Yarra Valley, Redux

Last Saturday I made another trip out to the Yarra Valley. The usual suspects KM and KM2 met me out there, but I actually went with two new friends - a girl from HBS who I didn't actually know while I was at school (she is part of our Manilla office...also didn't know we had a Manilla office!), and another guy from work who is actually Canadian but lives in Shanghai. Quite the exciting group!

Our first stop was the Yarra Valley Dairy where we were in search of a fantastic goats milk Persian feta cheese. We found that and then some!! Quite the feast of cheese (as well as a combination of coffee and wine for me!!) It was a really cute place surrounded by beautiful scenery...but if you're looking for anything other than cheese, bread, coffee, and wine you're going to come up a little empty handed.

Next we headed down the road to Yering Farm winery - a small and beautiful winery that had a really great selection available for tasting and a unique vibe.

Finally we drove to the Healesville Sanctuary where it was rumored we could pet kangaroos! Unfortunately all of the "Magical Moments" tickets were sold out, but we were still able to get really close to a bunch of kangaroos. I also saw my first dingo (really just a cute puppy, can't imagine it stealing anyone's baby), and they had a nice platypus selection. The Tasmanian devils and wallabies were not to be found but the kangaroo selection was better than the Sydney and Melbourne zoos combined!! There were also these massive bats in the aviary which I found really nasty!

 

The day was rounded out with a fantastic dinner at top-rater Culter & Co and watching Love Never Dies (Phantom part II) - a good show in a very spacious and elaborate theatre.

I think there are a dozen reasons to love Melbourne just in this one blog!!