Road-trip Day 2 - Country Roads to Shepparton, Victoria

Having stayed at Tumut, New South Wales for a stop on our road-trip to Shepparton, we left checked out early to enjoy some breakfast before continuing on our way. On our walk to dinner the night before we had noticed a place called the Pie in the Sky Bakery thinking that it would be a lovely a country pie.

     

Pie #1

Pie #2

Unfortunately our beef and mushroom did not live up to our expectations. It was mainly filled with gelatinous goop and very little 'real'filling. Luckily though, we had hedged our bets and shared the one pie in order to compare it with one at the nearby Bakers of Tumut. This pie was definitely a step up as though the filling was a little gelatinous it did have some little chinks of beef and large slices of mushrooms. The coffee there was ok, but the breakfast overall did not compare with the high calibre of the dinner we had enjoyed in the town the night before. We weren't really complaining though as the hot pie and coffee was just what the doctor ordered on a cold and foggy winter morning. 

Foggy Roads

We took the south road out of town with direction to Holbrook. We drove through some pastoral land and some little country towns, about 10 k's away from the highway we were shooting for we saw a sign for the Adelong Falls Gold Mill Ruins. The fog had just lifted so it was the perfect time to stop and enjoy the views. 

The Gold Mill Ruins were unexpectedly beautiful. They were nestled in a small valley along the river and showed the ruins of a once bountiful goldmine, where at least 25 tonnes of gold were recorded as being mined there though it is possible for the actual figure to be at least double that. There were several walking tracks available ranging from 20 minutes to 2 hours in duration. We took the shorter walk since it was an unscheduled stop and we weren't really dressed for hiking. 

  

 It was a great little stop, but we soon pressed on. We drove until lunch time when we arrived in the little town of Holbrook. Having done my research using the motel's wifi the night before, we headed straight for J & B's Gourmet Cafe. As soon as we walked in we spotted the special board with the Beef Brisket Pie and knew we were going to be trying that! We were very happy we did too, since at last we had found the true country pie we were looking for. It was beautiful flaky pastry with an incredible home-made beef brisket filling that was oh so satisfying. We also enjoyed their home-style ice coffee but the best thing was the service. When they brought out our pie Tim commented to the waitress that it would go very well with some gravy, she then offered to whip some up for us. She came back with some incredibly deep and rich actual, real gravy. We were both incredibly impressed.

Pie #3

Despite having very much enjoyed our light lunch we weren't about to miss out on the other main food attraction in Holbrook which is the Holbrook Bakery. The line was out the door but the beautiful smell of baked goods encouraged us to stay. When we progressed in line to be inside, we were greeted with the lovely sight of so many beautiful desserts. I had a hard time choosing but went for a classic Vanilla Slice. Tim was finding it hard to decide and wanted to ask for a recomendation He asked the baker if she would recommend the desserts or pies and she said the pies. I could hardly believe it but he went for pie #4 of the day!

Cakes @ Holbrook Bakery

Pie #4

Holbrook Bakery

Holbrook

After this lovely stop we felt completely refuelled enough to drive into Victoria at last. We were making really great time driving along the highways belting out some tunes from my ipod classic when we saw a sign that read something like "Rutherglen Historic Wine Region Scenic Route 300 meters left turn", We weren't looking out for this sign and neither of us was 100% sure of what we had just read but both agreed we had seen the key words: wine, scenic, left. At the next turn off we took a very poorly marked exit and headed to what we hoped was Victorian Wine Country. 

I was in charge of directions on the trip and was checking the GPS at regular intervals to make sure we were going the right way. After this turn off however the satellites seemed to have completely lost track of our position so we were completely unsure of where we were going. Two detours later, we eventually made it to the town of Rutherglen and the Information centre we had seen signalled a while back. The lady inside was a little too helpful since she starrted off by saying that the wineries would close in hour but when we asked which she would visit if time was limited she wanted to give us the history of each of the many estates. Her colleague seemed to read us a little better and butted in to her dismay to say we just wanted to go before they closed. Damn right we did! We hightailed it out of there en route to what was described as their number 1 winery, the aptly named Campbell's Wines. Tim was pretty happy with our choice, since he works for Campbell's Soup. We arrived at a luxurious estate amongst the vineyards and were very impressed with both their reds and fortified wines which we learnt is what the area is famous for, especially those made from the Durif grape. We left with our wallets a little lighter but our car definitely a lot heavier.

Campbell's Winery

Campbell's Vineyards

After leaving Campbell's we thought we might have time to duck into another nearby winery which was Stanton & Killeen Wines. As with Campbell's winery we liked that it was staffed by members of the family who were very knowledgeable about their products and processed. We had a lovely chat with the people there and bought some of their wine too. What most impressed us is that they have just planted Albariño grapes at their estate which will give fruit in three years. Albariño is a very popular wine in Spain (and Portugal) and I for one am very much a big fan of it and am very excited to see how it their harvest / wine turns out for them. It was such a lovely experience that I was very glad we had stopped there before they closed!

Stanton & Killeen Winery

After our very merry detour of Rutherglen, it was time to hit the road in earnest and we drove all the way down to our accomodation in Shepparton. After a great day, we were happy to arrive at our destination at last. Dinner that night was a quick bite at a local pub and then an early night's sleep. Tim would be working all week but I would be getting to know the town and just enjoying myself on a country escape!

Road trip to Shepparton Day 1 - Enchanting little Tumut

As many of you know, Tim and I are back permanently in Sydney or at least for the moment! While we were in the USA we were very lucky to explore a lot of different regions and go on lots of little road trips. One thing we kept saying was how much we wanted to get out and explore Australia together once we got back.

Pretty soon after coming home Tim was being sent down to Shepparton, Victoria for work. Since I had some free time we decided to make a little road-trip out of it. We drove down on the long weekend, then had one weekend in the middle and one at the end to explore. During the week days I would get to know Shepparton and just chill out on a country escape.

In the morning of public holiday Sunday we woke up to get ready for the trip. We had a lot on so we decided to get some incredibly lovely coffee at Maldini's Espresso in Strathfield along with a steak and mushroom pie for me and a cheese and bacon pie for Tim from the local bakery. The pies were nothing to rave about, but it was unwittingly the start of our pie journey along the rest of the road-trip.

After the pies Tim went to pick up the car from Hertz and he got back in great spirits with a bright blue SUV. It may not have a lot of power but it was at least big and comfy for the long drive.

So once we got the car packed with all our luggage - the great benefit of car versus air travel! - we were on our way. It was good to leave later on the Sunday since the traffic was good. Also, having only planned the details of the trip that morning we didn't have a reservation for the night yet. We wanted to stop at Tumut, New South Wales so we called the Best Western Motel Farrington and asked if they had vacancies. An older woman had answered the phone and let us know that they did. We asked if we needed to book in advanced or could we just turn up. She chuckled as she let us know there was no need to book ahead, only to arrive before 8:00 pm when the reception would be closing that night.

The deadline was no problem, we estimated we would arrive between 5:00 and 6:00 pm. The problem was that we did not realise the sun would set at 4:45 pm and it would be pitch black by 5:00 pm! To get to Tumut we had to exit the highway and take a very curvy and hilly road with roadwork in the dark for 45 minutes. Tim was getting a little on edge on the somewhat perilous road and said he was also beginning to think we had made a bad choice in choosing Tumut as our first destination. "What if there is nothing there?" he asked. I told him about some of the lovely places I had googled while he was collecting the car. "What if they are closed for the public holiday or close early like the Motel?" I doubted this since city people come to these places for the long weekend.

We finally arrive at around 5:30 pm (perfect timing), and checked in with no problem. It really was a no-frills motel but they had lovely customer service and were very nice and helpful with all our questions / requests. So with their directions we headed out for an early dinner at around 6:30 towards the Oriental Hotel which was only a 15 minute walk.

It was a lovely classic Australian Pub but with a revitalised, loved feeling to it. Starting with the huge Brumby Sculpture on the side of the building, following through to the warming fire in the hearth of the the Hotel and ending with the very attentive family feel to the service. So once we walked it seemed like most of the town was gathered there to dine or party. We had to excuse ourselves as we squeezed past a boisterous crew having drinks at the bar who wanted us to join them. We went straight to the Bistro line, I think I accidentally pushed in front of two other people but they insisted that we were there first and of course we had to go before them. Everyone was so friendly, it was almost unnerving. 

As we waited in line we perused the menu and were most impressed with the selection of Beef which was sourced 15 km from the hotel where it is grass grazed by local farmer and then locally butchered in town. Incidentally Tim and I just watched Food Inc this weekend and we had this sort of thing in mind and we were discussing it on the way down. Our food industry is thankfully not so bad as USA but doesn't mean we are not headed that way. So that is why we were also very happy to be supporting the local farmer and industry especially for a cow grown in ethical conditions and eating it's natural diet : grass. But I digress. We also ordered local smoked trout from Mount Kosciusko region. Tim was not sure if he would like it, but it was so beautifully fresh and flavoursome that we both really enjoyed it.

So after our delicious dinner we enjoyed some lovely fortified port which was also very good but then just had an early night since we still had a big day ahead the next day to complete the journey to Shepparton.