Okay! Day 6..

The day we were waiting for had arrived.. twas the Yarra Valley day!

For the uninitiated, the Yarra Valley is one of the many wine producing areas of the Australian (sub?) Continent.. And the best thing is that it's just under an hour's drive out of Melbourne... Unfortunately, despite a relatively promising morning, it was quite dismal weather.. Quite cold and overcast most of the time.. wasted.=)

The brave party which ventured out into the untamed wilderness... ok exagerrating.. there were 4 of us which formed the so called brave party into the untamed wilderness; There was the designated driver, Cheh Nessa, Her friend Maya (again not sure if im spelling this right) or issit Maja? Hmm.. Anyways, the other 2 were me and Cali as usual la.

Yep seen above, from left to right, Cali, Cheh Nessa & Maya

So after the trip into the Valley proper, our first stop was the Yaring Station Winery. The photo above was taken there. The format of the wineries there is pretty uniform- theres the retail store, where you can try the various wines and produce. Then, there will normally be a restaurant where you can have their great wines with greater food. The reason why im telling you this is because Yaring Station has an excellent restaurant. Ok, i'm not sure of that, but the restuarant has floor to ceiling windows on one side, and the view of the fields outside is quite breathtaking.. even on a gloomy drizzly day..

Our next destination was a cheese factory! I'm not much of a cheese eater, but the cheh's managed to get some cheese for slow enjoyment back at home.=) We all bought drinks and sat down for a while.. Or rather, they sat down.. I was walking around shooting.=) 3 pics below..






The next stop was the Bortelli Winery. Apparently, the original owners of the winery camp from Italy, hence the Italian name. We had lunch at the restaurant and it was very good. Plus, I had my first taste of Pinot Noir.. It's a red wine, which is quite popular over there, but i realise we dont see it so much in Singapore... Was quite nice though, not as siap as Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz but not as mild as Merlot.. But then again, maybe its just the glass i had. I confess not to be a wine connoisseur.=)

I also got Dad & Mum wine from the Bortelli Winery store..=) And a T-shirt for dad.. Also, I managed to break a wine glass.. I dunno how i did it, but i wasnt really even high on the wine.=) haha i suppose the sales people just looked at me like i was some lousy chinese kid who couldnt hold his wine.. heh.. Oops...

The last stop on our Yarra Trip was at a little town centre called Yarra Glen. There was this tea shop there which had all sorts of tea.. quite amazing.. the smells.. But they also had coffee beans.. Haha.. was a real assault on the senses cos we smelled every bean i think..

Cali and I FINALLY got ice cream at Yarra Glen.. Fudge ice cream.. which brings me to another quite out of point idea.. U know how they have Fudge Flavoured Ice cream? And they have Ice Cream Flavoured stuff, possibly fudge? In that case, if they had Fudge Flavoured, Ice Cream Flavoured Fudge, what would it taste like? Understand? I didnt think so.. never mind.. Like i said .. Out of point..

Yep.. but we finaly got ice cream and it was Fudge flavoured Ice cream, thanks very much. Eating Ice cream in the cold... its something Cheh Nessa swears by and i think grew on me.=)

So having had a great day in the Yarra Valley and finally had some ice cream, we all made out way back to the city..=)

Of course, the day was not over yet! We met Wenjie and John for dinner.. Something i neglected to mention before is that I had actually met them another evening after dinner one of those days.. Yep went to Jon's room in Trinity College.. quite interesting.. apparently they turn off the heaters at night.. Poor Jon.. Hang in there, man... Only a semester there, then you can start to look for another place.=)

Anyhow, met Jon and Wenjie and we went to Jap restaurant for dinner.




Was nice to meet up with them.. Hadnt seen Wenjie in a while and Jon to a lesser extent...

Yep... Of course, we had to end the day with dessert.. and where did we go, but back to Cafe Greco again.=) We got better service that day than when i went with the ex Sb4 ppl... Dunno why.. perhaps they were less crowded? hmm...

Ok.. i realise im not being very articulate... So I shall end today's commentary here..=)

Tommorow, St Kilda!

Till next time, Cheers