Yarra Valley, Victoria

Two weekends ago I took the train out to the southern edge of the Yarra Valley to meet KM and her partner (also KM, let's call him KM2) for Shedfest, an annual wine festival. The public transport system in Melbourne is great, especially on weekends. I can ride all day on weekends for $3.00, including the train that I took an hour out to wine country. Toronto needs to wake up!! 

Shedfest was a lot of fun. It's called Shedfest because of something to do with the sheds that all wineries have to keep their tools in (KM2 explained it twice to me, but it just doesn't seem to stick), and is a festival put on by about a dozen wineries located very close together. Each winery had a selection of food, tons of wines to taste for free or buy by the glass, and most had live entertainment or lawn games you could play. We sampled wines at Paynes Rise, Seville Hill, Seville Estate, Whispering Hills, and one other I can't remember! The day and scenery were beautiful and luckily for me we were in prime pinot noir region. 

We didn't plan the afternoon as well as we could have. We had hoped to take a hop-on-hop-off shuttle around to the various wineries...but turns out you had to pre-book that and it was full. So, we looked at the map and decided we could walk to four or five wineries. Bad idea. Up and down hills, not as close as they seemed.....we really earned our wine! One lady took pity on us and we piled into her truck with her dog and she drove us up to the top. 

On our way to winery #5 KM looked at her blackberry map and decided we could cut across the back of winery #4 and cut our distance in half. Three or four glasses of wine in, my spirit for adventure was high so I said sure! Let me tell you about this fiasco. 

First, we walked down this hill (some kind of orchard). It didn't seem so steep when we were descending, but I guess it was. 

Then we spotted the road up ahead we were supposed to connect to. I said "Oh no problem, we're almost there." KM said "Yeah we just have to cross this river that has suddenly appeared on my blackberry." Here's a picture of her crossing. 

Although KM2 tried his best to help, I don't think I would have made it through unscathed sober, let alone in that state. I definitely tested the depth of the water (just over my right ankle). No big deal, I'm a trooper, right? 

But THEN, we had to cross a bog. I don't know how KM and KM2 stayed clean, but I was sinking in and kicking up mud at every step!!  Here they are, clean and continuing to navigate. Note we were all carrying our tasting glasses around in our hands the entire time.

As if this wasn't enough, we got to the edge of the field, right by the road, and found a barbed wire fence. Was nothing going to be easy? KM suggested jumping over it....KM2 looked at me and said he didn't think that would happen. But we're problem solvers by profession.....so we found a spot where the ground was a bit sunken and slithered under. Here I am after crossing a river, a bog, and crawling under a barbed wire fence: 

We still had to hike about a kilometer uphill....a party bus of people all dressed up passed us....and proceeded to stare at me like I had just crossed a river, a bog, and crawled under a barbed wire fence when we all got to the winery together. But the wine tasted fantastic!! Luckily KM had an extra pair of dry socks to lend me so I didn't freeze on the train home, and the Hyatt was able to clean my jeans and shoes overnight. 

And that's my Yarra Valley story! A beautiful place so close to the city with fantastic wine!!!!