Clowning Around

I would be a lie to say all we do is work because alhough it takes up most of the time, what is the point in earning money if you don't use it. It wasn't long after we got here that we found out that Gippsland (the area we are in) and the Yarra Valley (40mins away) are wine regions and we hit the road with Inza to check out the cheese and wine.
The first winery we went to was very commercial and busy and though we found it very pretty the vibe was somewhat lacking and we stuck to small cellar doors after it. Train track was my favourite and the boys seemed to enjoy the wine (I volunteered to be designated driver for this trip). The lady doing the tasting was really friendly and chatted to us telling us about the winery not excluding the story of the moose head mounted on the wall that had a name and a monalisa eye following thing going. At one winery we bumped into ex-South Africans which was so great. I think the best part was hearing people talk normally...accent free...ahhh :) We chatted to them for ages and tasted all the wine and when we left the wine maker mentioned tht next time we come to taste we should bring our dogs and a barbeque!! I thought this was great!! The other winning point on that winery was that I was given apple juice to sip at but this turned out to start a whole conversation on pasturising. See I have to explain that by this point Inza had decided it was necessary to spice up the story that I was not tasting because I was driving and change it to a case of pregnancy. Yip, he told every wine cellar door that I was pregnant with a huge smile and watched me try defend it. By the end of the week he had told everyone on the farm and I had the paddock manager telling everyone to be nice to me and not upset the baby to everyone's hilarity!
My favourite stop overall was the dairy and we got to delve into top notch goats cheese. James was hesistant since he has not liked goats cheese before but we all enjoyed it and we ended up buying a dill cheve. The dairy's famed cheese is one covered in ash and after initial hesitation we decided we were pleasantly surprised at how nice it was!
Our last fun stop was a badly timed chocolateriere and icecreamery.... the weekend before easter! Crowds aside we ate free chocolate chips and stoked up on easter surprises and chocolate tea (which i do not recomend!!).

 The next big event was the circus. After bugging a person in a small newspaper type shop she eventually gave me a What's on in West Gippsland newspaper and I left thinking it was going to be useless. Fortuanately I read it through and found out that Australia's biggest circus was putting on shows just an hour from the farm. Trying to get the others excited and keen to join us we found out that Phillip had acually worked for Silvers Circus at the end of last year, we couldn't believe it!! He managed to get us free tickets and the whole crew of us set off to Morwell.

It was fantastic!! I loved every second and got more excited than most of the kids that were there! The drinks and snacks were sold to you by the performers and so you could meet them at the beggining and interval. I hate the magician that disappears girls and cuts people through with poles. I just dont see how its possible and its so annoying!!! My favourite was possibly the girl with the hoola hoops... probably the act I least expected to love. She was amazing and had the crowd all excited. The juggler was incredible and even though he dropped a few things nobody could help but be in awe! The clowns were entertaining and they even had a footy match done by dogs with balloons. The tightrope walker is scary and although she wasnt leagues above the ground I kept tensing. The most amazing part was when she stopped and put point shoes on and pottered back across the rope... these people are not normal and at the same time so incredible! I thought Debs would have loved seeing that! Their main act is a large ball (not large enough if you ask me) that motorbikers ride around each other in at high speed and by some miracle dont hit each other! We were allowed to take photos but I've tried to get a few off their facebook page for you :)

At the end we spoke to the main magician in charge who told us there were going to be looking for new people to join the set up team and I nearly joined right there and then. Leave potatoes behind and join the circus!!!