Swinging from Vines!

Hi!

Well. That was a fun and nice weekend for a change! An adventure was had! Wine was drunk! Wildlife was spotted! Hooray!



So the week started off with work, as weeks do for us workin' folk. Then Tuesday I got hit by one nasty cold and a soresore throat. Made it through the entire week somehow until Friday when a gal I work with practically forced me into her car to take me to the doctor. Well, am glad I did because in the end it turns out I have tonsillitis. Fantastic. So Doc put me on penicillin (my absolute favorite next to Advil) and told me to rest. Not a chance with a weekend winery tour on the cards! I had to go, it was too late to duck out. I suppose in retrospect I should have, which is why I'm writing this on Monday and not Sunday - I had to stay home from work today as I just couldn't find strength to so much as get out of bed. Am considering taking tomorrow off too as after a day of watching movies on the little laptop (old tv doesn't like my modern gadgets, it throws a vertical hold tantrum), I still don't feel much different from this morning. Hmm. I hate being sick. And I was doing so well through this year's nasty flu season........ Well, I don't have the flu so I guess I still win! Coughcough.

Anyways, Saturday, Zoey (gal I work with) and I met the group "Wanderin' Winos" (a group organised by another gal I work with, consisting of her husband, her son and numerous friends) down at Roma Street Transit Centre (about 10 minutes from my house - it's one of the main train stations in town and a pretty trusty meeting spot for tour groups) and we were off down to Stanthorpe, which is about 3 hours south and east of Brisbane, in the "Granite Belt". It's apparently one of the top wine regions in Queensland. Anyways, potentially long and highly-detailed story short, tonsillitis, laryngitis, sinusitis and any other -itis aside, it was a fantastic weekend! I'd never been on a proper winery tour, especially one that covered two entire days and 7 wineries! I learned a lot and spent a fair bit (came home with 11 bottles of top shelf vino!!!). The diversity between some of the wineries was really interesting in their delivery and approach to tastings and tours and food and all of it. Some were a lot better at it than others. And it was neat to see how different wineries really can't do certain wines where others can. It was a lot to take in for a weekend (and I don't just mean the wine tastings!)


I think my favorite wineries were Ballandean - 4th generation Italian, excellent little tour, lots of info and history and a superb little lunch of meats, cheeses, olives, etc. It was excellent. And my other favorite was Bald Mountain - we had that wine tasting at 9am Sunday morning! It sounded terrible, especially for those that overdid it the day before, but it was surprising how easy it was to just sit back in those little plastic lawn chairs, in the warm sun, with a nice breeze and sip away. Mmmmm! It was just a lovely place with the coolest lady running it (husband was probably still hiding in bed). I tell you, out of those 7 wineries, this was the only one where people had to use hand carts to get all of their boxes of wine to the bus!!!! We practically cleaned the gal out! And I think the thing I liked the most was that you knew precisely where your money was going. I love to support the locals, and even more so when wine is involved!


Ahhhhhh, it was just an excellent weekend away. So nice to get out of town and breathe fresh air (even if I couldn't smell it) and see green hills. Even saw two wallabies (like smaller kangaroos) and a joey!!!!!


So yeah. It was most excellent. I have lots of photos. Will try to cram as many in as I can stand to wait for the phone line to download!

And that's pretty much that! Work is still good and busy, even if I have to take two days off (eek), I have got to kick whatever this alien virus is that's trying to kill me.


So, if anyone wants to come down, I have fancypants boutique wines to entertain you with! Hooray!

BYE!
J!









Weekly: One Nice Thing About Little Apartment, #6:
It's cooler for its plaster walls and bushy palms in front - bonus for when summer comes.