Wandering Fel

The tour does not pick guests at hotels, so Lee and I had to make our way to the pick up location, Her Majesty's Theatre at 219 Exhibition Street before 9AM. You are not allowed to consume food and drinks on the mini bus except for water. Similar to Bunyip's Great Ocean Roud tour, the number of tour participants for Yarra Valley wine tasting tour is kept minimal at maximum of 15 people. There were 12 people back then during our tour. Most of them are actually local tourists visiting from Brisbane. In fact, Lee and I were the only Asian in the tour. 

It seems that the tour operator rotates the winery that they visit on day-to-day basis (probably depend on the crowd level, etc) but the list of the wineries that they can select from is as follows: Rochford or Oakridge, Yering Station, Yering Farm, Coombe Melba Estate, St Hubert's, Helen's Hill Winery, and Medhurst Winery. That day, the tour brought us to Yering Station Winery and the winery staff ushered us to introduce their wine products and he let us to sample a few of their products. This was the first time I went for a wine tasting and well, I had to say that I was a total noob. So let me give you some noob tips if you had never attended one like me. If you notice, there will be a bucket somewhere which actually has the role as a dumping bucket. Do you know how Gordon Ramsay in Masterchef test the participant's dishes? He did not eat the whole dish and only takes a small bite of the dishes, right? Apply the same logic to the wine tasting because technically, if you want to try out so many different kind of wines, you should not drink too much from one product to another. That will get you high pretty fast. So just take a sip of the wine and pour the rest to the bucket.   

 

I am not really a fan of wines to be honest with you and if I have to choose, I always stick to the white wines instead of red wines because red wines give me a huge headache when it spills on my clothes. My noob-ness obviously will not make me a good wine-reviewer so let's see what Sarah Ahmed, the Wine Detective (omg, does this career really exist?), had said about Yering's wines. The 2015 Estate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir were among the highlights for Sarah after she sat down and tasted through some of Yering Station Wines. She said that the Chardonnay has an enticing flinty nuances to its ripe white peach and candied lemon peel palate and overall, a well-balanced, enjoyable Chardonnay. Oh wow, I know how a good Chardonnay taste but I don't think I would be able to explain it in such a way. Meanwhile, she said that the Pinot Noir has the earthy beetroot, chinato dried herbs and bitter chocolate notes jostle with the fruit flavor and overall, has nice tension, length and line. Uhh, okay, let's just trust her words if we are noob, shall we?

After the wine testing at Yering Station Winery, the tour brought us to the next winery which is also our lunch venue, the Rochford Winery. The lunch menu varies from season to season and you can select 1 of the following 4 dishes: 

Rochford Winery Lunch Menu for Spring 2017

- Pan Seared Fillet of Barramundi with white beans, chorizo, tomato & calamari

- Winter Squash Lasagne with buttermilk ricotta & spinach pesto

- Slow Cooked Oyster Blade of Beef with pearled barley, parsnip & rosemary

- Coq Au Vin with red braised chicken maryland, winter vegetables, field mushrooms & pancetta

Lunch is served with a glass of Rochford wine & filtered tea/ coffee

The highlight of the tour is definitely the visit to Domaine Chandon which is a part of the French Champagne House, Moet et Chandon. The staff will introduce and explain different kind of wines made by Chandon. The best thing about the visit is that every participant will be given a glass of sparkling wine at Domaine Chandon. You are allowed to taste the wine first before making selection. 

Once you get your drink, you should make your way to the outside patio because after all, sipping a glass of wine while enjoying the breathtaking view of Yarra Valley is a good pleasure in life. 

Cheers to the bubbles in my hand. After the visit to Domaine Chandon, we visited the old Farmhouse Cheese Shop at the Yarra Valley Daily for a cheese tasting. I have only been eating Kraft cheese for maybe most years of my life so I could not really appreciate the fermented and hand made cheeses made by the dairy. You can view and purchase a large range of cheeses, pates, and terrines from the shop and keep them in the on-board fridge on the tour bus. 

Our last stop at Yarra Valley ironically does not involve any alcoholic liquid. But I suppose at this stage, I could not even tell the difference from one wine brand to another. Moet et Chandon is still my ultimate love throughout the trip. But this does not mean that the last stop of the tour was not fun at all. After all, who would not get excited in chocolate shop? Yarra Valley Chocolaterie & Ice Creamery is the home to a vast range of chocolates. The chocolaterie staff will introduce up to 10 different chocolates from dark to milk to white and the best thing is, you can taste these 10 different chocolates. Yumz. You can also wander around the shop floor and observe how these chocolates are being made in the production area. 

Yarra Valley Wine Tasting Tour details:

- Price: AUD 135 - 145 (discounts may be available for early birds)

- Picks up from Melbourne

- Visit a selection of 4 of the Yarra Valley's best wineries

- Enjoy a flute of champagne at Domain Chandon

- Lunch at Rochford Winery

- Sample handmade cheeses at the Yarra Valley Dairy

- Sample up to 10 products of the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie

Tour duration: 

9AM - 6PM (left Yarra Valley around 4PM)

Bunyip's one day Great Ocean Road tour started with a 1.5 hours drive from Melbourne city. Since the sun has not even risen yet at that hour, most of the tour participants just continued their sleep in the small bus. Bunyip's tour is designed in such a way that one group should only consist of small number of people (around 10ish). I find this kind of arrangement is way better and easier to manage for the driver/ tour guide. Our first activity for the day started around 9AM when the driver pulled over for a short beach stop to allow us having some tea/coffee and biscuits for breakfast. Oh right, please don't have a lot of expectation on food provided along the tour because after all, you are no longer in the city. This is actually a good start for us to wake up properly while introducing ourselves and have a small chat with the rest of the group and the tour guide himself. 

Our next stop is the high lookout at Cape Patton. The lookout is located between two coastals town, Lorne and Apollo Bay. The road to Cape Patton was build back in the year 1935 but the link from the lookout to the Great Ocean Road was only built in 1919. You can read more on Cape Patton and its connection to the Great Ocean Road on the signboard available nearby. 

The lookout offers a very spectacular ocean outlooks and the sight of long sweep of ocean beaches culminating in Apollo Bay. This is the last highpoint on the journey to Apollo Bay. After this, the Great Ocean Road runs along a series of coves and beaches with big surf. 

We made a 20 minutes stop in the coastal town of Apollo Bay because the tour guide needs to pick up two passengers from this town. The coastal town is located between Wye River and Cape Otway and it is a popular stop-over point for adventurer embarking on a Great Ocean Road trip. Apollo Bay offers a good selection of restaurants (mostly seafood) and lodging as well. You can immediately feel the vibe of relaxing at the seaside emanating from this coastal town. 

Apollo Bay is also calling itself as a town full of interesting characters. Hmm, looking at this yellow car...I suppose there may be some truth to this statement. 

Other than great seafood and quirky characters, Apollo Bay also offers a lot of surfing spots and beach walks. Kayak hiring is available too if you are interested. Surf beaches closest to Apollo Bay include:

1. Apollo Bay: an eastern facing beach offering a progressive beach waves which is known to be a great learners wave. Surf schools are available in the area and lifesavers are spotted on patrol during summer months (do people surf in winter?)

2. Kennett River: a sheltered point break with a reef/ rock bottom. Since it seems to be rocky and there is a risk the waves will crash you upon the rock if you are not careful, this does not seem to be recommended surf's point for beginner surfers. 

3. Wye River: sandy beach break offering right and left waves. Similar to Apollo Bay, lifesavers are on patrol during summer months.

Our next stop is the oldest surviving lighthouse in Australia, Cape Otway Lightstation. The coastal area alongside Great Ocean Road is actually not an easy path to travel for the ships back then. Historic records have shown that there were so many shipwrecks along the coast and this had led to an expedition of Charles Latrobe through the Otways to reach Cape Otway to scout out a lighthouse location. It was not an easy feat for the guy to conquer and in fact, he only managed to succeed on his third attempt in 1846 with the help of the local Gadubanud people. The lighthouse has been so handy in years to come, helping so many shiploads of European settlers to reach Australia. You can enter the lighthouse and climb up all the way to the top between 9AM to 4.30PM daily but please note that an entrance fee of AUD 19.50 applies for each person. I personally feel that the entrance fee is kinda too expensive for the experience so I did not enter the lighthouse. 

There is a restaurant located near to the lighthouse where Bunyip has partnered to provide us meal for the day. The meal provided is referred to as Australian lunch which consist of salad, some meat and potato. Basic stuff so don't expect so much on them. Once our stomach is filled, we continued our drive along the Great Ocean Road to the even more interesting scenic adventures. But just when we were about to dose in the car (there's something about getting sleepy in the car after eating, I dunno why), our tour guide woke us up and asked us to look up. We were passing through an area full of trees but most of the trees are actually leaf-less even though it was summer. Kinda wondering what has happened to the trees, turns out the leaves are eaten by these wild furry local animals only exist in Australia, the koalas. They look so meek and soft and yet, so ravenous. We managed to spot a few of them on the top of the trees. Munching while hugging the tree branch. Hmm. What a good laid-back life they are living, I guess. 

Gibson Steps is also referred to as the gateway to the famous 12 Apostles rock formation. The 12 Apostles is a magnificent rock formation which was created by constant erosion of the limestone cliffs of the mainland since 10 - 20 million years ago. The stormy Southern Ocean and powerful winds gradually eroded the softer limestone, forming caves in the cliffs. The caves eventually became arches and when they collapsed, rock stacks up to 45-metres high were left isolated from the shore (and hence, it looks like the rock majestically arising from the sea). If you are counting and you cannot find 12 rock formation, you may start to wonder if you have passed your math exam successfully back then in school day. But not to worry because it turned out that when the 12 Apostles were christened by Victorian tourism in the 1920s, there were actually only nine rocks in the cluster (huh then what's with the name?). Now, there are only eight rocks standing because of the rapid rate of erosion. It may even be lesser and lesser in the future with the way nature is behaving nowadays, so do give them a visit quick before they are all gone. 

Just a short 10 minutes drive from the 12 Apostles lies another scenic spot along Great Ocean Road, the Loch Ard Gorge. The gorge is home to a beautiful bay and an inlet of clear, blue water. It is flanked by two cliff faces and tufts of vibrant grenery. The bushy greenery though is home for the snakes, we even saw a sign warning visitors on the random spot of snakes along the path. Yikes. 

The gorge is actually named after a large ship from England, "Loch Ard" which have suffered a crash upon the beach. From the 54 passengers, only two survived the shipwreck, a 15-year-old boy called Tom Pearce and 17-year-old girl Eva Carmichael. The story did not develop into love story though because Eva returned to England soon afer, having lost most of her family in the tragedy. Pearce, however, continued to live a fruitful life in Australia. 

One of the many viewpoints available at the Loch Ard Gorge will give you a beautiful view of the cliff and the crashing waves. You can also enjoy looking at the Grotto, a sinkhole geological formation which kinda looks like a cave above the sea. 

 Bunyip's One Day Great Ocean Road Classic Roud details:

- Fees: AUD 130 

- Departs: Daily 

- Includes: All park entrance fees, Aussie lunch (sausages and salad), tea/coffee/biscuits, tour guide

- Options (must be pre-booked):

(1) A 15 mins helicopter flight above 12 Apostles - additional AUD 145

(2) Hop on/ Hop off (overnight or extended coastal stay) at Torquay, Lorne, Apollo Bay or Port Campbell. Only a small day pack is allowed, maximum 5 kg - additional AUD 30

- Tour duration: 

Bunyip tour departs between 7.15AM - 7.30AM from Bunyip Tour Office and returns approximately 8.30PM

The highlight of the State Library of Victoria is definitely the La Trobe Reading Room with its majestic dome ceiling (my phone camera could not get the whole dome reading room in the screen). The domed, sky-lit structure was designed to imitate London's British Museum Library and Washington's Library of Congress. 

The reading room houses more than 150,000 items relating to Victoria's cultural and social history in the form of manuscripts,  periodicals, pictures, music, heritage materials and of course, books. If I am a student who is studying in Melbourne, I would probably choose to study here all the time. But then again, it may not be that easy to commute here all the time if my school is not situated nearby. Just daydreaming then. 

Other than books, visitors to the State Library of Victoria can also enjoy a lot of exhibitions, some are permanent. The library's Cowen Gallery houses one of Australia's most significant collections of Victorian artworks. You can see the history of Melbourne from one oil paintings to another depicting Victoria's rich history in scenes of European settlement, early Melbourne streetscapes and portraits of some of Australia's most influential figures. 

Cowen Gallery consists of two adjacent rooms, the Blue Rotunda and The Red Rotunda. You can see the Blue Rotunda room above which displays 20th century works such as portraits of authors, artists and others who have contributed to Victoria's rich culture. While on the other hand, the Red Rotunda (which is pictured below) contains 19th century paintings and sculptures of some Victoria's early settlers and other individuals who also made significant contributions to Melbourne's culture. 

Other than reading room, we note that there is a chess room somewhere on the upper levels of the library. I was never a good chess player although I, at least, know the basic rules of chess. I wonder if the modern Australian like to play chess. The room was deserted when I visited the library. 

Once we had finished our own tour of the State Library of Victoria, we walked to the side of the library building to find Mr Tulk, a cafe which is named after State Library's first librarian, Augustus Henry Tulk. The cafe was used to be the State Library's locker room which is later on renovated and designed in a reading book theme with communal table available in the middle of the cafe. This is really a good place to enjoy yourself with a book/ paper and a cup of coffee. 

I had been having one of too many coffees that day, so I decided to go for its less stronger caffeine fix, Chai Latte with Soy and Honey (AUD 5). It tastes so comforting with the addition of soy and honey. The usual chai latte which I have in Singapore is usually too sweet, up the point that it makes me rage instead of comforted. Haizz. Food are available too but Lee and I were thinking of visiting another cafe to have our meal so we only ordered Sourdough Fruit Loaf toasted & served with butter (AUD 7.5). I was kinda having an overdose of sourdough actually so I did not really enjoy the food. I wonder if sourdough is a national staple of food in Australia. 

The next cafe that we visited after Mr Tulk is actually the cafe which was recommended by our random Melbourne encounter at Seven Seeds with a Singapore lady. She suggested us to visit Manchester Press for its bagel and coffee. Manchester Press offers two type of bagels, Open Bagels such as Smoked Salmon Lox (AUD 15) and Grilled Chorizo (AUD 14.50) and Closed Bagels such as Reuben (AUD 14) and MP Club Sandwich (AUD 15), which you can see from the picture below. Both Open and Closed Bagels come with a serving of  salted pretzels and pickles. Lee seems to be enjoying her MP Club Sandwich but I was not really a fan of my Smoked Salmon Lox. Maybe I was not really a fan of bagel overall because bagel tend to be slightly on the tougher side to chew. 

 State Library of Victoria and Mr Tulk Cafe are located at:

328 Swanston St, 

Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia

State Library of Victoria's opening hours:

Monday to Thursday 10AM - 9PM

Friday to Sunday 10AM - 6PM

Mr Tulk Cafe's opening hours:

Monday to Thursday 7AM - 5PM

Friday 7AM - 8PM

Saturday 9AM - 4PM

Sunday Closed

Manchester Press is located at:

8 Rankins Ln, 

Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia

Manchester Press' opening hours:

Monday to Friday 7AM - 5PM

Saturday to Sunday 9AM - 5PM