how do two americans make their way to kancoona valley, victoria?

this is a question we heard a number of times during our two-week stay at the small family-owned winery in kancoona valley. and truly, it's well off the beaten path. during our brief return to melbourne after the first aussie farm fell through, we phoned up this family (our current hosts) and they explained that their grape crop was too smoke-damaged to pick and process this year, but there were other tasks around the place to be completed and they would be happy to take us in. so the next day we were on another train--this time about three hours northeast of melbourne.

there are about 10 or so acres of vines on the property and the family specializes in making preservative-free wines (cabernet sauvignon, merlot, shiraz, dolce, chardonnay, and pinot noir i believe, although they didn't have any available during the time we were there). they only started making their own wine with their grapes about 6 or 7 years ago and, unfortunately, their crop has been damaged 3 of those years due to the drought and/or smoke from bush fires. the terrible bush fires that occurred in victoria in february of this year came within a km of their farm (they showed us pictures of the flames coming over the ridge just above their house, but fortunately for them the wind direction changed and the fire began to move away from their property and they were spared).

a couple of years ago they also opened a restaurant on the property, which is typically only open on the weekends or when special events are booked. most of my time was spent helping with the restaurant--i helped out with some farm tasks for a couple of days, but there really wasn't enough work for three people so i did what i could to keep the restaurant kitchen in order. tom helped out in the restaurant on occasion, but he mostly worked on the outdoor projects. the restaurant was open friday-monday for the easter holiday and it certainly took all three of us (lena, tom, and myself) to manage the restaurant. on sunday, in particular, the place was buzzing--i think we figured that we had about 40 or so customers, which was one of the busiest days they've had so far. we were exhausted by the end of the day and were more than happy to collapse with a glass (or two) of wine. i never had much interest in working in a restaurant and, although it was a good experience, i maintain that lack of interest in ever working in a restaurant. i'd be a nervous wreck the entire time.

we leave kancoona valley tomorrow to catch a train back to melbourne, then fly from melbourne to brisbane, then brisbane to bali where leave our wwoofing days behind and become full-time tourists. we're staying in a city called ubud for the first 4-5 days--this is the only part of the trip we really have planned. we'll probably travel around bali for a bit before heading to lombok (another nearby island) for the remainder of the time. we're looking forward to entering a more tropical climate once again, as we've been gradually moving into autumn here in australia and the weather has gotten quite cold at times. this is all fine and good for the most part b/c i really love autumn, but clothing-wise we're very ill-prepared for cold weather.

photo link to come very soon...

jill