Food & Wine Tour - November 2015

AliceD

We have a free day before our tour starts in Melbourne on 11/16/15. We are interested in the Vinetrekker food and wine tours. There are three tours available; Yarra Valley, Mornington Peninsula and Macedon Ranges. Are there any recommendations as to which area to visit? Or perhaps we should forego the food and wine and visit the little penguins! Thanks for your thoughts.

British

First thing I would recommend is if you can change your arrival in Melbourne and give yourself two to three days before the tour begins, it will give you some time to get over jet lag and to enjoy some of Melbourne before you visit the wine areas or the Penguins. There is so much to be seen in the city and to get the feel of the place and it means you are near the hotel if you begin to feel very tired. Guaranteed, you can sleep on the bus but just seems such a shame to miss the scenery. If you look back on the forums including the separate Australia and New Zealand forums, you will find lots of information. Bare in mind that the tour has changed over the past couple of years, such as the tram ride and dinner is no longer included and the hotels especially in New Zealand have changed. Any thing you see written by Jan you can guarantee is correct, since she lives in Melbourne, she is not around at the moment, she is probably traveling for six or more weeks so I guess she has no time for the forum right now. If you put Little penguins in the search or other places you might like in Melbourne on the forum search area, there is a lot of tips and information. Another tip is to follow the topics that have a lot of replies first because they often go off on to another completely different turn, like Penguins! Melbourne is a great place to visit , just get there earlier if you can.

jdurkin

Hi Alice,

I agree wholeheartedly with British's suggestion that you need more than 1 day to count as "extra time" in Melbourne. I have been told so many times that Americans don't suffer from jet lag. I'm an Australian and I've been travelling all my life and that means long, long haul flights to get almost anywhere else in the world. I get jet lag. I haven't grown out of it, either. I would love to know your secret. Not joking, I really would. But if I didn't always make extra time in faraway cities to get into the new time zone, I wouldn't have fallen in love with San Francisco, Boston, Denver, Seattle ... Not to mention London, Basel, Amsterdam, Dunedin ..... I could go on, but that's just the last few year's worth.

So, wine and food or penguins. And every one a winner! And every one unique. Roll up, roll up!

Each wine region is different ... and yes, that unique word again. But I have to say, any of the 3 regions would make a wonderful day trip. I haven't taken a food and wine trip, per se, of the Macedon area, but like wine trips everywhere in the world this one will take you through beautiful countryside, made even more beautiful by rows of vines. Each area has wonderful wines ... and food. You could go eany, meany, miny, mo .... honestly. Each region is about equidistant from Melbourne.

The penguin trip is a full afternoon and evening or at the most basic a late afternoon and evening trip, again through lovely countryside. These little creatures are delightful. Small Italian waiters tottering up the beach with full bellies rather than full trays.

You could, however, visit the not-so-secret penguin colony in suburban Melbourne ... a short taxi ride from your hotel. No tourist, dazzle dazzle here, just the little fellows in their natural digs. Literally.

Happy to help with further suggestions or tips, but do try to arrive a little earlier than 1 day. Your inner time clocks will thank you.

Cheers,

Jan

tomh

Re jet lag. I totally agree with Jan. Everyone suffers from it, even the astronauts. I read somewhere recently that NASA has worked on the problem of jet lag for years and has never come up with a way to negate it. We are all humans, it is what it is.

Ron and Vicki

Hello AliceD,

Ron & I are arriving in Melbourne on 11/15/2015 for the tour that begins on 11/16. It is our 2nd Tauck trip and first time in Australia & New Zealand. We cannot share first-hand experience, but if you would like to kibbitz about this exciting trip, please contact us.

Vicki
vreder@medical-writer.com

crackers54

I usually arrive and do what I can to stay awake till at least 9, get a good nights sleep, and am usually good to go. It even worked for Aus/NZ.