Well, I had a fab day today. I moved couch to stay with this couple in Warburton. I knew it was a bit far off from the city (about 2 hours).. what I didn't realise was, it's in the YARRA VALLEY!!! One girl went for her skating training but lucky for me the other was free to take me on a tour of the valley. It was beeyoodifull... We went to the Tarra Warra Estate (top winery to visit in the Lonely Planet guide). It reminds me of Rimbun Dahan really. It has an art gallery and it had an exhibition on of some famous Australian artists, including the now deceased Blake Whitely. We did some wine tasting and splurged on a bottle of red (a 2008 K-Block Merlot). We visited the Yarra Valley Dairy where they produce 'handmade farmhouse cheeses'. We sampled lotsa excellent gourmet cheese. They had a lot of feta cheese and I splurged on a bottle of the 'Juno', which is marinated fresh goats cheese in olive oil with juniper berries, olive, rosemary, capsicum and garlic. My tour guide for the day was great, later for dinner she put the cheese on crackers and plonked thin slices of kiwi of top - gorgeous. We stopped by a farm and bought fresh green apples ('no wax!' they advertised) for crumble.
It's pretty chilly here cos we're in the Upper Yarra Valley. Had lots of rain the day before but today the weather was just fantastic. My tour guide was just gushing about how lovely the day was while we were having our picnic lunch. I'm still in shock - I made it to the Yarra Valley and I hadn't even planned it! :D
Earlier in the week I managed to meet up a Malaysian Couchsurfer, can you believe it. It was great to chat with this man from Penang and his brother-in-law and I sure hope I see him when we're back on Malaysian soil.
I also managed to join in on a Couchsurfing gathering on St Kilda beach. It was so cold cos it was late evening and I never touched the water. Met some interesting people. There was a boy from Melbourne who spoke to me in Malay! Magic huh? Seems in school all Aussie kids need to learn a foreign language, either Asian or European, and if you choose Asian its either Japanese or Bahasa Indonesia. So this guy was pretty fluent in Malay. Cool huh? Wish in Malaysia they could be as enthusiastic in schools about having our kids to simply learn English.
The weather in Melbourne is crazy. First it'll be hot, then it'll rain, then it'll be hot again. Today its tropical, then tomorrow I dress like I'm in the Bahamas and its chilly and raining. Susah betul lah. Have to bring my woollies in my bag to layer up if the weather turns.
Pics of my day in the Yarra Valley: http://picasaweb.google.com/natasha.manan/ADayInTheYarraValley?authkey=Gv1sRgCNaK6rWPvo7HhgE&feat=directlink
