The Great Grape Crush

As many of you know, I decided to delay my return to the United States a few days because I was having so much fun in Australia. Also, I got invited to experience a real life grape crushing at the home of Heather and Mark Stewart in Milton, New South Wales. Heather and Mark have been making their own wine for several vintages, and each year they host a crushing party. Along with Sheri, Joylene, Chris and Gini - I got to join in the fun and reunite with my friends from the Vietnam bike trip.


Before it all got started, Joylene came to Bondi and braved a couple of days at my surfer pad. Here we are on the Coastal Walk:



We arrived on Friday evening and had a great dinner at the local pub. Saturday, some people swam and others of us walked on the beautiful beack at Mollymock. Sheri realy liked the way the seaweed felt on her feet:

We could not dawdle, because there was the business of grap crushing to attend to. Only women are allowed to crush the grapes, in the spirit of Lucy and Ethel. If a male accidentally forgets this, he has to worship at the shrine Mark designed as penance. First of all, we had to get dressed appropriately:

We were a little worried, but not deterred, when we saw how many grapes there were. Mark has them brought up by horse trailer from the Barossa Valley, where I had just visited a few weeks before:

Grapes defintely exfoliate your feet, but I am not sure if it is on a good or bad way. One tip is do not wear light pink nail polish unless you want it to have a purple tint.
That night, there was a big party. Heather made these cocktails only for the ladies, sort of a secret ritual for the grape crushers. She is a fantastic hostess and fed everyone until we were ready to pop!

Many thanks to our hosts and to everyone who came out to New South Wales for my last weekend in Australia!