Diesel welcomed all wine doggies, great and small, to Sandridge Beach in Port Melbourne Sunday morning. All guests were greeted with wagging tails and lots of licks! The sky was moody with clouds, but with paws crossed, the meet and greet commenced. Some introductions amongst the two and four legged wine tourers, and the group were off to collect morning tea from Mr Lawrence at The London. Then all aboard to the Mornington Peninsula! As everyone settled into their seats (some pups needed two seats our special friends Tekken and Franklin while Chloe and Toby nestled next to their Mum and Dad. Hollie was very proud of winning the on board competition and now her mum will be able to visit the Great Ocean Road and find all the cool places to visit.
The first tasting of the day was at Willow Creek, where Peter made sure the wine glasses were full (to tasting level, of course) and the olive oil was plentiful. Luke, the Dog Carer and Assistant Host kept a watchful eye on the bread. The theme of the day was who could carry Gelly’s ball around. She was such a good sport and her ball was in high demand all day with Diesel and Hollie in competition, or was this the beginning of a budding kelpie romance? The other pups were up to mischief and burning off some steam in the grassy area. Franklin was just running in circles trying to get into the love triangle. Buddy was muddy, but was having an absolute ball of a time. Toby and Chloe posed for a little bread crust tasting and little Maddie hung out near the wine table. Good thinking, Maddie! Tekken was participating in some great photo shoots with his parents. Then back on the bus with some paw service from Luke who was wiping muddy paws before boarding.
Flinders Beach brought fabulous splashing and SUN! The clouds had parted for some off lead beach time! Back to the bus and we found the twelve Aston Martin’s had pulled up next to the coach! Now this was one very expensive car park!
Lunch at Pier 10 Winery was beautiful with guided wine tastings at the table and dogs minded by the proclaimed dog whisperer, Luke. As the humans were treated to oysters, entrees and mains, love continued to bloom between Hollie and Diesel. Franklin’s mum was in awe of how good Tekken was at lunch and hoped Franklin would grow up to be like Tekken one day.
A short walk along the horse trails led to Mock Red Hill Cider for some lovely cider and cheese tastings. The pups had some interesting reactions to the farm smells experienced, but after some cider and freeze-dried fruit, pet parents were back to cuddle their pooped pooches all the way to Melbourne. Tekken took home the wine provided by Vintage Blue for the best Facebook photo. An exhausted bus was driven back to Port Melbourne by the lovely Heidi who commented “best behaved group I have ever had”!
Thank you for being a part of another Doggy Winery Tour.
