R D Mathur's Blog

Yesterday was my wife’s 60 th birthday and we decided to celebrate it in Yarra Valley . It took us over an hour, to drive 62 kms; from we are staying in Melbourne through beautiful hilly roads and reach De Bortoli a family owned winery.  In 1928, Vittorio De Bortoli bought 64 acres of land in New South Wales and later moved to Victoria in Yarra Valley.  Today the 3 rd generation of De Bortoli family owns 500 acres and is one of the larger privately owned companies in Australia .  Do Bortoli Vineyard Their restaurant, Locale is built at a height giving a very good view of the vineyards and the food is fresh and fabulous.  Cheese tasting   We thoroughly enjoyed our food @ Locale consisting of a selection of salumi and seasonal savoury antipasti for starters and for the main course, Potato gnocchi with pork shoulder ragu, Saffron and cuttlefish risotto, Fresh spaghettini with diamond shell clams & mussels and Potato & mas...

We spent our last weekend in paradise, Paynesville near Lakes Entrance, Gippsland where Lakes meets the Southern Ocean. Paynesville, also known as the boating and fishing capital of Victoria is approx 320 kms from Melbourne, a non-stop drive of about 3 ½ hours. There are a couple of beautiful stops like Taralgon on the way, where you could stop for coffee or an ice cream.  It is also famous as a seafood capital due to the large number of fishing trawlers. We reached late on Friday night but early Saturday morning went to Fisherman's Wharf Pavilion for breakfast. It is right in the heart of the city on the Esplanade, overlooking the bay. Our breakfast of Bacon and Eggs, hot Banana Bread, fresh Orange Juice and coffee was quite good. The ambience was super, though it was a warm morning.  Almost all house have access to the water, so in the front you have a car and in the rear a boat.  Fisherman's Wharf Pavillion  The ferry to Raymond Island Aft...

Melbourne has many parks but there is none like Royal Albert Park, right in the heart of CBD Melbourne about 4 kms away. It covers an area of 181 hectares and is one of my   favourite places in Melbourne. Walking here is a divine experience.  The beautiful Albert Park In addition to many sporting facilities here such as North Park Tennis Club , Royal Park Golf Course , football & soccer ovals, baseball & cricket pitches , State Netball & Hockey Centre, cycling & walking paths, the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit also passes through this park. The grassy hill between the Royal Children's Hospital and the Native Garden is ideal for kite flying during the day. In summers Astronomical Society of Victoria sets up telescopes and conduct evening talks and tours of the night sky from this vantage point.  Apart from wide grassland and lightly timbered areas, there are many trees such as eucalypts , C asuarina and A acacias .   In 2005 a wetlands wa...