Evan and I first met three years ago on an exchange program in Bangkok, Thailand. We became fast friends and, along with a tight group of other exchange students, spent almost all of our free time exploring Thailand’s incredible islands and northern regions. Later that same year (2007) Evan came and stayed with my family for two weeks in Saskatoon and everyone fell in love with him.
During our exchange we fended off a few questions about being more than friends but what people didn’t understand is the thought of anything romantic makes us both sick. Ours is strictly a relationship based on friendship and we call each other brother and sister. We picked up right where we left off and it was like we had just seen one another yesterday. I think it’s a testament to our friendship that things haven’t changed and we still get along so well. I’ve been meaning to visit his home in Melbourne for a long time; especially after hearing how incredible the city is and felt my Australian journey couldn’t end better.
Evan, his girlfriend Beth and mom Robbie met me at the airport and took me straight out to Robbie’s house in Healesville, a town in the Yarra Valley wine region, about an hour east of Melbourne. Robbie made me feel completely comfortable and right at home. The first thing she did was thank me for taking care of Evan in Canada (he had been going through a bit of a rough time then) and sending thanks to my mom for treating him like a second son.
We spent most of the next two days sitting in Robbie’s beautiful back yard visiting and telling stories, with a bit of cooking and wine drinking thrown in. Beth’s a pretty magical person and the perfect counter-part for Evan’s dry sense of humour. She’s just as good as throwing out sarcasm and jokes to keep you on your toes and is incredibly intelligent. I told Evan he’s lucky to have her and he agreed wholeheartedly.
Later on Thursday afternoon we went for a drive in the gorgeous Yarra Valley out to the De Bortoli vineyard for a two hour wine, port and cheese tasting session. The Yarra Valley is even more picturesque than the Hunter Valley, north of Sydney, which Dane and I visited. The rows of grapes go on for miles over the hills and each row is flanked by a rose bush which enables the growers to quickly tell if there is disease or a bug infestation. It’s amazing the valley recovered as well as it did after the horrific Black Saturday fires on February 7 last year. The fires spread at impossible speeds of over 100 km/h and flames jumped up to 20 km. Robbie pointed out the swaths of land that were literally cleared by the fire and farms along the way that were spared and those that were lost. The fires were completely unpredictable and people were told to evacuate but then found the only roads out were blocked by fire or fallen trees. Robbie evacuated her own home as did many of her friends and neighbours. She told me about one of her co-workers battling the fires with her husband, fighting to save their property and about another woman who lost everything. Robbie said when she evacuated her own property she was in such a panic that she didn’t know what to pack or bring and ended up not bringing much of anything. She said in moments like that all that really matters is you and the people you care about. Possessions take a back seat. Most everyone is on bush fire alert in Australia, especially here in Victoria where they have been suffering a drought for about ten years. Beth said her mom keeps a basket by the door with important papers and documents to take with her in case of a fire- something I’ve never thought of preparing at home.
Friday we made a trip over to the Healesville Sanctuary, which is famous in Victoria for its conservation programs, animal hospital and wide array of native Australian animals. I got to see a demonstration with one of my favourites- the wombat- and also saw several platypuses for the first time. Wombats are pretty cool creatures. They have a big, round bum that has a wide plate of bone, enabling them to ram and crush creatures that try to come in their holes and eat them. They’re independent and like to be alone and walk with a distinctive waddle. The platypus is a playful, pretty little thing and we watched one easily for ten minutes while it flipped around and around with a long leaf, catching it and then stopping to see if we were watching.
Then it was back to Melbourne and I went off to stay with Jenna, who is dating Beth’s brother Jesse. Jesse is in Vietnam on an engineering internship and Jenna was more than happy to take me in. Evan and Beth have been staying with Beth’s sister until they find a house to rent (they recently returned from a long trip in Central America.) And now it’s time to explore Melbourne- the city I’ve heard so much about and have been told I’ll love. We’ll see...
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Glad to hear you found our part of the world so engrossing. Having lived in both the Hunter Valley and now the Yarra Valley, it is here in Victoria that you can experience one of the world's great regions ( for wine, food, wildlife and so much more ). It may seem that we are experiencing "heightened bushfire alert" but thsi year has been one of the more balanced summer's with plenty of rain and very little "real" threat or activity of fire ( unlike same time last year when massive destruction was fely on Black Saturday.
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