The Bush: Vineyards and Cider Brewers

We had a lovely leisurely morning as the kids knit, I read, and Mike relaxed on the verandah. Then the kids and I decided we should look up the words to Waltzing Matilda and have a sing-along on the verandah, which ended Mike’s relaxing quiet time. 🙂

We spent the rest of the day visiting local vineyards/cider brewers. Our first stop (and probably most engaging stop) was at Bress. Their logo is a chicken, so it made sense that the first thing we saw when we got out of the car was a chicken coop, followed by a large stone one at the building entrance. 🙂

The sommelier was really friendly and gave us some great information and several nice options to taste. One was a really great sparkling shiraz that was particularly unique with the bubbles. He even offered G and L a non-alcoholic sparkling cider to try.

The next place was really small — Harry of Harcourt. The lady at the counter told us that they have to keep covers on their apple trees to protect them from “the big, mean grey kangaroos” who have succeeded in chasing away the cute wallabies that used to live in the area. In addition, she gave us a taste of a nice pink lady cider and a pear ciders and the kids got to try a granny smith apple non-alcoholic cider.

Just down the road was the Harcourt Vineyard. It had beautiful grounds and places for large groups, but it had a really small tasting area and not really anything for the kids, so we moved on without sampling anything.

Right next door was Blackjack Vineyard, which also had a beautiful setting and view. We sampled a French oak shiraz, but we were all getting a little hungry and ready to move on with the day.

We made a stop at the general store in Harcourt for ice-cream snacks and then drove a couple of blocks to the Harcourt Bowling Court, where there was match taking place.

The Harcourt Bowling Club was playing against the South Bendigo Club. The average age of the players was probably 75. 🙂 Several of the players chatted with us while waiting for their turns. They were super friendly and happy to answer questions and learn about our adventure.

We headed back to the house to knit, read, eat delicious bacon cheeseburgers that Mike made on the stove top, as we didn’t have a grill. L claimed they were even better than Snuffy’s!!

Mike and the kids took another evening walk to see the horses, donkey, and mule, and then continued on up the road a bit and ended up seeing a mob of kangaroos in the distance — more than 30!!

I love these pictures of G and Rosie the horse.