Off into the country again for a few days...up the Hume Highway across the Great Dividing Range to Beechworth to the the home of Jean, a mutual friend who met Hans with Gabby and I in 2007 in Asolo.
The land is generally flat on the other side of the divide but around Beechworth are rolling hills with beef and sheep farms and more lately wineries and olive groves. This time of the year the grass dries out and the hues are generally browns and golds with the native trees providing an Australian shade of green.
On the way up we stopped in the gourmet region of Milawa famous for it's wines, cheeses, mustards and other gastronomic distractions. We stocked up on some goodies to be consumed later...
Jean's house, an 'old' (by Australian standards) local granite house built in the 1860's about a decade after the establishment of Beechworth.
Jean's place is surrounded by trees and gardens which were soothingly cool in the heat. Next few days were about 32°c but a clear heat.
Jean's kitchen.
Gabby made a batch of scones so we retired to the comfort of the verandah.
Scones, tea, double cream and locally made raspberry jam...yum!
Then before dinner we drove around the Beechworth Gorge just above Jean's house.
The Cascades in the Gorge. This time of year the water levels are a bit low but at least they are flowing. You can;t get a sense of the drop here but they flow down over a series of drops through pools in eroded in the rocks. Great on a hot summers day...well, we weren't prepared to get into our bathers but I'm sure it would be nice...
Cascades
Gabby and Hans at the cascades
Han's pano of The Cascades
Pre dinner drinks and nibbles in the garden
We bought brie, blue vein and, to Han's delight, Tomme in Milawa. I'll leave it up to Hans to assess the quality but needless to say he was surprised to see tome outside of France.
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