... on to Melbourne

We are definitely back into a big city - Melbourne had a real bustle to it and we were happy to have warmer weather - about 65 and overcast. We were right out and exploring - Federation Square (center of town) - The National Gallery of Victoria and Kiarra glass gallery - who had a Nick Mount exhibition up. The museum of Contemporary Art had Salvatore Dali's - Liquid Desire - that was fabulous we learned a lot of new information and saw an unforgettable video that he created with Disney!

In the morning we rented a car and went for a day trip to Mournington Peninsula. On the way we stopped at Axia Gallery (Matthew Curtis exhibition) and the McClelland Sculpture Park (REALLY worth the stop if you are out that way!). We had an exceptional wine and food experience at Montalto (so good, it was the only winery we fit in) - the setting was just PERFECT overlooking the vineyards and fields of sheep and great service/knowledge of the food and wine. On the way back to the city we visited a local cheese shop to try out what they had to offer - yum! Picked up a clean skin wine to take back to the room (not so great).

The start of our next day was at the Queen Street Market - WOW what an experience the fruits, vegetables, meats ... were laid out as the dealers yelled for your attention. Without missing a beat we were on to Yarra Valley ... this time we fit in a lot of tastings ... too many to do them all. Our favorites were: Miller Creek Estates, Dominique Portet and Tarra Warra Estate, here we strolled thru the contemporary gallery next door and viewed a wonderful painting exhibition with artist Steven Quilty (I loved the work skulls and cars ...!). Before we were headed out of town we visited Tali Dalton's glass studio - she was having an opening reception and demos. BTW Scott did a great job of driving on the left hand side of the road in an unfamiliar location - I did ok with the navigating as long as there were street signs to follow (which was not always the case).