So as you already know, I'm staying in the Yarra Valley which is an area with may wineries, so what could be a better thing to do than take a wine tasting tour??
I couldn't think of anything either, so while my friends were at work/school on Tuesday that's what I did. The tour took us to four different wineries in the area and it also included lunch at one of the wineries.
Wednesday saw me at a place called Mont De Lancey which is an historic homestead. For you history buffs ... the Land Act of 1865 (obviously here in Australia) released virgin bushland beyond the city of Melbourne for settlement and it was at that time that the rich, red, farmland of the Yarra Valley saw its first settlers.
A condition of the lease of the land for the new settlers was that they had to clear and cultivate one-tenth of the allotment within one year, and this condition was strictly enforced. Raspberries were often planted in the early years as they produced a quick return, and then fruit trees, which take several years to produce a crop, were planted later.
If a settler had fulfilled the conditions of the lease they could then apply to purchase the land at a cost of one pound per acre. Rent paid previously was deducted from the purchase price. And so in the 1870's and 1880's the first homesteads were built in the Yarra Valley.
Mont De Lancey was built in 1880, built from bricks made by clay on the property and the original house stands today, as solid as ever. And the view over the valley is magnificent!
Just out behind the house is the detached homestead kitchen. Rough slab walls and a brick paved floor would have been warmed by the fire burning in the open fire place.
Also on the Mont De Lancey property is St. Mary's Chapel - the original Anglican church of the area. It is a small, wooden church, built in 1926 by the efforts of a small group of nuns from the Melbourne area who firstly established a retreat in the area and were then instrumental in the building of the church. The church was moved from its original site to Mont De Lancey in 1993 when a larger church was being built on the original site.
And these are not really related to Mont De Lancey at all, except they were in the gardens on the property and I thought they were beautiful. They are torch lily flowers.
On Thursday Fiona only worked until noon, so that afternoon she took me on a drive up Mt Dandenong. Mt Dandenong is located in the Yarra Valley. It is 633 tall and is dotted with small villages along what is basically the one road that leads up the mountain and down the other side. As you can probably imagine, these little villages are host to a plethora of cafes, restaurants, pubs, spas, wine and find food stores, and many, many stores selling arts and crafts and fashions. I was very good this afternoon and only did a small amount of shopping!!
Friday was the day to do the food shopping for the weekend and then we were off --- back up to the Murray River, this time to a place called Torrumbarry, which is about 250 kms west of Wodonga, and it took about 3 hours for us to drive there from the Yarra Valley. Houseboating on the Murray is a very popular thing to do, and how lucky am I that my friends have their own houseboat!!
We arrived at the boat on Friday night, and rather than rushing around when we got there we decided to spend that first night on the boat at the marina. Even though we were technically at a marina, it was still a very quiet and peaceful place. You can see a little bit of pink still left in the sky from sunset as I looked out over the Murray River.
And sunrise the next morning was spectacular!!
As soon as everyone was up we got ourselves out of the marina and out onto the Murray River. And this is how I spent my weekend - looking at scenery like this, doing absolutely NOTHING!!!
Not that I really need a lot of rest and relaxation in my life these days - in fact I've probably had nothing but for several months now - it was still a marvellous way to spend the weekend. We just picked a spot along the river to stay overnight on Saturday and then on Sunday we did a bit more cruising again before heading back to the marina for the inevitable end to a wonderful weekend.
I even took a turn at "captaining" (is that a word?) - and as you can see, it was not hard to watch the scenery slip by.
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