This morning we aimed for the Yarra Valley, in particular for Healesville where we had booked a very cute-looking cottage for four nights. We had arranged to meet Maree and Darryl there during the afternoon.

There was so much to talk about during our brief luncheon that I cannot really recall too much about the place, except that we all enjoyed our menu selections.

It was David who had sent us the map of the Yarra Valley wineries, quite some months back now, that had tempted Mick to plan our excursion to the region.

I could tell by the looks on both Maree’s and Darryl’s faces that the cottage did not quite resemble the photos we had viewed. In fact, it was quite disappointing, but we resolved to make the most of it. And after all, we were there to do some serious wine tasting.

With the sun getting low, and more-importantly, the nearest wine-tasting venue about to shut, we headed to the Innocent Bystander. This was to be the first of many wineries that was visited over the next few days.

When we arrived at the cellar door with around 20 minutes left before closing time, these three undertook a speed-tasting session, and we left with some nice wines to go with our dinner. The prices were reasonable – Mick chose the 2022 Pinot Noir and the 2021 Shiraz.

We shared a mezze platter for dinner and caught up where we had left off in our conversations from a few days earlier.

I did try to bring the group back to the task at hand though, as I wanted us to decide which wineries we’d visit the following day and where we might have lunch. You see, I had volunteered to be the driver and the group’s photographer for the next few days, on the promise that some nice wines would be bought for me to try each evening.

I was mostly successful!