A New Year....

brings new adventures and this year we have started off in fine company. Our first weekend after all our visitors had gone was a busy one. We spent the weekend at Balgownie Winery in the Yarra Valley. It was the 40th Anniversary Reunion of Bill's Air force days. You will remember we had a fun weekend last year celebrating the 39th year and I can tell you now that the 40th was a lot of fun too. This year it was only the people from Victoria that got together and the 10 guys and their wives had a great night. We hope that the guys in other states had as much fun as we did if they got together in their part of the world.

We drove out to the valley on Saturday stopping to have lunch in a lovely little cafe in Yarra Glen. Once checked in we decided that we would visit a garden we had seen on the way into the winery. Alowyn Garden is just across the road from Balgownie and is a beautiful place to spend a couple of hours just wandering around. The gardens have been developed into six distinct areas all leading from one magnificent 100-metre long wisteria and rose covered arbor. The total garden space takes up approximately 4 acres. It was very warm the day we were there so we did not stay out too long. We found a shady spot and had a cool drink before heading back over the road to get ready for the nights festivities.

We all met in the Restaurant around 6.30pm and after some pre dinner drinks, where everyone got the opportunity to catch up & say hello, it was time to take our seats for some good food, good wine & good times. We have been there before so we knew the food was good and tonight's dinner did not disappoint. My salmon entree, chicken main & wonderful panna cotta desert were just delicious and I know everyone else thought the same with their selections. The Balgownie Black Label Shiraz was a winner and many, many bottles were drunk that night. With a slide show happening throughout dinner there were many memories stirred and lots of laughs again as we all looked at these funny young kids who had joined the airforce 40 years ago.
I think the staff were happy to see us head off to bed about 12.30am but they had kept smiling all night and were wonderful.

Breakfast the next morning was a much quieter affair as people wandered in over a couple of hours. Not too many headaches but I think a few panadol had been consumed. Still it was a lot of fun. Mal & Adele did a wonderful job of organising the weekend and finding such a great venue. A great success and we look forward to next year now.

After leaving the winery we decided that we would call into Healesville Sanctuary on the way home. It was a much cooler day and we spent a few hours wandering around with the birds and animals. Bill had his camera and was able to get some great shots of a little Grey Fantail feeding it's baby on a branch. Not a caged bird but a wild one just in a tree. We watched for ages.

As the afternoon wore on the rain came so we decided it was time to head for home. A great weekend for our first adventure of the year and we look forward to many more.

until next time..........