We drove from Portland and our port on the Great Ocean Road through Port Fairy where we stopped at the only winery, Basalt Vineyard in the area of Killarny. This area was heavily settled by the Irish. Port Fairy used to be called Belfast – and is what most locals still call i. Shane the owner was a hoot. He planted the vineyard in the early 2000’s and does Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Tempranillo and a no oak Shiraz. He called Pinot Noir a wine that is neither here nor there but just good drinking. We all believe that Australia has simply burned up due to excessive heat. Well contrary to public belief, this area has had the coldest summer on record! He is hoping the grapes get ripe. Harvest is at least a month late at this point in time. When we asked our tour guide what the water temperature of the ocean was she told us freezing – it comes straight from the Antarctic. So much for cold California waters. Their water seems colder in the Southern Ocean!
We learned that Falling off the Twig means a person has died. New slang terms are always interesting We love how other English speakers call them Vin Yards and we Americans call them vinyerds. All alcoholic products down here seemed to be referred to as booze. We Americans prefer our wines to be wines – booze has no class – but call a spade a spade. Names of everything are shortened down here. Salvation Army is Salvo. McDonalds is called Mac’ers. A gas station is a Servy. BBQ as we all know is a Barbie. Why waste syllables? Not such a bad idea I guess.
We were just lucky the Port Fairy Folk Festival was happening over Victoria’s Labor Day holiday. It is the largest Folk Festival in Australia. The center of the main street had a street fair and every nook and cranny had musicians playing. All the stores were open on this special Sunday. We didn’t try to go to the main tent because we were only there for a little over an hour.
We walked quite a way from where the bus could drop us off so we enjoyed walking past many basalt buildings and all the beautiful flowers in their yards. When we got back to the little Fish and Chips place on the estuary we wanted food but they were closed. They did have drinks, ice cream and the chef walked over with the best calamari I have ever eaten. The waitress showed me the boat on the dock they received their seafood from. I think that makes it real fresh!
We truly enjoyed our time walking the streets of Port Fairy formerly known as Belfast. The drives on the Great Ocean Road were lovely. We had no time in Portland and it was Sunday but we had access to a beach next to our pier so we were able to abscond with sand!
We pulled into Adelaide today around 3pm. Larkin and I took a nice walk by the pier to a beach and yes, once again collected sand. Tomorrow is Adelaide Hills after driving through Adelaide. Can’t imagine it will be near as much fun as our time with Golden Gate Wine Society!
Cheers from South Australia!
THE TRAVELING MARTINI'S 