Friday, December 14, 2007

raining--the constant theme of Australia

It is clean and pure, but nevertheless, raining again. I am heading west to Adelaide this evening and will arrive tomorrow morning at 6:30. I have heard from a few people that Adelaide is quite boring, but with the wine regions so close...i have to go.
I went to the Yarra yesterday on a wine tour and wasn't too impressed with the wines that I sampled. The Yarra is known for its chardonnay, pinot noir and of course, cabernet. They are scrambling to plant more shiraz grapes and reisling. Apparently in the late 80's they were stripped and replaced with chardonnay grapes. I had a few quality chardonnays and overrall my favorite stop was a boutique winery called, Yerling Farm. They produce 6000 cases of premium wine a year and I liked the ambiance and they had a fantastic reserve cabernet and shiraz. We toured domaine chandon and sampled green point wines there, too. My least favorite place was Rochford...i couldn't find any wine that stood out for me.
Anyways, I went to dinner with Petra, one of the wine tour companions and we had a wonderful dinner by the water in Melbourne. I have been fortunate to have met some interesting people this past week. Teja, from Slovenia, is now in LA trying to shop for tevas and I met Marieke from Sweden who is staying at the same hostel as me. All of three of these ladies have been fascinating to meet and kind to converse with me.
Hope everyone is well. I am off to Adelaide and hopefully enjoying fantastic wines by Monday.

4 comments:

ilona's chat said...

hey harmony i messaged you back on the day you messaged me .my e-mail address is there too . talk soon .
i realy have to start to get the hang of all this .
catch ya! ilona

Jadey said...

Harm
Thanks for the address's, it is very helpful. I sent out my Christmas cards today--thank god. It's been hard getting into the Christmas spirit this year. Jeremy left this morning in the wee hours. They are already in Wyoming. When I talked to him on the phone, Murphey was doing his crazy bark. Anyways, it was sad to see him leave, we miss him already.
Mic is off skiing on Mt Hood with Elaine and her family. She went last weekend and apparently hurt her knee--jackass. No it wasn't her fault. Apparently the ski instructer got his ski caught in hers and pulled her leg out of whack.
I have your pictures of the kids, don't let me forget to send them to you when you get back.
When you were talking about the wine tour it reminded me of our day here in Oregon, that was a lot of fun. I have actually been drinking wine the last couple of days-not Reisling. Anyways, love you and will talk soon
Jadey

Smitty said...

Hi Harmony,
I don't suppose you'll be seeing any snow in Australia. The Catalinas here in Tucson have a nice dusting and Arizona skiing is opened!!! I suppose the Australia wine is a bit like the Arizona wines I've tasted. Not too impressive. Your Jayhawks are still on a roll and remain undefeated. Big test today against Ohio. I'll keep you posted. Oh yeah, next we I'll be joining the Morris's at a rocking Andy Williams concert. Yeah baby. Bet you didn't know Andy Williams was a headbanger did ya. Actually, I didn't know that either----I think my keyboard just made it up. My (adult) kids are doing just fine. Kinda hard to call them kids when they can pick up the bar tab. Have yourself another fine Aussie day. Be posting again soon. Cheers.

Smitty

harmony said...

Thanks, guys...i made it to Adelaide safely and checked into my hostel early this morning. They gave me breakfast and set me up in a room with one other person...I feel like royalty.
The weather is beautiful here and I am hoping to explore a little today and have set up a wine tour tomorrow in the McClaren Vale region. I will check out 5 wineries and an olive press, too. I can't wait.
Ilona--I will check out your e-mail address. Again, it is wonderful to hear from you.
thank you smitty for the basketball updates and jade, I am glad that you are getting your cards, out. TEll the kids hello and jackass, too.