Grape picking at Zante Estate winery

A big thanks to Duane from the office, for inviting us out to his family’s winery in Moorooduc to pick grapes.

Donna, Ken & I travelled 90 minutes to the other side of the bay to Zante Estate winery, where we experienced the art of hand-picking Chardonnay (the other varieties weren’t ready yet). Today’s gallery shows some of the fun we had, but the best part of all was eating and drinking during the break.

Our hosts put on the tastiest Greek food I can ever remember eating. Delicious marinated meats, dips, home-grown salad etc. And some Retsina wine that is normally only made for the family. Great stuff – apparently made with pine resin! If you don’t believe me go look it up on Wikipedia. They were even so nice as to give me six bottles to take home afterwards! It’s very refreshing and should be drunk very cold. Has a white wine flavour initially, with a kind of Greek spirit kick to it once you “chew” on it for a moment.
Of course I also purchased a mixed dozen of their retail range, and will try them out in the next few months.

Thanks again Duane – it was great to see the wine-making process, and to meet your family.

Taste – Toorak Lion, 4th Jan 2008

Does anybody remember Taste?

It was the mid-70s, and Aussie rock was exciting! Taste was dubbed Australia’s answer to Queen, and after two albums really looked like taking the next step. Their sound was sophisticated with big harmonies, and they didn’t present banal lyrics about parties & girls like so many others did at the time. Something went wrong, and after “Tickle Your Fancy” and “A Little Romance” coloured the radio waves, Taste disappeared. Their drummer, Virgil Donati, went on to be one of rock’s most respected and well-known drummers, whilst the other three band members continued their own musical paths separately, but quite successfully in their own right.

Today, 30 years on, Taste has reformed with a young gun on drums to replace Virgil, and an awesome album that blows away much of what we are fed on rock radio these days. “Rock Is Dead” is a must-own, and Taste as a live band today more than lives up to the legacy of their history.

Click to view the rest of Taste’s photo gallery

Goodbye Robert Heatley, hello Chris Judd

Today’s post is not so much about photography. In fact these two are below-average photos taken on my Dopod 838 Pro (that’s my phone). I look forward to a phone that carries a quality sensor and good glass.

I spent Friday afternoon at Princes Park in Carlton, watching Chris Judd’s first run with the Blues, in a practice match against the Western Bulldogs. He played as you would expect him to – like it is only him and the ball out there on the park. It’s going to be an exciting year!

More important was the final chance to farewell the legendary Robert Heatley Stand, which has stood for everything that Carlton fans hold dear about their club, but is about to be demolished to make way for redevelopment. This shot was taken from the stand at half time, as the fans played kick to kick on the ground. Ah, those were the days.

Two things stood out as I sat quietly in the stand, observing human behaviour around me. One is that no-one ever seems to get hit by a stray football. You can see how many people are on the ground, and there seems to be a football for at least every four people out there. Yet, every flying football I could track seemed to land safely on the ground.

The second is that most football fans are not exactly mental giants, and many are simply oafs.
At a game in which coaches should be experimenting with every idea under the sun, we still have the crowd roaring disapprovingly whenever too many handpasses are strung together, or an obvious passing option is ignored for the more risky centering ball. I just shake my head in tired amusement, never surprised, but always wondering why people around me can’t see the things that I can.

The oafs are the ones that simply must abuse anything on the park that is not wearing the colours of their team. Never mind that the eyesight of these oafs is clearly sub-standard, and those that wear glasses to assist seem not to understand the rules of football! Never mind that every noise that comes out of their mouth (because they are just noises, not words) explodes like a projectile into an atmosphere of women, children, small dogs and other oafs with the volume and venom more reasonably attributed to someone at war!

Football grounds are fascinating places, and a little chilling at times. I looked around me as I kept shifting in my old boarded seat, and wondered how many of the people here today were part of the “Carlton Crew”, or which of them ran the local crime syndicate. After having watched a couple of episodes of Underbelly, in which the Robert Heatley Stand was the meeting place mid-week for Melbourne’s most notorious gang members, I couldn’t stop myself from wondering “how many murderers and drug-dealers have I sat next to, possibly even shared a laugh or a clap on the back with?”. Now that the old stand is being demolished, I can satisfy myself with the knowledge that the MCG Great Southern Stand and any part of the Docklands Stadium doesn’t hold enough character for these types. This season I’ll be cheering on Chris Judd as he delivers a perfect pass into the chest of the Fev, safe in the knowledge that I will be sitting with harmless, common oafs.