We took a leisurely approach to driving to Rutherglen on Friday (past All Belly), leaving us plenty of time to explore the grounds of The Tuileries in the mellow afternoon light of this cold wintry end to August. Ella is addicted to her pink Micro scooter at the moment so she was impressed with being able to scooter around all the pathways circling the villas and the vineyards bordering the property.
I was entranced with the play of late afternoon light on the rows of heavily pruned vines around The Tuileries. Later, that night we found we were just as entranced with the wonderful Bobbie Burns Shiraz produced by Campbells (of Rutherglen), recently awarded a 5 star winery rating by James Halliday in his 2011 Wine Companion. James Halliday awarded the Bobbie Burns Shiraz a 93/100.
I was stoked to see that Campbells use a similar image of the winter pruned vines for their classy wine labels.
Saturday morning dawned sunny but cold, a perfect start to a day in the country. We set off for Beechworth, about a half hour drive South-East of Rutherglen.
Beechworth is Victoria's best preserved gold mining town and full of shops, B&Bs and foodie destinations for the "quite well heeled". We found a wonderful (and very cheap) bucket of pavement chalks in one of the chi chi little shops in the main street. Ella couldn't wait to create her impressions of winter storm clouds on the dusty pavements of Beechworth, quite oblivious to other activity going on around her.
We eventually managed to lure her away from her artwork by the opportunity to be "a big girl on the tuckerbox 5 miles from Gundagai"! (That was her joke, referencing our attempts to sing that old Australian song the day before as we passed through Gundagai.)
We've visited Wardens Food & Wine in Ford Street Beechworth for lunch before and loved its honest Italian inspired flavours and great choice of wines. It was wonderful this visit to see Jody and Ella enjoying it as much as we always have. Ella ate her parmesan crusted flathead and tartare sauce and roast pumpkin and dressed salad with gusto.
While Rob tried a number of tapas plates and Jody and I had the wonderful kingfish and eggplant carponata.
Saturday night was Elissa's big birthday bash at The Tuileries Restaurant in Rutherglen. Ella was quite happy to stay home with us (and her Koko Black chocolate loveheart on a stick) while her Mummy and the other girls went out partying.
This morning was sunny, clear and a little warmer in Rutherglen. We took Ella for a longer walk after breakfast, past the sheep and alpacas grazing in the paddocks adjacent to The Tuileries vineyards. Ella was a bit shocked to find the wheels of her pink Micro scooter were getting covered in country dirt on these rough bush tracks and she kept stopping to clean them down.
I couldn't work out if this was a typical reaction of a city girl in a foreign environment or if it was just an expression of her gene pool (neither her Daddy nor her Grandpa allow their cars to get dirty either!). Either way it was an endless source of curiosity for the alpacas.
Driving home Rob fulfilled his dream of exploring the old HMAS Otway at Holbrook with Ella, something he never got around to doing with Joshy on our trips to Melbourne back in the eighties.
Ella gave her now famous "Now don't do that!" salute as she disappeared down the hatch. It will be quite hard for her Mummy to teach her when it is appropriate to do this and when it is not, as we find it very amusing (and can't help laughing) when she uses it either appropriately or inappropriately!
Rob was suitably rewarded for his guided tour of the HMAS Otway!
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