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.
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| Pie #1 |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| Cakes @ Holbrook Bakery |
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| Pie #4 |
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| Holbrook Bakery |
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| 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.
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| Campbell's Winery |
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| 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!
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| 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!
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