Day 95
Sunday
2 April 2017
Mornington Peninsula – Bonbeach – Lillydale – Yarra Valley
towns of Healesville – Yarra Glen – Coldstream
Goodbye Daylight Saving, hello longer sleep in. we were
awake at 7.30am and confused about the time, as our watches had automatically
changed over and we weren’t expecting it, however we soon had it sorted and
were out of bed and getting started.
Pancakes were on the menu, so while Paul cooked them I had a
shower and returned to the smell. Yum. Once we had finished, we sorted
everything in readiness for our departure and then went for a final walk along
the bay foreshore, returning as it began to spit.
We were on the road by 10 and heading into suburbia and
closer to Melbourne. We were going to use this as a base to commute into the
city, rather than do any driving. The Chelsea Holiday Park was easy enough to
find, but not as easy to get into, being crammed into a housing estate on
narrow roads with cars parked and taking up precious space. Paul did manage to
manoeuvre the van to outside the park where we took the car off and left both
vehicles parked while we went for a walk down the street, making it to the
train line, before turning around and returning to the van and booking in.
Paul bought the vehicles inside and we made ourselves at
home for a short while. I packed up lunch and then we were off again in the car
heading to Healesville, only an hour and a half away as we were avoiding the
toll roads. Just as well we didn’t have anything better to do.
We stopped at Lillydale at 1.40pm, by a big lake where we
had our lunch. This place reminded me of Carine Open Space. We didn’t hang
around for long, as we had found some breweries to check out. We continued to
drive into the hills, moving past signs letting us know we were now in the
Yarra Valley and if we didn’t see the signs we could have guessed by the number
of wineries we were passing.
We located our first brewery, Watts River in an industrial
area, it wasn’t overly busy and Paul was able to get straight in with a try of
the beers. We were given a Yarra Trail pamphlet to help us locate some further
establishments, fortunately the next one was on 30 seconds down the road.
Buckleys Brewery, was also in an industrial lot and again was
not particularly busy. Paul was given a tasting paddle to review and then he
spoke to the proprietor while I entertained the gorgeous border collie.
Our next stop was the Yarra Valley Chocolateria, the parent
company of the Great Ocean Road shop we visited last week. This place was
absolutely packed and my thoughts of getting a hot chocolate went out the
window as we elbowed past the tourists trying to get their fill of the free
chocolate. We didn’t hang around, buying our favourites and high tailing it on
to Hargreaves Hill Brewing Company. This
took a little bit of finding, but between the GPS and Google we eventually
found the premises just as they were shutting. Instead of doing a taste there, Paul was given
four of their beers to take away and try, so he was happy with that.
Three breweries down and onto Coldstream Brewery, a place we
had passed on our way into Healesville. This place was much busier than the
previous establishments, but Paul was able to find a spot at the bar and again
try a tasting paddle of beer while having a worker sit with him and walk him
through the beers and ciders they had on offer. We picked up some tips of other
places to try and on her recommendation Paul decided we would also check out
Napoleone Brewery and Cider House.
This place was a far more upmarket affair as it is also a
winery, however we were greeted by Adrian, a fourth gen Napoleon who was more
than happy to ply Paul with 9 beers and 4 ciders as he talked about the
brewery. Paul was grateful to accept whatever was being offered and before we
left was given 11 bottles to take away and try. He was one happy beer
reviewer.
With our fifth brewery completed, I insisted we made our way
home and not deviate to another brewery. We had another hour and a half drive
ahead of us and it was 6.45om before we finally arrived home. With day light saving over, it was now dark.
I was straight on to dinner as I was starving and I wolfed
it down when it was finally ready. We spent the rest of the evening recovering
from our unexpected big day. I began putting photos up on Facebook, as we
finally had internet, unfortunately it wasn’t the fastest, but it was better
than nothing.
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