an hour away from Melbourne!

The whole gang at the top-Zack, Alena, Todd, me, Kristy, Nigel, Emily, and Adam.

After taking some pictures, we headed back down the "mountain" for our next stop.

Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm was our next destination. I enjoyed a huge chocolate covered strawberry (seen here) and a sampling of strawberry wine while some of our group picked their own strawberries. The little store had every possible strawberry-themed item you could imagine!

Strawberry fields forever!

Next we headed to Red Hill Winery. This is a pretty famous winery (the restaurant is supposed to be especially good), and the grounds were some of the most beautiful we've seen. With the grapevines in the foreground, and the gorgeous water out in the distance, we relaxed on the lawn in the bean bag chairs for quite awhile. Some of us did the wine tasting, and we had some snacks such as cheese from the local Red Hill Cheese shop. Though it wasn't as warm as Saturday, the sun was still out, so it was a good day.

Red Hill Winery-gorgeous setting!

We headed home after the winery, though I know there's so much more to see down in this area. I guess we'll just have to go back! However, I don't think we'll be renting from Europcar, or at least not their Hyundai i20 car. We had all sorts of problems with the key and getting this green monster started at various points throughout the weekend. What a nightmare! But thankfully, our friends helped us out, and we ended up having a wonderful time in the Mornington Peninsula.

White Wine Party

White wines unocovered post-tasting.

You may remember the red wine party we had a few months ago. If not, you can read about it here. Anyway, last weekend, we had a white wine party at Kristy and Nigel's place. Everyone brought a bottle of white wine, and we did a blind tasting to see how good our palates were. The choices were chardonnay, pinot grigio, sauvignon blanc, chenin blanc, riesling, and semillon. I only got 2/6 correct this time. Kristy and Todd both got 4/6 for the win!

Zack's special meatless pie!

Kristy and Nigel made a traditional roast dinner with all of the fixings for everyone, and it was amazing. Kristy was even nice enough to make a special fake meat pie for Zack the vegetarian. We stuffed ourselves silly and then tried our best to distinguish between the white wine flavors. The chardonnay was everyone's least favorite, but it was an organic wine, so maybe that made for a strange flavor. I had never even heard of a chenin blanc (the one I had to bring), but it ended up being my favorite!

Zack=Dog Whisperer

We also had a good time playing with Kristy and Nigel's tiny doggies. They are kind of crazy little things, but Zack got Flossie and Ralphie to cuddle up to him and even sleep for a bit! It was a fun evening, minus the fact that Zack lost his phone on the taxi ride home. Luckily, he already got a new one from his work. We may not be wine experts, but it was fun pretending we knew what we were tasting!

Red, Red Wine

Yesterday at an extended brunch with Adam and Emily, we made plans for a fun night of eating fajitas with a guacamole cook-off and a red wine tasting. So last night, Nigel and Kristy joined us in heading over to Adam and Emily's place in Elwood for the evening. Each person brought a different type of red wine, and each couple brought guacamole. Every wine bottle was wrapped in foil and numbered, so we didn't know which was which.

We enjoyed cheese and crackers and chips and three great guacamole recipes while trying each type of wine. We all had paper and wrote down our guesses as to which type of wine we were tasting. Our choices were Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chianti, Shiraz, and Sangiovese. Some were easy (Cabernet), but others were impossible (who knows what Sangiovese tastes like?!).

After trying all six and making our best guesses, we revealed each wine and saw if we were right. Out of the six types, Zack and I both guessed three correctly (not the same three), and that was the best score!

Then Adam and Emily introduced us to an entertaining game called "Celebrity." It's kind of a mix between Catch Phrase and Charades, with a twist. In one of the rounds, you act out the word you're trying to get your team to guess while under a sheet. It was hilarious! I think I'm acting out "leg" in the picture to the left.

Later, as we drank more wine and laughed about how many types we didn't know, we enjoyed a delicious dessert made using Emily's now famous chocolate chip cookie recipe. Yum!

It was an awesome night of good food and wine shared with friends, and a great way to kick off the Queen's Birthday holiday weekend.

Comedy Fest Fun

We girls enjoyed a couple of bottles of wine from a Margaret River Region winery Zack and I had visited!

On Friday night, we headed to the CBD with two other American couples (Alena/Todd and Emily/Adam). The main event of the evening was going to a show as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, but we met beforehand in the Southbank area for drinks and dinner. The before-show festivities turned out to be a lot more enjoyable, because the comedian (Mark Watson) wasn't actually that funny. Oh well; it was still a fun night out with friends!

Margaret River Wine Region

We spent a day touring some wineries in the Margaret River region of Western Australia. For this blog post, I'll take you along on our tour, complete with my pictures of each place. The picture to the right is obviously of some grapes at one of the wineries. It was nice to tour wineries when there was actually something on the vines, as I toured the Yarra Valley region in autumn when the vines were withered and bare!











Our first stop was Cullen Wines. They are known for their organic vineyard and biodynamic agricultural processes. After our wine tasting, we had some bread with delicious dips and olive oil. This was a cute little place with great wine and food; it ended up being one of our favorites of the day.

Next we headed nearby Vasse Felix. This place had several strange sculptures on its grounds. The main building was very pretty, and we enjoyed their wine as well.

I'm giving a thumbs down to the Margaret River Chocolate Company. Their "tastings" consisted of picking out a few of what were basically chocolate chips from a bowl. They had white chocolate and dark chocolate, but no milk chocolate was out on the day we were there. Also, they usually have chocolatiers you can watch making treats, but there were none of those working on this day. Highly disappointing (though my mouth is full of white chocolate chips in the picture!).

We were now in the heart of the Margaret River area, and we headed to Cape Mentelle. By this point, I guess the wine and chocolate had made Zack tired, because he took a nap in the car for a little while before we went inside. I didn't mind; I read a book on the swing and enjoyed the quiet winery.

Our next stop was the extremely impressive Voyager Estate. The grounds of this place were amazing! If you think Domaine Chandon in the Yarra Valley region is pretty, it's got nothing on this place.

This place has the second largest Australian flag in the country (the biggest is in Canberra). The grounds are flawless with perfectly manicured hedges and expansive green lawns.

Here's a picture of me ringing the bell out front. It was quite loud, so this shot shows me running away!

We enjoyed walking around the rose gardens and choosing our favorite (this was mine). There were also rose bushes at the end of each row of vines. This was definitely our other favorite winery for the day.








We tried to go to Leeuwin Estate, but they hold a yearly concert which happened to fall on the weekend we were there, so the line of cars to even get on the grounds was insane. We decided to skip it and instead headed to the Margaret River Cheese Company before it closed. After a delicious tasting, we purchased a bag containing crackers and little portions of some of their cheeses. This made for a great snack over the next few days-I love cheese!

The Margaret River wine region was beautiful, and touring it was a relaxing and delicious way to spend a day in Western Australia.

More Keys in Australia

For a couple of weeks in January, we weren't the only Keys in Australia! Zack's dad and stepmom came to visit and go to the Australian Open, and we had fun showing them around our new home. The picture to the left is the welcome table I had ready for them at our place when they arrived. You can see their personalized Cokes. I also made an Aussie themed dinner with kangaroo kebobs, lamb cutlets, chips with sour cream and chili sauce, salad, rolls, and vanilla slice for dessert. Yummy.

On one of the weekends, we headed out to the Yarra Valley region to visit some wineries. Instead of doing the major big ones, we hit up some of the smaller ones in Seville. It was nice to get personalized attention and not fight the crowds, and we enjoyed a platter of cheese and meats in the sunshine after our wine tasting at Seville Estate.

Zack's dad and Vickie posing with the Wine Dogs book-open to a page that looks like Molly!

This dog lives at the winery, and she's featured in a book of other winery dogs. I had fun playing with her and practicing taking pictures with my new lens (a Christmas present from the Keys-thanks!).

Lots more blog posts to come...check back daily!