Catching Up

Hi All!

We unintentionally missed a week of posting - and promise long novels to make up for it. A lot has happened to Bill and I in the past few weeks, so grab your favorite drink and get cozy.

Easter weekend was a long one in Australia - we managed to arrive

in time for the first 5 day Easter/Anzac weekend in 60 years. It was hard not to fe

el lucky to have 3 paid days off in the middle of fall/spring. Bill and I spent it in a way that won't shock many of you - we went wine tasting and hung out with family.

Our big plan was to go down for a few days with my boss and his wife - fellow wine lovers, especially reds. They had to cancel at the last minute - but Bill and I decided to forge ahead. We flew into Melbourne on Thursday night and took off to an easy, 2 winery day on Friday. We were aiming to hit some places in a town called Heathcote - well known for shiraz. We discovered a few good bottles before heading to our hotel in Bendigo - about 40 km away.

Saturday morning we had only 1 definitive plan - find Wild Duck Creek Estate. My initial thou

ght was to head there first, but after driving around about 25 minutes, we gave up and headed to 2 other wineries we had been pointed too. After finding a nice pinot we discovered a map that showed us where to find the elusive Wild Duck Creek.

Ultimately we discovered 2 things after arriving - 1: they don't have a "cellar door" (aka tasting room) and 2: the Winery

Owner and wine maker is a lovely man nicknamed "Duck" who loves to share his passion. Bil

l and I were quickly poured a glass of very, very nice red and toured around the crush process (that was actively happening upon our arrival). It turns out this pretty well know winery is still very much family owned and operated. Duck is the "guy in charge" but seems to be more the operations guide and expert, while his son William (Liam) has taken over the wine making role. We did

everything from helping wash

out the bins that the grapes are loaded into and transported from the field to the winery (mostly Bill) to riding along on the grape picking machine. Along the way we got to taste some of the best wine I have ever had. If a

nyone ever needs a recommendation and can find Australian wine, I highly, highly recomm

end anything from Wild Duck Creek Estate. We ended up staying through dinner (Duck made steak sandwiches) and left with the

promise to return and the offer of a place to stay when we did. It was an unbelievable day, one I know Bill and I won't ever forget (and we definitely will be going back to visit our new friends).

Here is our new friend Duck, aka David

His picking machine can clear dozens of rows a day - this is a view from the top

I will let Bill tell about our adventure in Bendigo/Castlemaine on Sunday and Easter with the f

amily (we decided to split the stories).

Meanwhile - we have been productive towards our search for a new home. Yesterday we went to about 6 open houses for different apartments and town homes, hoping to find one that fit what we were looking for. The first town home we saw was nice, but a bit smaller in terms of living space. The rooms weren't bad - but the dining and living room are combined and at the end of our time in Carp, that started to feel really small. The next few places were very

uninteresting - with the last 2 places we went being the best (in my opinion). There was a nice, smallish town home that had great cathedral ceilings and nice new tile and carpet throughout. Bill wasn't a huge fan, but didn't mind it. The last place we went to seemed to fit everything we wanted though. It is a end unit town home with a huge garage (huge, 3 cars could easily fit in it) as well as 2 different spaces for dinning and living room and a kitchen big enough to eat in. It is a bit older, and needs some new paint as well as updated fixtures, but nothing we can't handle. With a competitive rental market, who don't know if this one will work out (though we would like it too) but we endured the laborious application process and have crossed our fingers. Because we don't know what is going to happen (though we should find out some time this week), the search continues next weekend :-p

The one thing we did learn at all of the places we saw (and weren't expecting) is that most of the major appliances have to be supplied by us (:-0) not exactly what we had expected, but

manageable though it means we will be buying a fridge and washer/dryer in addition to the TV, etc. I started doing some online searching and, unlike buying a car, didn't see too many super high priced options, so that made me feel better. One step at a time though - we need the place to put all those purchases.

I think I have rambled enough for now - stay tuned for Bill's post!