Last weekend we headed out of the city for the weekend. We went to Holbrook, which is a small town on the border with New South Wales. My future daughter-in-law's parents live there and we drove the four hour journey along the Hume Highway to see them, which was great fun, and to enjoy the heat coming off their giant wood burning stove in their sitting room - bliss!
On the way we stopped off in Beechworth, famous in Australia for its honey. It's a nice little town but when we arrived it was blanketed in a fine, very wetting, drizzle which did not enhance our visit one little bit. However we walked up the street to the honey emporium at the top of the hill. I bought a jar of feather wood and wild flower honey which was very fragrant and delicious on the end of a sample lolly stick. We then walked back down the street and stopped for lunch in a cafe attached to the local brewery, and then drove on to complete our journey to Holbrook.
I think nearly all the trees are eucalyptus of different varieties. Their blue-grey is really only broken up by small yellow-flowering wattle trees. I am sure there are others in the mix but unfortunately I don't know what they are.
The building below housed Chinese immigrant workers on the vineyard during the 1860s and 70s. It's dark inside and full of holes.
There was a sharp frost on Sunday morning but the sun was shining and the sky was blue. A rare day of weather for me during this trip!
and local cheeses. Note the name, Boosey Creek. We passed some creeks with fantastic names as we drove along the Hume Highway. I wrote some down. Sweetwater Creek, Honeysuckle Creek, Rocky Waterholes Creek, Indigo Creek, Woolshed Creek (where I saw 3 kangaroos), Murdering Hut Creek.
and there were stalls with colourful, fresh vegetables
some wizard goat sausages to sample,
and, as we left the market, some lovely golden wattle trees, the national flower of Australia.
On the way we stopped off in Beechworth, famous in Australia for its honey. It's a nice little town but when we arrived it was blanketed in a fine, very wetting, drizzle which did not enhance our visit one little bit. However we walked up the street to the honey emporium at the top of the hill. I bought a jar of feather wood and wild flower honey which was very fragrant and delicious on the end of a sample lolly stick. We then walked back down the street and stopped for lunch in a cafe attached to the local brewery, and then drove on to complete our journey to Holbrook.
I have passed this way before. However, it was on the overnight train to Sydney and I saw nothing of the countryside, so it was good to be able to see it all, looking remarkably green and quite pastoral.
On Saturday we drove over towards Rutherglen, the wine region of Victoria, situated between Yarrawonga and Wodonga, not far from the Murray River.
We drove past lots of vineyards. This very imposing building overlooks the Olive Hills Winery,
and this is the All Saints Winery.
Holbrook is a small town, nothing special, but it does have a submarine! And until last Sunday it was a yellow submarine! A bit random, but fun! Some dedicated folks knitted it a yellow cardie!
After checking out the submarine we drove back to Rutherglen to visit the Sunday morning farmer's market.
The sun shone, the produce was lovely …. nashi pears
tiny yellow cherry tomatoes
a lady in avocado, selling avocados
The sun shone through jars of luscious preserved cherries,
and a young customer dressed in her Sunday best!
Local squash, and some super-warm alpaca knitted boots
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