#wine – Not The Daily Grind

The month of October was one of exploration and travel. Looking back, I think it was one of my favourite months of the year.

The first weekend in October marks the Labor Day public holiday in New South Wales and as annual leave is often limited, Mr B and I decided to make the most of the long weekend by heading off to South Australia for three days of indulgence in the Barossa Valley.

The Barossa Valley is simply breathtaking. I cannot tell you enough how stunning this part of the world actually is. Rolling hills, quaint villages and some of the world’s finest shiraz can be found only a short drive from the city of Adelaide.

I got my first real wine tasting experience in 2009 when I left the UK to travel around South America, where I ended up cycling through the vineyards of Mendoza in Argentina. Since then, I have been lucky enough to visit a few more.

One of the great things about living in Australia is going on a classic road trip through the local wine regions. There is just something so fabulously exhilarating about driving through spectacular countryside, stopping for lunch at quaint little cellar doors and stocking up on fine wines, cheeses and ports for an evening of pure indulgence. Especially in an age when carbs, sugar, dairy, wheat and everything edible is supposedly bad for you.

So Mr B and I made the most of it by hiring a car, hitting up the cellar doors and having a damn good time in one of the most picturesque places on earth. We saw fields of lavender and deadly brown snakes, we ate cheese, bread AND chocolate and drank plenty of red wine. We didn’t want to leave.

Back in Sydney, the rest of the month saw further adventures. There was a girls’ camping trip to Putty Beach on the Central Coast; nights out with friends on the harbour and my ‘appearance’ in Katie Quinn Davies’ second cookbook, What Katie Ate at the Weekend, which I wrote about back in April. Okay, so you can only see the top of my head and my right cheek, but it is a claim to fame I am taking, especially as it topped off an utterly fabulous month.

This was my October.