DAY 45: THE FOURTH IN THE AUS

Do you get it? It's the USA in a different order. Okay, never mind, I know I'm not funny. Well, the start of my day provided some comic relief. I got ready to go grab a coffee and some breakfast with the guys. I was ready to head out the door and I was greeted with a problem. I had not a clue where my jacket or shoes were. Read the last two paragraphs of the previous entry if you are confused. I mean I have misplaced things before but shoes?! How do you misplace shoes. I knew they had to be one of three places: the bar, I was relatively certain they weren't there; my room, I had turned the place upside down and not found them or; anywhere else in the world, I knew they had to be somewhere. I did some asking around but had no success. It would have been much much easier if I could remember the details of the previous night. I ended up finding both my shoes and jacket in my friends Andy and Tyler's apartment - an apartment I didn't remember visiting but um, oh well. I got my shoes, my jacket, a coffee and a muffin in the morning - a great success. Deliciously Unhealthy Meals 4, Jonathan 0. Again, refer to previous blog.

We made the two and a half hour trip to Hunter Valley - Australia's equivalent to our Napa Valley. We grabbed a lunch at a local brewery. I didn't try any of the beer. Just looking at it made me queezy but I did have a Mexican pizza (I'm so cultured -I had mexican pizza in Australia on America's Independence Day) that was very good. Deliciously Unhealthy Meals 5, Jonathan 0 (In my defense, there weren't many healthy options at this place).

Here was the schedule for rest of the day: Wine tasting, wine tasting, wine tasting and wine tasting. It didn't exactly sound appealing after our previous night but we were all pretty excited. The first winery we went to was really cool. We got to try three reds, three whites and two dessert wines. I knew nothing about wine going into the day and was eager to learn. I learned a lot about the wine and a lot about my own tastes. I discovered that I prefer white wine. My favorite white that we tried at the first place was the Simellon. It was crisp, citrusy and very light. The reds were okay, but not so much my style. Then we had the dessert wines. The Late-picked Trademiner (or something like that) was my favorite wine of the day. it is made to go with a fruity dessert and was absolutely incredible. It was crisp and light and would have gone perfect with or in any type of fruit. Apparently, it is similar to the ice wines of the US. That means nothing to me, I just know it was my favorite of the day.

After that winery, we made a quick stop at the chocolate factory and got to try some chocolate and do a little looking around. Given my sweet tooth, there were plenty of tempting options but I decided to go with a couple of chocolate cover strawberries. Given my options, I would say I earned half a point for this one. Deliciously Unhealthy Meals 5, Jonathan 0.5. After that, it was on to our next winery - Drayton's Family Winery. This was a smaller, family-owned winery. We tried some more wines and then got to try a couple liquors. My favorite was the White Chocolate Liquor. It is not something I would ever drink a lot of but one or two sips was very good.

We had one more stop - the Golden Grape Estate winery. Here he got to try several more wines and a couple liquors. My favorite was the strawberry sparkling wine (that means champagne in Australia) and my least favorite was the chili liquor (fittingly called dragon's breath). It was a beautiful day, we got to try some beautiful wines and it was a uniquely Australian way to celebrate my favorite American holiday. Oh and I capped it off with a salad from the grocery store. Deliciously Unhealthy Meals 5, Jonathan 1.5. You can't win 'em all. Until next time...


In the Valley.


The Grape Estate.


Drayton's...clearly.


Candy Thong anyone???


Chocolate Company


Cheers!