One of the days we were staying with Neil and Noreen out in Blackburn, Noreen took us wine tasting! We went to 2 or 3 wineries, Chandon, TarraWarra Estates, and Train Trak. Chandon is where we started right when they opened and enjoyed a lovely champagne tasting and a neat self guided tour of the champagne making facilities.

Stefan with our lovely host Noreen

TarraWarra Estates had lovely grounds (just like Chandon) with the tasting room overlooking a pond, and a lovely art museum.  We caught some of the William Delafield Cook Survey, a photo of one of my favorite pieces is below.  The wine at the adjoining winery was pretty good, but not great so we did not purchase anything there.

Our last winery of the day was Train Trak, a really small winery that was built right next to some abandoned train tracks that you actually had to drive over to get to the winery.  They had some really yummy wines and we picked one up and enjoyed it at the house one day.

Overall our quick trip to the Yarra Valley wine region was fantastic, and it was so nice having Noreen show us all around (and drive!).  We hope to make it out to the wine region again, especially as it's only about 45 minutes to an hour away.  

Introducing Our Home!

When we first arrived in Melbourne we were lucky enough to get to stay with Neil and Noreen, friends of Stefan's mom, Chris, who we had met once before.  They were amazing hosts, we had agreed beforehand to stay for 2-3 days and in the end they let us stay for 7!  They have a beautiful house not too far from the city, so that was our home base while we searched for more permanent housing.

After much searching and seeing quite a few houses and taking copious notes and photos along the way we finally found the perfect place! We have 2 flatmates, Erin and Simon, who are both really cool people that we're enjoying getting to know.  The suburb is Brunswick East, so its a 20 minute tram ride to the heart of the city, and we're a 3 minute walk to Lygon St. which has a lot of great cafes, bars, and restaurants.  There's also a park nearby where we have gone jogging and slacklining, and the grocery store is about an 8 minute bike ride away. Basically we're loving it.   

This photo features a wild Stefan seen in his natural habitat!

 And that's our new home!  We are absolutely smitten with it. We have a couch! And carpets! And don't have to brush our teeth in the kitchen! Ahh the little things in life. (Although if you remember our old place in Sydney you can understand how this is a serious upgrade.)  And it's not really a part of our house but the quickest way to the tram stop/main street is through this adorable little park with gorgeous overhanging trees. More updates coming soon!