Canberra visit and busy times!

Wow…busy times! Being dual citizens, we do have to have valid passports for both nationalities, so we figured we would go to Canberra and take care of one, one at the time!

So here we are, in Canberra, and with the passport formalities over and done with, just what is there to do in Canberra, especially if you like me, are here for the first time?

Canberra is the capital of Australia, so museums…..and more museums, and then the governing bodies and Capital Hill. This is all part of ACT, or Australian Capital Territory, Wiki link.

There are plenty of wineries and even microbreweries to visit.

We decided to do two wineries, Affleck was the first, Affleck, where we found a lovely rose made from Pinot noir grapes, 2016. Just lovely strawberry pink flavours, not sweet but still full bodied and lovely. So wonderful!

Tnen we went to a biodynamic winery Lark Hill Winery where we enjoyed a wine tasting and lunch! Wine….we tasted their Riesling (nice!), the Chardonnay 2015, Gruner Veltliner, and blend mr V. I also had the Sangiovese, Dh had the Sangiovese, the Pinot noir, the Cabernet Savignon reserve, and that was it.

Um…the white wines were very good, we were told that Lark hill was the first winery in Australia to have the Gruner Veltliner in 2009, with Hahndorf Hill Winery as no two in 2010. We ended up buying a bottle, just hate not driving and flying home, the Gruener veltliner was that nice. As to the Chardonnay….at 45 dollars, nah…it is good but as you know, Taylors in Auburn SA have the best variety and bang for the buck Chardonnay, and afull ten bucks less. Plus, this is the top of the line Chardy fromTaylors, Jaraman or Taylor’s estate are good as well, and can give this a run anyday. Glad we established that.

The lunch restaurant at Lark Hill…..just lovely. Good food and nice view and another go at the wines. Whites are good when you have some foods to stretch it further,  the reds can’t give the SA reds any competition at all. Bowen estate…your Cab sav is glorious.

Went back to Canberra and decided to give Bentspoke microbrewery a go. link

And they turn 3 on the 4th of June. Just wow on their IPA and double hopped IPA!

 

Food n wine etc in Canberra, the cafe by the visitors centre was pretty good. And we stayed at Peppers hotel with the very nice restaurant Bicicletta nearby. Pizzas and nice ITalian food, oh yum. For breakfast and just a fabulous time, food and fabulous service

this

just caps the globe by being wonderful. Oh ..repetition….because…..NICE. By the same token, just stay away from dinner at A Baker, the diners at the table next to us were grumpy and disappointed but as our cured meat entree was good, we soldered on to our mains, to be greeted by the toughest cooked mushroom ever. When Japnese mushrooms rival meat or rope in consistency…then it is bad. To our astonished eyes, the whole kitchen was in chaos and why would you have so many employees for the #of guests. None of my business, but then the mains must be quicker and better served with so many employees !!

It was so bad after A Baker that we went to Bicicletta and had a pizza to top up and remove the taste.  Yes it is us……it was that strange.

 

Tomorrow….we shall see. Mocan and green grout here we come! Their gravlax and avocado toast was yummy today. Reminds me a bit of Percy and Percy in Bendigo.  So this was mostly about food n wine inCanberra.

More…later.