A Rotary Progress Part 5

Wednesday afternoon we arrived at Beechworth. Shopping was first priority - Alpaca jumpers and the glories of Beechworth honey. We settled in to an ordinary motel where the manager was surprised to find that his major booked group did not arrive by bus.
We took a twilight tour of the old gaol, now home only to two alpacas and four sheep.

The evening meal was taken at  the brewery in the main street, where a highlight was an inspiring account by the founder of Typo station (see previous blog) of how he came to set it up. On learning of the need for a couple of items of equipment a hat passing round quickly secured more than required amount.

Thursday morning was the day of the trial at the Court House.  Each of our groups had to present a solution including victim, culprit, and how.

We were assisted by local judge, court clerk and constabulary.

 Presenters were competing for the perpetual bullshit trophy, and as soon I was recognised as having some legal background our group drafted me to present:
bad strategy - lawyers can do bullshit, but usually not succinctly. I did not make the short list.



The true victim had not been identified by any presenter but the corpus delicti was revealed in Court on opening a coffin.

We parted from the company and took off for home and other engagements.

An excellent mode of exploring central Victoria in company and high praise for the depth of preparation that had gone into the expedition to make every facet exhilarating.

A Rotary Progress Part 4

On Tuesday afternoon we drove from Avenel to Milawa. Our group accommodation was at Lindenwarrah: sibling to Lindenderry known to Melbournians with a taste for understated luxury. We had a king size bed that seemed almost dwarfed by the proportions of the room. Our group was joined in the evening by the full Rotary Club of Milawa Oxley, and we enjoyed copious canapes and drinks on first floor patio in a delightful vineyard sunset outlook.

 Dinner, accompanied by several droll speeches, was in a very elegant room with food of high standard. Regrettably I had dined too well on the canapes and did not acquit myself as a trencherman as well as is my wont.
The evening's highlights were the progress of a satirical 'murder' mystery that was being sown with 'clues' and 'prime suspects' at each stop. Here a prime suspect was revealed in the person of one our group (surprise selection for him) followed by his induction to membership of some (dis)order in a parody of Rotary induction. His cross dress robes were presented by another of our group (Fat Controller) dressed in garb that would have suited the Mikado. This was followed by a competition of the 'sit down if your answer is wrong variety' where all questions required regional knowledge, eventually won by one of our group.
Breakfast was of a matching high standard in a different comfortable room from the dining room 
We inspected Brown Bros fruit

and then after pausing to replenish our Milawa mustard and chutney stock, we proceeded at a leisurely pace to to Whitfield (while others more energetic played golf,  visited Typo Station - a nearby enterprise committed to youth opportunity see http://www.evolve.org.au/pages/History-of-Typo-Station.html,  took in the Powers Lookout  or Lake William Hovell).

We made a visit to Pizzini winery and were impressed with their reds at all price levels. Spent more than we intended on arrival.

We lunched outdoors at Whitfield Mountain View Hotel on three courses, two prepared by our group's cooking class at Pizzini winery's A Tavola cooking school. We discovered an unusual  white we really liked- Italian grape variety Arneis- so had to make a return after lunch to get a couple of bottles.

Over lunch one of our number was publicly tortured by the Whitfield cop, who alleged that he had bald tyres. It took several minutes before we realised that another elaborate practical joke was under way.

A Rotary Progress Part 3

After the billabong boat excursion we repaired to the Tahbilk winery. For those not familiar with it, this has been a continuously functioning vineyard and winery since 1860- see http://www.tahbilk.com.au/about-us/background. Privately owned by the same family for the last 88 years, the estate is clearly French influenced, especially in its tower (that could have been made into a pigonnier), its signature Marsanne white wine grapes from the Rhone, and in its cellar design, the newer of which (dating from the late 1860's) is reminiscent of a French "cave".
We like the way Tahbilk Marsanne changes colour and flavour depth each extra year it is kept, and bought some 2006 for just four extra dollars more than the current 2012.

We had a short tour of the two cellars, during which the 'cellar ghost' duly appeared as a silent black smudge.

 Thence back east to Avenel for lunch at Fowles winery. A stylish modern building and probably the best table in the region:  promised a light lunch in anticipation of dinner to come, we were served a magnificent antipasto with seemingly endless variety, all of which had to be sampled, and then accompanied by expertly fried chips. Drinks were included, and I opted for the frizzante moscato style, a light sweet bubbly that went well with the food.

The winery signature label is "Ladies who Shoot their lunch", but I surmised that the clever design added to price, and we contented ourselves with looking at the posters, which vary with the vintage year.

A Rotary Post: Part 2

Tuesday morning saw a short journey to Tabilk (the village) and Tahbilk (the winery and wetlands). The wetlands project has been sponsored by the winery, and the billabong is now a major environmental triumph: see https://www.tahbilk.com.au/tahbilk-eco-trails-history
 The billabong is best explored by boat, but the eco-trail could be rewarding if the boat is not running. At the boat jetty the landscape and flora please the eye

The water bird life is particularly attractive

There are extensive large leaf waterlily weeds (being progressively cleared, as they cramp the style and feeding of wading birds),  and an endangered native small leaf water lily (foreground of photo) being encouraged.
 

European carp are being cunningly trapped and composted by taking advantage of a jumping habit, while the native catfish population is expanding in this, its most southerly habitat (it is sensitive to water temperature).

A Rotary Progress Part 1

We opted to join 24 other couples on a fun roundabout drive to Beechworth. First stop was a picnic lunch at Hanging Rock.









Labour Day was cooler there than in the city, so we began with a game of bocche.
Proceedings were overseen by the resident kookaburra.



Nearby, the carved tree trunk is an icon

The local acacia is striking

 After lunch a cross country drive via Granite Hills gave an opportunity to overstock our cellar with both the shiraz and riesling, since Mr Knight terminated his relationship with Dan Murphy following a  pricing disagreement.   The roads, new to us, showed the reason for the winery name















The day concluded at Nagambie where our Comfort Inn motel room had a delightful view.

En route to dinner at the Nagambie Lakes Entertainment Centre we saw a park bench dedicated to the Uniting Church demolished by a semi trailer a few years ago.