Beechworth and Wineries

After our wonderful hike and park visit we headed to the wineries.  Everyone we meet tells us how lucky we are as it is usually very dry, hot and brown.  The vegetation could not be greener.  Everything is so lush, and the temperatures are most pleasant.
We were in the Yarra Valley that is filled with wineries.  This part of Australia was on fire only two years ago.   We by-passed a town Merryville, that was totally destroyed.  In a winery museum we saw a book  titled "In Memory" with pictures of the town as it was.  There is nothing there now but cheap land according to a young man who filled us in  on regional knowledge. 
There  are wineries everywhere and all were tempting.  We had some of the best I ever had, which of course, do not go to the states.  We stopped in an old gold mining town Beechworth and enjoyed an evening there.  The bakery was the hotspot in the morning and full of the locals.  From there we travelled to a gourmet region, Milawa tasting olives, cheeses and more wines. 
During this jaunt we saw beautiful scenery driving at some points over gravel roads on very high rolling hills that looked like landscape paintings. 
We then decided to head to the High Country.  We were assured by the tourist information center (these are everywhere and usually staffed by an older very knowledgeable individual) that this would be a beautiful drive telling us places to stop along the way.  It was beautiful and isolated but ended up being tough driving.  We spent at least two hours on gravel roads with deep ruts in many areas.  These were  switchback slow going roads.  We did stop at one of the suggested sites hiking about a mile to a waterfall.  We had hoped to see some wildlife especially a wombat, but these are nocturnal animals and the best chances are at night.  We did see a very unusual deer so at least one wildlie sighting!  There was no time to hike to the other suggested sites as we were weary and afraid we would be stuck out there at night.   There was an easier way to reach our destination but we wanted to see Australian ski resorts and the famous snowy river region.  The ski resorts are totally different from ours and practically empty in summer.  The lift tickets here are the most expensive in the world.  I now know why there are so many Australians in Beaver Creek in the winter.  That was the most driving I had done in one day and would not recommend it.  On the other hand I am glad I drove the "Alpine Way" once!

Hot spot!

Typical architecture

Coffee shop

Old Courthouse in Beechworth 

Jail

Cliff admiring chesses

Brown Brothers Winery

Tasting

Italian winery

Tarrawarra Winery Vineyards

On to Canberra!