Yarra Valley

I left my friends in Wodonga last Friday, travelled by bus back to Melbourne and then caught one of the Melbourne commuter trains and took it right to the end of the line, through Melbourne's eastern suburbs --- which took about an hour.  My final destination was the Yarra Valley, an area internationally recognized as one of Australia's leading wine producing regions.  As you can imagine, spending a week or so here is going to be a challenge for me ... NOT!!

The Yarra Valley is located in the Dandenong Mountains, and is an easy drive away from Melbourne's eastern suburbs.  There are more than 120 wineries, as well as fruit orchards, strawberry fields, olive groves, herb farms, and gorgeous farms and grazing pastures.

My friends Stuart and Fiona, and their children Jacob and Lana, live here.  Some of you might recognize these names --- the four of them came to Canada during the summer 2011, and then the kids came back and went to summer camp again this past summer.

I'm sure no one will be surprised at my answer to Fiona when, on my first day here and she asked me what I'd like to do, I replied "let's check out some wineries".  And that's exactly what we did.  This is just a little indication of what the countryside around here looks like.

And how lucky was I to find that there's a lavender farm in the Yarra Valley as well.  We had a lovely afternoon tea there and of course I left with a couple of lavender products as well.

Sunday found me at Healesville (which is about 25 kms from where my friends live) which is not only a lovely little town in the Yarra Valley but it is also home to the world-renowned Healesville Sanctuary which showcases Australia's native flora and fauna at its best!  In all of my trips here to Australia I had never actually been to the Sanctuary, and I had a thoroughly enjoyable day.  So no, these animals are not in the wild which is of course, ideally, where one wants to see them, but that's sometimes not so easy and you can be assured that these animals are in a nice space.

 (yes, that is a little baby tucked in there)

(an echidna)

 (a brolga)

(a flying fox, possibly also known as fruit bats but I'm not 100% certain about this)

And some of the beautiful birds that can be found all over Australia:

Today found me out an exploring about a 10 kms section of the Lilydale Warburton Rail Trail.  The total trail is about 40 kms long and runs between the two towns of Lilydale and Warburton and follows an old train line.  The train stopped running in 1965, and since then it has become a lovely trail that passes through rural farmland, flood plains, and forest areas.  You can enter onto the trail very near where I'm staying and then it's about a 10 kms walk into Lilydale which is the nearest 'big' centre.

I must admit though, after walking the 10 kms and then around Lilydale for a little bit, I was very glad there was a bus I could catch for the journey home.