Turning 40 in a Hot Air Balloon over Yarra Valley

As I turn another year older, I must say that celebrating a four-decade milestone was much more fun, exciting and emotional. Now, I’m just another year older. Blah!

Weeks before we left Australia, I wanted to do something special for my 40^th birthday. I did all the planning and decided that floating over the beautiful Yarra Valley and drinking local Aussie wines sounded like a perfect fit. But then on the night before my birthday, the hot air balloon company called to say the conditions were too windy to go up early the next day. (Hubby consoled me with a wine dinner at a winery so I can’t complain too much.) Then, we rescheduled for another weekend, which also was cancelled due to wind. Finally, the third time was a charm for us and up we went into a misty autumn morning.

The Yarra Valley is located about an hour from Melbourne’s CBD area. Previously, we already had taken two wine tours in the valley and one DIY winery tour. I had fallen in love with Australian and Kiwi wines and the valley happens to be the closest wine-producing region to the city. Wine + beautiful landscapes = one happy girl.

A horse and its shadow amongst the autumn-hued vineyards in the Yarra Valley.

On the big departure day, we opted for the free shuttle bus ride via Global Ballooning from Melbourne to the valley’s meeting point. We arrived a little after 5 a.m. The sky was still pitch black and we were surrounded by a low misty fog. I was worried the balloon ride would be cancelled yet again!

After driving to an appropriate landing site, our group got out to help set up the hot air balloon. Three other balloons took off from the same site, so it was fun to watch everyone prep the balloons. I mainly stood back and took photos. Ha!

Hubby and me before we took off on our Global Ballooning adventure.

I should mention that I’m a teensy bit afraid of heights, and I started to mildly panic once I hopped into the balloon’s basket. However, once we got up in the air, the feeling was magical. Any fear subsided and all I did was admire the beautiful scenery around us and take more photos. We literally floated through and above the clouds! What a delight!

Admiring the Landscapes

We silently floated over Victorian farms, apple orchards, wineries, emerald-green pastures filled with cows and horses and even a couple of kangaroos. Seriously, the views could not have been more perfect!

Why had I waited 40 years to take this thrilling balloon ride? When we lived in Turkey, we almost did a balloon ride over Cappadocia, but opted not to because of the expense. Now, we were paying nearly twice as much in Australia, but the cost was certainly justified in the end.

After an hour or so up in the air, we landed in the middle of a pasture filled with cows who didn’t seem to mind our intrusion whatsoever. The company has partnerships with several local farmers who allow the balloon companies to land there. Then, we all helped roll up the balloon and gather the supplies so we could head to breakfast.

Time for Bubbles

Our balloon package included a fantastic brunch at Rochford Winery with lots of sparkling Aussie wine. Hooray! Plus, we had a good time chatting with our Aussie neighbors who were planning a big trip to the U.S. I was more than happy to provide my foodie recommendations for NYC.

All in all, turning 40 wasn’t too bad. I may have shed a few tears, but in the end, I made true memories to last a lifetime by floating over the amazing Aussie landscape.

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Walking Through the Tree Tops Along the Great Ocean Road

If you are at all afraid of heights, you do NOT want to climb up here!

Located just 19 km off the Great Ocean Road, the Otway Fly Treetop Walk boasts itself as the highest and longest steel canopy walk in the world – and it’s found right here in Australia. I’m all for adventure, but I freaked out a bit when I first stepped out onto the metal walkway – 30 meters (about 8 stories) above ground level! If you're an thrill seeker, you can even do a zipline through the forest.

Looking down, all you see is lush palm trees, greenery and a jungle of trees – mainly Myrtle Beech and Blackwood trees. It almost looks like a scene from a Jurassic Park movie – as if you’re waiting for a pterodactyl to come swooping down out of the sky!

In fact what you’re looking down at is the Otway Cool Temperate Rainforest – a landscape that dates back 140 million years to Gondwana when dinosaurs roamed the earth. I’d never heard of a cool temperate rainforest until this trip, but the Otway Rainforest exists because of a lot of rain, in fact the highest rainfall in Victoria. The Otways are the most westernly located cool temperate rainforest in Australia.

Starting from the visitor’s center, the walk is a 1.9km round walk and takes about 45 minutes or so, depending on how many photos you want to take. There are several interactive panels along the way with information about the surrounding to one hour to complete.

In the middle of the walk, you also can climb up a 45-meter high tower via a spiral staircase. You’ll be rewarded with even more amazing views over the rainforest and the fellow walkers below.

Walking through the Otways here you’re reminded just how diverse and gorgeous Australia’s scenery is! Don’t miss the Otway Fly Treetop Walk when you visit the Great Ocean Road!

An Eastern Yellow Robin

I swear, the tree was this big!

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Our Easter Staycation in Melbourne

Since we’ve travelled about every other weekend since January, we thought we would spend a staycation right here in Melbourne.

For Easter in Australia, people are given off both Good Friday and the Monday after Easter, so hubby had four entire days off from work. What would we do with ourselves?

If you’re a regular reader here, you’ll know that we don’t sit still very often. We keep ourselves busy by exploring new destinations, eating at new restaurants and hitting the road. Unfortunately, we were obligated to take care of some normal day-to-day activities like our American taxes, grocery shopping, doing laundry, calling our parents, etc. However, we still found plenty of time to discover some new things in Melbourne and enjoy our pleasant autumn weather here.

Soaking up Sunshine and Culture Along the Yarra River

Since we live in Southbank, we regularly walk along the Yarra River, which divides the city’s CBD from the other nearby neighborhoods. The river isn’t exactly picturesque as we often see trash floating in the muddy waters. But the Southbank Waterfront is a pleasurable place to enjoy an afternoon walk or drink. We did both.

A local wine and cheese plate at home.

On Sunday, we tried to see the Andy Warhol exhibit at the National Gallery of Victoria, but the ticket line was like an hour-long deep. (Note to self: save time and buy the tickets online before April 24^th.) Instead, we visited NGV’s collection of 17^th-19^th century art and the architecture park outside.

For a few laughs, we attended two evening shows as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. We haven’t seen a decent comedy show in a long while (minus watching political-satire comedians John Oliver, Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert on television) and already are planning to see a few more shows this coming weekend.

Trying New Restaurants

We love food and decided to try some new-to-us restaurants. For Friday night dinner before the show, we dined at Pastuso, a Peruvian tapas bar along the popular ACDC laneway. This place has been on my must-try list for a while and ended up being one of the better meals we’ve had in Melbourne so far!

We started off with pisco sours to drink and a dish of red snapper ceviche garnished with crunchy, roasted Andean corn kernels. We moved on to coriander tamales with shredded duck confit, melt-in-your-mouth 12-hour roasted beef ribs and chewy fried cassava chips with spicy rocoto mayo. We also tried a dish of 30-day-dry-aged alpaca loin tartare that was mildly spiced and quite flavorful. Llama is delicious! We ended the meal with an intense chocolatey dessert topped with fairy floss (aka…cotton candy).

Celebrating our 6^th Wedding Anniversary

On Saturday night, we dressed up a bit and dined at the 160-year-old Melbourne institution known as the Railway Hotel near Port Melbourne. We wanted to celebrate our sixth wedding anniversary with a special dinner. This historic hotel-pub is known for its dry-aged steaks, but is definitely not a dressy place as we found ourselves surrounded by sports paraphernalia and TVs showing the current footy game. Still, the service was good and the steaks certainly were some of the best we’ve tried here. As a Midwestern girl, beef is quite sacred to me and these steaks were top notch! You can even select your steak from the counter in front of the grill!

Easter Celebrations

In the days leading up to Easter, I figured out two things about Australia’s Easter traditions. First of all, Aussies are obsessed about hot cross buns! These spiced and fruit-speckled buns are baked in every bakery shop and grocery store around the city. People line up for special ones that might be chocolate glazed, chocolate chipped or filled with ice cream in the middle. I tried a few gluten-free versions and wasn’t impressed while hubby licked his fingers clean after sampling a chocolate hot cross bun from Chez Dre in Southbank.

Secondly, Easter is just another excuse to eat good chocolate. I stopped at KokoBlack and Haigh’s Chocolates, both well-known local chocolate shops that were mobbed with people. I bought a small bagful of chocolate eggs to keep us entertained.

A home-cooked Easter dinner with roasted herbed lamb, basalmic-glazed cippolinis and roasted root veggies.

Lavender Farm in the Countryside

Well, we almost spent the entire weekend in Melbourne. On Easter Monday, two friends invited us for a drive and lunch out in the countryside. We had a good pub meal in Daylesford (about 90-minutes away), wandered around a bit and then spent the afternoon at the Lavendula Swiss Italian Farm in Hepburn Springs. The farm, started in the 1850s by a Swiss-Italian family, features gorgeous French-like lavender fields and manicured gardens. You could simply spend an hour strolling through the heavenly-scented gardens and admire the resident farm animals too.

 
The café is filled with rustic charm, and there are plenty of lavender-scented delights like champagne, lemonade, buttery scones and chocolate brownies to tempt you. Plus, don’t forget to stop in the farm shop on your departure for lavender soaps, aromatherapy and body products, lavender bundles and sachets and much more.

As you can see, even though we had a “staycation,” we kept ourselves plenty busy here in Melbourne!

How did you spend the Easter weekend where you live?

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Great Ocean Road Still Amazing, Reopens After Fires

After planning our second trip to the Great Ocean Road nearly two months ago, we weren’t expecting a widespread bushfire to alter our plans.

Unfortunately, the combination of a lighting storm, dry land and hot temperatures caused a large bushfire on Christmas Day that has destroyed more than 100 houses along this famous tourist route. The fire occurred in and near the small towns of Wye River and Separation Creek. According to the latest Melbourne news, the fire still continues to burn in dense bushland about 6km west of Wye River; and more than 200 firefighters are battling this blaze.

A small section of the Great Ocean Road had been closed because of the fires, but just reopened yesterday (January 6^th). Basically, we got lucky because we started our road trip on the same day.

Not too far outside of the bustling town of Lorne, we started seeing the devastating effects of the raging fire. Blackened trees and shrubbery as well as dusty brown leaves on tops of the trees still standing.

You could tell where the fire had jumped across the road and consumed any remaining vegetation along the beach.

This was my first experience seeing the damaging effects of a fire upclose and I was shocked. I thought about all those displaced people and animals that called this beautiful area of Australia home. How long will it take to rebuild their homes? How long will it take for the forest to rebound and turn green again?

It’s devastating.

Driving through the small town of Wye River on January 6th, 2016, you can certainly see where the bushfires hit.

But at the same time, it’s important to note that the Great Ocean Road IS open for business.

These small communities rely heavily on tourism, and they need YOUR support. The month of January is one of the busiest tourism months because children are on school break. There’s still plenty to see and do along the GOR.

We have three days to re-explore this lovely area that’s famous for its beautiful beaches and sweeping landscapes.

I can’t wait.

Important information to note from the Great Ocean Road Tourism Site:

• No vehicles will be allowed to stop between Cumberland River and Wye River bridge. This includes look-out points and pull-over areas on the sides of the road.
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• The turnoff for Sheaok Falls is closed.
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• Speed limits have been reduced, and there is a stronger police presence along the road.
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• There is restricted access to residential areas in Wye River North and Separation Creek due to the health and safety risks from the bushfire that has affected the area. Residents of these areas have been granted limited access.
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• If you see wildlife that appear injured or distressed, please contact the Wildlife Welfare Officer on 5233 5565. 

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