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!

Bondi Bohemian

Several folks have been asking how things are going now that I am traveling solo. Here is the update.
After being looked after 24 x 7 by Backroads, some adjustment had to happen. There was also the matter of budget air travel very early in the morning which landed me here in Sydney even earlier (2 hour time difference). So it is no wonder I was feeling dazed and confused upon arrival.
Let's just say the flat I rented in Bondi Beach is not going to earn a Travel & Leisure award soon. About 300 square feet, it is fine for one and maybe two people. Problem is, the rest of the apartments in the building seem to have 3-4 people living in them, all under the age of 25. The place is just plain LOUD. And it's not a design icon, either.

I should have mentioned the part about the hot plate and coin laundry, but another time. On the plus side, even though the elevator is about 100 years old and on the verge of breakdown, there is a good view while you wait for it:


Nonetheless, I have embraced my surroundings and the neighborhood, and am coping quite well despite no hair dryer (request for which was turned down by the landlords) and no coffee maker. Actually, there is a a coffee maker, it is just located in Barry's downstairs. I have adopted Barry's as my personal cafe... they make a mean flat white. Yummy!

Right. So, the objective has been, spend as little time in the house as possible! No problem, we are in Sydney and there is plenty to do and see. I have mastered the needed buses, adding to my repetoire with Cap Metro in Austin.

Saturday, I traveled by train to the Blue Mountains and got in a 4 hour hike - very strenuous. Reason being 1) to get to the trails you hike up and down 1000 steps each way and b) the trails are not very well marked, which results in extra mileage and about 35 seconds where you wonder if you might have to be rescued. Eeeek. Great workout though.

Sunday, I went to church at the Anglican Church in my neighborhood, St. Matthews. There were only about 12 people there, since it was only 8:30 in the morning. Everyone was very nice and they invited me for coffee and muffins afterwards, which of course I accepted. I extended everyone an open invite to St.David's if they are ever in Austin.

Sunday afternoon, I attended the New South Wales Wine Festival in Hyde Park. Great time, thanks to Chris Seton for the recco!

Monday saw more sighsteeing around Sydney including the neighborhoods of Paddington, Surry Hills, Kings Cross, Chinatown and Darlinghurst. All good times. My favorite activity has been visiting bottle shops looking for Samuel's Gorge wine from McLaren Vale. I have not found it so far, but am determined to score a bottle before I leave.

Chris and Ginni Seton hosted me for an awesome dinner at their beautiful home in Tamarama last night. It was great to meet Ginni, and to be reunited with yet another of the Vietnam by Bike gang. Everyone is excited for the weekend at Mark and Heather's in Milton, where we will be crushing grapes! Yeee hah!


The weather here could not be more perfect! Today, Tuesday, was Beach Day. From my place in Bondi, I walked to Clovelly Beach (about an hour hike) and ran back through Bronte and to North Bondi. That was about a 45 minute run, so I'm calling it equal to a Sunday run with the normal gang. This afternoon I have bummed around Bondi, had a massage, looked at the ocean, blah blah...

Since this is for sure my last post until I am on American soil, I have two things to say:
1. To all the friends I met along the way, new and less new - thank you! This was an experience to be remembered.
2. To the folks at home, I love you and miss you, and will be home soon.

Signing off for now...

-GThis is where I plan to stay next time...

Australian Wine Country: Hunter Valley, McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley

When it comes to food and wine, all you readers of the blog know that I simply love them. That's one reason coming to Australia was so exciting. I am a fan of Australian wines, and to get to visit the wineries in person was a longtime dream. Today we'll hear the highlights of our travels in New South Wales and South Australia. I can only hit the highlights because I seem to have a 20MB limit at the hotel in New Zealand, more on that later...

From Sydney, we traveled for the day to Hunter Valley via bus. This was interesting and informative. Our tour guide, Fritz, is a bousterous fellow with a penchant for bommerang throwing. We bonded with him, as you can see...

We also saw some interesting lawn art, including this statue of Russell the Rhino by a local artist. A crudely lettered signpost warns visitors that Russell may charge them if children or others try and climb up on him. Yikes!

In Hunter Valley, our favorite winery was Robin Drayton. You can check them out at http://www.robyndrayton.com.au/home.asp, but they don't export to the US. Boo!

From there, Andrea and I flew to Adelaide. The city of Adelaide is a great place to kick off a wine tour. We did just that by visiting the National Wine Centre (http://www.wineaustralia.com.au/). Here's Andrea brushing up on some important aromas...

The Wine Centre is next to the Adelaide Botanical Garden. Here I am amongst the roses, how quaint...

The first stop in South Australia was McLaren Vale. We visited the D'Arenberg Winery, home of the Stump Jump, one of my faves...

And took this photo in front of the Chapel Hill Winery, which we did not visit, but felt compelled since we both went to Chapel Hill. I probably did not mention that it was about 100 degrees there!

Our faves in McLaren Vale were the Red Dot Cafe at Penny's Hill for food (http://www.pennyshill.com.au/ourstory/) and Samuel's Gorge Winery (http://www.gorge.com.au/). Penny's Hill does some exporting to the US, including Carolyn's favorite, Woop Woop Shiraz! But Samuel's Gorge does not. Samuel is a zany fellow. Here he is chatting it up with Andrea:

On the way to Barossa Valley, we stopped at Mount Lofty for the abortive koala mission. Barossa was much more productive than the silly wildlife park. For food, we loved the Vintners' Bar and Grill in Angaston (http://www.vintners.com.au/), and Maggie Beer's Farm store (http://www.maggiebeer.com.au/home/). Torbreck Vineyards was among our favorite wines (http://www.torbreck.com/) - and you can get them in the USA! The accommodations in Angaston at Walnut Cottage were fantastic. Look them up if you are going that way, http://www.walnut-cottage.com/.

Finally, it was off to Melbourne to see the big city, catch up with some great friends, and try more wines with all that great food. Here we are on our last night in Melbourne, enjoying a New Zealand pinot noir.

I am in New Zealand now, and Andrea is on the way home. I know you all want to hear about the bike trip, but I only have 20MB so you have to wait for that. Here's a preview of some of the scenery to whet your appetite. Check back soon!