22 Jan : Melbourne --> Yarra Valley

The day began with a mad dash to Crossfit for the 6am class. Our instructor for the morning was from Vancouver BC so the accent was familiar :-). Sadly, going to a Crossfit class has not been familiar enough for me lately.

Hmmm... didn't know they slept upside down

After a quick shower, off we went to the Yarra Valley for some time with unfamiliar animals at a sanctuary and then some unfamiliar wines at some small wineries that we got recommendations to see/taste.

Fortunately the Tassie devil wasn't allowed to roam around outside their "area"

The Healesville Sanctuary was chosen for the platypus exhibit. It was good Jill suggested we go there at opening time as we had the entire thing to ourselves. Unfortunately (for photos) it was slightly dark and they wanted no flashes (which I respected). Our photos are a dark blur of one platypus swimming by at a time. It was fun to see them in person. We then walked around the rest of the grounds to see koalas, Tasmanian devils, and so much more. As we left, the parking lot was getting quite crowded.

Two of the many great wines we tasted at Mac Forbes in Yarra Valley

We spent the remainder of the morning and afternoon in the car or at wineries/lunch getting introduced to some great stuff and a representative sample of the region.

After a "commute" home, we walked over to Spice Temple which is a restaurant in the casino on the river. A friend I've known from Turkey - Ebru - (who lived in Seattle for a long time), virtually introduced me to Oya who is a connection from back in Izmir when they were young. We had a great dinner and conversation with Oya and Peter while sampling/sharing many dishes. There were several "hot" ones on the menu in RED and I got a chicken dish in this category. Our server told us it was lip numbing and she was not wrong. Fun, crazy, beautiful dish that made my lips "vibrate" and tingle.

Above mentioned chicken dish being shared between Marc and Peter

We met and talked to a lot of different people on this day. We learned a lot which is an integral part of the travel experience.