Stinky Friday

Bendigo on Friday was a day filled with local experiences, delicious food (of course) and stinky cheese. We started the day at Bendigo Pottery where it took every ounce of willpower to NOT purchase all of the great pottery that was available. I’m proud to report that I managed to talk both Aaron and Jen off of the ledge…Aaron was eying a gigantic red vase made by a local artist (beautiful, but really, how is he going to get that home) and Jen was considering the purchase of a large white tray (she eats cake mix…need I say more?!).

Most of us walked away with a few small purchases…after all, pottery can be heavy and two of us have already paid the overweight charge on luggage on the way out here. Shopping always brings on an appetite, so our next obvious stop was at Big Hill Winery where we sampled (drank) our fair share of Shiraz (the regional recommendation) and had one of the best lunches to date. With some time to spare, we visited the Central Deborah Mine for a bit of culture and history. After such an exhausting morning, we all returned to our host families for a little nap prior to the evening gathering in Sutton Grange.

Jen’s host family lives on a working sheep farm in the valley of Mt Alexander. Imagine a small cluster of granite buildings (built in the 1870s) in the middle of the open range with the mountain as your backyard. Picturesque is an understatement. After we all had a chance to tour the property and learn about the history of the buildings and the farmstead, we settled in for a relaxing evening of great food, amazing local wine (provided by a fellow Rotarian who owns a vineyard) and the stinkiest cheese we’ve ever had in our lives!

It was the night when Matt again surprised all of us by eating this cheese not just once, but TWICE. The cheese was a source of delight for the cheese conisseures among us, but also served as entertainment for those of us who couldn’t appreciate such a pungent treat. So the biggest question is, “why did Matt eat it twice if it was so bad?

According to Matt, he doubted his taste buds and seriously doubted something could taste so bad. We have some photos if you want to see the real reaction. No offense, Heather and Andrew – your party was PHENOMENAL, but the cheese was not a hit with the Americans. We can appreciate fine wine, but our palette has yet to learn cheese.

P.S. – to our American Friends – all of us have now managed to see kangaroos in the wild…. So quit asking - it’s like seeing a wild deer in Nebraska.