English (p. 13): Yarra Valley & Melbourne
Door: Franziska
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Franziska & Klaas
23 Juli 2015 | Nederland, Groningen
Today Helen and David take us on an excursion to the Yarra Valley, a region about an hour’s drive east of Melbourne known for its famous vineyards. We start our visit at the visitors centre in Healesville, where we get a map as well as a few brochures about the area. Our next destination is the Maroondah Reservoir, a manmade lake providing Melbourne with drinking-water. The reservoir is situated in a lovely park with huge trees, a picnic area and several walking tracks leading into the natural woodlands enclosing the lake. Now in spring the park and the adjacent woodlands feature a stunning display of flowers and birdlife. From the parking lot we head up the hill to the reservoir, cross the dam and climb to a scenic viewpoint overlooking the lake and the surrounding area with the Dandenong Ranges in the background. Descending through the woodlands down to the picnic area and back to the car park we discover some lovely purple blooming wildflowers (probably fringe-lilies) as well as a few beautiful birds.
Next on the agenda is the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie in Yarra Glen. Whole busloads of tourists come here to watch the chocolatiers at work, to browse the huge store with over 250 handcrafted products and last but certainly not least for the free chocolate tastings. Some of the bus-passengers leave the shop with not only both their hands, but also all their pockets chock-full of free chocolates. A pretty disgusting behaviour! Although not quite as greedy, of course we have our share of the free chocolates too. We also buy a few boxes though as presents for family and friends back home. The huge selection of different chocolate delights makes it difficult to choose from. They even sell a chocolate-wombat, but unfortunately it is too fragile to take on the plane.
Of course we can’t leave the Yarra Valley without a visit to one of its famous wineries. That’s why we head for the Balgownie Estate next. This winery features a cellar door with free wine tastings, a restaurant and even a spa-hotel. Unfortunately the restaurant turns out to be a bit over budget, so we decide to have lunch somewhere else and head to the cellar door instead. After an extensive free tasting session Helen and David buy a few bottles of wine to take home with them for the holiday season. As for Klaas and myself we get a bottle of fortified Shiraz as a present for Helen and David. Then we head to the village of Yarra Glen, where we have a pie and something to drink at the local bakery. A lot cheaper and certainly less time-consuming than a lunch at Balgownie’s would have been. Unfortunately the village also features quite a few antique shops, a true paradise for our antique lover David. While the rest of us is enjoying our lunch and giving our feet some rest, David is on the hunt for bargains. After about half an hour Helen has to drag him out of the shop and back into the car, in order not to miss out on the Alowyn Gardens, which are due to close in about an hour’s time.
When Prue and John van de Linde bought this piece of land back in the 1990’s, it was a weed and blackberry infested bunch of paddocks. They started by clearing the land and slowly turned it into the well designed, beautiful garden it is today. The approximately 4 acres of land are divided in different sections, each section having its own theme: there is a formal parterre garden, a tropical garden, a birch forest, a section with exclusively Australian vegetation, a rose and even an edible garden consisting of fruit trees, herbs and vegetables. We have just enough time to complete the full circuit, before the gardens close at 5 pm.
Avoiding the big highways we return to Melbourne using the secondary roads. Although most of the traffic heads out of the city at this time of the day, we still end up in the busy rush hour traffic. The closer we get to the CBD the busier the roads become. Our destination isn’t Sally’s place in Richmond, but the Queen Victoria Market at the northern border of the CBD. The market’s normal business hours are 5 days a week between 6 am and 3 pm, but on Wednesday evenings in the summer they organize a special night market selling all kinds of street food and craft made by artisans, designers and artists. The night market is popular with tourists as well as Melbournians and we have to circle the market several times, before we finally manage to find a parking spot. We would have been better off to return to Richmond first and use public transport to get to the market. After a first scouting round along the food stands, we get ourselves something to eat. The pork belly and chicken of Helen and David, Klaas’ buffalo wings with chips and my rooburger all taste delicious. After we purchased ourselves an ice cream for dessert, we start exploring the rest of the market. The craft stands are excellent places to buy handcrafted, one of a kind souvenirs, such as cuddly toys, jewellery and clocks made from recycled teapots and colanders. Unfortunately most of the items sold are either too big or too expensive for us, so we end up buying nothing at all. At least that is what we think, because when we look the other way for a second, Helen and David quickly purchase a cute little wombat-magnet. They present it to me as a gift, once we are back at Sally’s place. The rest of the evening is spent trying to perform an online check-in and print our boarding passes for tomorrow’s flight to Dubai. Although the procedure goes far from smoothly, we finally manage and are now all settled for departure tomorrow evening.
Thursday 27th and Friday 28th of November 2014: Melbourne – Dubai – Amsterdam – Groningen
Our last day in Australia has arrived far too quickly. After breakfast we start packing our bags and discover, there is not much room left for the lastminute-presents we intend to buy later this afternoon. Once we are all settled, Helen and David take us for a leisurely stroll across Richmond, before we head for the Café Friends of Mine on Swan Street, where Sally is joining us for a farewell lunch. Despite the occasion the atmosphere is good and the food excellent. Klaas definitely enjoys his lamb panini with salad and my Asian beef and noodle salad is to die for. Really yummy! One last time we enjoy the company of our host Sally, before she has to leave us for another meeting. Although we haven’t seen her as much as we would have liked, she was an absolutely perfect landlady and we are very grateful for her more than generous hospitality.
After lunch Klaas and I take the tram into the CBD, in order to do some last minute souvenir shopping. Although Swanston Street offers tons of souvenir shops, we are unable to find anything suitable, as most of the stuff sold here is tacky and tasteless. We decide to continue the search at a little shop selling Aboriginal craft, which we came across yesterday at the Queen Victoria Market. Unfortunately at our arrival around 3.30 pm the shop is just about to close. So no luck here either! We should have come earlier, because the shops around here have more or less the same business hours as the market itself. Finally we manage to find a huge souvenir shop a short walk further north in Little Vietnam. Although they sell the usual tacky souvenirs, they also have more tasteful stuff on offer. After purchasing a t-shirt with funny Aussie animals on it for Nelia and napkins with an Aboriginal print for mum, we take the tram back to Richmond. As we get out of the tram, we bump into Helen and David, who had been heading to Swan Street to do some shopping. Together we buy a pair of shoes for Helen, browse the bookstore and purchase a few scones for teatime later this afternoon. Back at Sally’s place we have tea and watch tv, until at 7 pm it’s time to depart for the airport. There isn’t much traffic on the highways and before we know it, it’s time to say goodbye. Not an easy task considering the fact, that David and Helen are the most perfect and generous hosts we could have wished for! In the past 4 weeks they became more than just good friends for us. They actually feel like family to us. Luckily David decided to drop us off in the “kiss and ride” zone instead of parking the car. That means, there isn’t much time to say goodbye. After one last picture and a big hug for both of them, we quickly enter the terminal shedding a few tears on the way.
We drop off the bags at the check-in counter and fill in the departure form. Leaving the country proofs to be more difficult than entering Australia on this trip. The queue in front of the passport control counter is huge and we have to wait at least 15 minutes, before it’s our turn to see the officer. Once we’ve passed security, we spend the next two hours browsing the duty free shops, but as 20 AUS$ is all we have left in cash, we don’t buy anything. Instead we head for the gate, where boarding is about to start. At least, that’s what we think. Although the plane is present, it takes at least another hour, before they are ready to board. By the time the plane finally departs it is after 11 pm. I’m very tired and fall asleep almost instantly. Except for a short dinner break at 1 am and breakfast around 5 am local time, I sleep during the whole flight to Dubai. During the flight from Dubai to Amsterdam I keep myself awake by watching several sequences of the cooking program John Torode’s Australia. Around 12.30 pm we touch the ground of Amsterdam Schiphol Airport and about an hour later we are ready to take the train to Groningen. Miraculously the trip to Groningen passes without any incidents or delays and around 4 pm we reach our home town. The bus stop in Groningen awaits us with cold winter weather. At 7 degrees Celsius we expect our home to be freezing too. But as we walk through the door of our apartment, we are pleasantly surprised. The flat is warm and comfy and the fridge filled with supplies to get us through the first few days. Klaas’ mum and sister have been here yesterday to prepare everything for our return and give us a warm welcome. I couldn’t imagine any better way to come home after a long and tiring trip. The rest of the day we spend unpacking our bags, calling the family and sorting out the mail. After a cup of tea and coffee we are too tired to stay awake any longer and hit the sheets. The end of a wonderful trip!
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