Yarra Valley Wineries and Healesville Sanctuary
Healesville Native Wildlife Sanctuary
Monday Rich and I took a paid tour to the upper Yarra Valley for two fabulous attractions – the Healesville Sanctuary and winery tours. We started off with a first-class guided tour of Australian marsupials and other unique animals and birds.
The Healesville Sanctuary is part of the Zoos Victoria System, but is situated on part of the former Coranderrk Aboriginal Reserve, some of the only remaining acres of native bushlands in the valley. We saw koalas, emus, wombats, dingoes, kookaburra, Tassie Devils, wallabies, kangaroos and platypuses.
The poor little Tassie Devils are apparently very endangered because of a contagious mouth cancer that has reduced their population by 85% since the 1990’s. This one didn’t want to sit still long enough for a good photo of its pink ears that help give it its name.
The kangaroos were pretty much all just lolling about in the grass. This one was the only one that would get up on its feet. “Skippy” they are affectionately called, after a children’s television show. Fun fact, kangaroos can have 3 babies at once – one jumping along, one in the pouch and one in utero. And Mamma kangaroo has the ability to pause development of the embryo until the previous joey has left the pouch (embriyonic diapause).
Foodie Time
After a morning with the wildlife we headed to Yarra Station vineyards for lunch and wine-tasting. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir seem to be the grapes of choice in the Yarra Valley. There sure seemed to be vineyards everywhere, and belonging to some very well know outfits too.
Grape vines were originally planted here 180 years ago and the industry thrived during the 19th century by selling to British and European markets. The wineries died out in the 1920’s and weren’t replanted until around the 1970’s. It’s now one of the worlds leading cold climate wine growing regions.
We had a very enjoyable time tasting some of the smoothest Chardonnays and Pinots, some Sauvignon and Cuvée and a number of dessert wines. The second winery we visited, De Bortoli, paired the wine tastings with imported cheeses. Delicious!
For anyone interested in checking out Yarra Valley wines 2015 seems to have been the best year on record. Another interesting thing to note is the lack of corks. Every wine is screw top.