After a late start, Matt and Marnie went pioneering, leaving Joel, Ness, Ness' niece Alisha, her nephew Brendon, and myself to go out wine tasting and sight seeing. The girls wanted to go to this lavender farm, so we checked it out. Not much to see outside, but the inside was filled with lavender scented candles, lavender hand creams, lavender massage oils, lavender scones, and lavender tea, etc, etc. I thought that the rusting farm implements outside were more interesting:

Rusting Farm Impliments	Serene Cafe out Back	Spring Necked Birds	Lavender Hills
Rusty Hoe

Not far from Alisha and Brendon's house is an awsome waterfall where they used to go alot as kids. We leaped from boulder to boulder up and down the falls. They were much smoother and slipperier than I expected them to be, but didn't loose my footing. It was difficult, however, with a camera in hand to focus on my steps and not on the scenery. The camera also made it tricky to steady myself when climbing without it getting banged around. Brendon showed me where the water had cut the stone clear in two, with two tall, flat walls facing each other, rushing water between them. The picture makes it look bigger than it is. We stepped across the gap between those walls.

On the Edge	Rushing Water	Woolshed Falls	Joel by Falls
Alisha	Ness and Joel by the Falls	Stone Walls

Beechworth is a really interesting town, preserved in its century old gold mining appearance. The edges of the streets have a deep cobblestone gutter for drainage with stone footbridges from the street to the footpath. Like a classic American westen film, the old looking stores have wooden banister balconies with ornate trim and brickwork, but have modern looking finishes inside. One of the buildings had "Telegraph Station" chiseled into the stonework. Expecting to find a mobile phone store or an internet cafe cleverly stationed there, I was shocked to find an actual telegraph machine inside, clicking away! It's more of a museum than an actual telegraph, but for $2, you can send a message anywhere in Australia. We ate at the famous Beechworth bakery (which was packed) and toured the lolly shop next door. We also saw a cell where Ned Kelly once stayed. Ness says that alot of the history about Ned Kelly is mixed up in folklore, but it was neat to see nonetheless.

Telegraph Station	Telegraph Machine	Sign Outside Cell	Ned Kelly's Cell
Thick Walls	Moden Lock

None of the others had been wine tasting yet, and so I volunteered to drive, having already had my fill. We drove through Rutherglen to visit some small and large family run wineries. We went to Chambers, Anderson's, and Rutherglen Estates. Everyone swished and stirred, smelled and tasted, using a unique wine tasting language reserved for describing specific flavors and textures. I had no idea what it all meant. If something tastes good, I like it. If not, I dont. I can't tell a shiraz from a merlot from a fortified port. Not to say that wine connoisseurs are silly, but just that my knowledge of wine is not nearly as refined as most. We also stopped by Gooramadda Olivery and sampled olives and olive paste and olive oil. They had all different kinds arrayed like wine samples for tasting. I dont like olives, but made the effort, tasting one of each, to at least confirm my possible overgeneralization... But, I still don't like olives.

Rusty Wine Press	Self Serve at Chambers	Anderson's Winery	Rutherglen Estates
Gooramadda Olivery

We took some fresh olive oil, crusty bread, olive paste, and a bottle of wine and block of cheese to a park just across the border into New South Wales. A cold fast-moving river flowed through it. We sat on the grass by the river, enjoying the sunshine and wine and the company. The bread and olive oil was pretty good too, especially when sprinkled with the seed and spice mix we got from the olive place.

Yep, It's Cold Alright!

Picnic by River

Sampling the Olive Paste

Sun on Water

By then we were late for our dinner date with Unkle Hartmann and his family. We headed off as the sun was setting, concious of the car's nearly empty petrol tank, but even more concious of the time. We got to the Muellers with little trouble and had a wonderful roast turkey dinner. Unkle Hartmann showed us an antique FM radio which he bought in Berlin, and rewired to work in Australia. He told us the story of how he was able to pick up an american broadcast being relayed from an Australian tower hundreds of miles away by rigging up a really high makeshift aerial (antenna). One day, the transmission just stopped, so he called up the station to complain. They said, there just wasn't enough interest in FM to keep it going!

Old Radio	Tubes	Serving Dessert	Bush Witnessing Stories
Tunny Shows us Some Photos

There were no servos (petrol (gas) stations) open in the small town where Unkle Hartmann lives. So, dangerously low on petrol, we drove to the next town, and they were all closed as well. The needle was now on the second line past the red zone of the gas gauge, and we had 50km between us and Wodonga where we were staying. It was about midnight when the engine started sputtering. I could hear Simon and Garfunkel playing in my head as the car ground to a halt on the side of the Hume highway, a sign reading "Wodonga, 2km" appearing and dissappearing in time with our hazard lights just in front of the car. We had to call Peter, wake him up, and ask him to come help us. We felt terrible about waking him up, but there was no other option. We should have gotten gas earlier in the day. We amused ourselves while awaiting our rescue by turning off the car lights, pointing the camera at oncomming traffic, and setting off the flash just as the unsuspecting drivers went past, mimicing the speed cameras set up across Australia. We had a good laugh about the terrified looks they must have had on their faces, thinking they'd be soon delivered a speeding ticket.

Two Second Car

Four Second Truck

Peter to the Rescue

At the Side of the Road