June 19-20 Ballet and Wineries

Today I had work at higher ground and then finished seeing the immigration museum- the modern wing and the Li Cunxin exhibit. The modern wing was nothing special to me, but the Li Cunxin exhibit was extremely fascinating, reflecting on the life of world-renowned ballet dancer, Li Cunxin, from China, who excelled in his sport all around the world including in America and Australia. I took pictures of his dance shoes because I found them very inspiring. The Chinese on his shoes translates to “fly”. How stunning is that. What if we all chose and wrote down one thing we were striving for on our shoes?

The next day in the morning was a day I had been waiting for for ages! James picked up Ke and I and we all headed out to Mornington Peninsula. Mornington Peninsula is a wine region around an hour and twenty minutes away from the city center in Melbourne. In addition to their wineries and cute little town, they are also well known for their hot springs. One of my all time favorite hobbies in life is learning about wine and seeing different wine regions. Last summer I went to Bourdeaux in France, and a few summers before that I was in Tuscany, Italy. These are treasured experiences (I cried in Bordeaux because it was so legit!!), better than any souvenir in my opinion!

Back to today - we went to a few wineries: Stonier, Port Phillip Estate and Crittenden Estate. (Can't forget to mention the amazing orange poppyseed cake I had at the Merrick's General Wine Store next to Stonier, and the cheesecake the boys had!)

The area of Mornington had some rolling hills of vines, but was nothing like I anticipated. The vines were also very bare because it wasn't the proper season for the grapes- but we used our imaginations to picture how the vineyards would look! All of the wine tastings were free except for the Crittenden one. That is a pretty good deal for going around all afternoon tasting 7-10 different wines at each place! Some of the wines stood out, but overall the wine I loved the most was the moscato at Crittenden. I wouldn't typically choose a moscato as my favorite out of a day of trying different wines, but this one was extraordinary. We had an awesome day exploring and one of my favorite parts must've been our side conversations about which wines we liked/disliked and why, but I would be lying if I said it was the best wine region I'd seen! So happy I got to see it though before leaving Melbourne, and grateful that James was our responsible driver. Here are some pictures from the day:

(Stonier winery)

(Stonier winery)

(Port Phillip Estate)

(Port Phillip Estate- in my element!!)

(Port Phillip Estate)

(Crittenden Estate)

(Crittenden Estate)

(Trying to enjoy delicious wine and still learn about the wine gets hard by the end!)

Afterwards we made an effort to eat fish and chips because it's a super coastal town, then got back into town late.

You won't believe what happened next. Since Ke works at a sushi restaurant, he gets as many sushi leftovers as he wants after the restaurant closes at 7. Ke and I swooped in to pick up sushi from the restaurant and brought them back for all the roommates. Boy, was I full that night.