Kate, my fantastic host, took me on a day trip to the Yarra valley today. She rented a car from a car sharing club that she is a member of, and we drove off. Thanks god I did not have to drive 😉 I was just handling the map, and we pretty much made it without too many detours….

We took to the road eastwards out of town, first coming through a couple of nice suburbs with neat houses, then slowly moving into the typical suburban sprawl, with McDonald’s, car dealers, and the random drive through pizza. Quickly though the landscape became totally rural, with mostly farm land, grazing cows and sheep, and yellow fields, mostly already harvested.

The Yarra shapes this landscape. From its source in the Yarra Mountains, it flows and meanders 240 kilometers, to Melbourne, where it empties into Port Philipps Bay. The river takes an innumerable amount of turns and curves, and changes its bed frequently, leaving countless old arms and little lakes on either side.

 

We drove to Healesville, a little rural town with a bit over 6000 inhabitants.

Our first stop was Innocent Bystander, a local pizzeria, bakery and wine shop. Hosted in a big modern building, they were already complete around noon. It was the day after Australia Day, so everyone took out to the Valley or the peninsula and the place was quickly buzzing…

We shared a delicious 4-cheese-pizza, a salad, some sparkling, cheese cake and turkish delight… as a base for the wine we were aiming to taste at the local wineries.

First stop was the TarraWarra Estate, a fine little winery that specializes in small quantities, notably of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. We got some great free samples and lots of info about the estate, their wines and history from our host Michelle.

The special treat: The estate also houses the Tarra Warra Museum of Art. Housed in a modern building uphill, with great views of the surrounding vineyards and the valleys beyond, the Museum currently hostes a fantastic exhibition by Australian painter Russell Drysdale entitled Defining the Modern Australian Landscape.

 

I love discovering Australian art. We just never get to see much of it in Europe. Drysdale focussed on landscapes, and captured the Australian outback, and especially the massive draught that hit Australia in the 1940s. His paintings are dry, hot, lonely and desolate at times, but really capturing.

We drove on through the Valley in the heat, dropped at an ice cream place, a cheese maker, another winery – Yering Station – for some more samples, and ended the day driving along the Yarra towards Melbourne, till we found the spot that was recommended to Kate: Laughing Waters Park, nested in a bend of the Yarra.

We changed into our swimmers and took a dip in the river, with a bunch of other Aussies, enjoying the warm water, the currents, and then a little sunbath on the hot stones.

It was the perfect end to a perfect day, celebrating Australia…