Daylesford Lunch

Taking my folks out for a belated 40 year wedding anniversary celebration… had more planned but the places we did were so good we just canned the rest and stayed longer. A unique combination of food, art, history, rustic country and superb hospitality. We’ll be back for sure.

Places:
• Lavandula Swiss Italian Farm

• The Convent

King Valley Farm Stay + Beechworth

This trip has been on my radar for a while, but almost impossible to coordinate with the kids and working life. Finally made it happen and it was definitely worth the wait - even got to drag Dad along with me.

Incredible countryside, lots of Italian varietals and excellent hospitality - will surely be back.

Wineries: Dal Zotto, Pizzini (top notch), Politini, Christmont and Eldorado (Beechworth)

Yarra Days

Quite the catch-up post… I’ve been slack with uploading and busy with touring the wine regions. As my mates may have heard me mention once or twice, Vic’s are pretty sensational, and Yarra Valley is undoubtedly one of the favourites. The region did very well in the latest top 100… I’m sure all completely objective and definitely not influenced at all by James Halliday himself residing in the Yarra Valley 🤔. Nonetheless, a good excuse to head out again and sample the latest vintages + tick off a few I’ve been waiting to try.

First time out with the kids was tough (Chloe kept asking them for icecream) so we did a 2nd trip for good measure without.

Wineries: Oakridge, Yering Station, Yering Farm, Giant Steps & Huberts Estate.

Oliver turns 1 @ the Tesselaar tulip festival :)

Celebrating Oli’s special day… he’s been the best baby we could have hoped for - sleeps like an angel, always smiling and having a laugh! Must take after Mum…

The tulip festival was awesome, really good atmosphere and everyone there was super friendly and helpful… And, I got to try my new lens! I’m incredibly stubborn when it comes to using a prime lens (a trait I’m generally not known for 😁), and basically rely upon a landscape lens (24mm full frame) and a portrait lens (85mm full frame). Which for anyone who’s ever taken a photo before will appreciate, it’s ridiculously impractical!

So, I’ve acquired a 35mm Sigma, which is ‘the’ street lens and perfect for lifestyle photography… essentially replicates the vantage point of a human eye. In simple terms, means I don’t have to run around like a tool getting in the right position to take the photo - a big plus!

Given I’ve used my current setup for close to 10 years now, will take a while to get the hang of it. Very impressed with the quality for my first run however, and lot’s of great memories to look back on 😊