I love this area, as I keep remarking, and we've made several trips in this general direction, to enjoy its gentle but impressive scenery and its passion for great food and wine.

Victoria was doing its not-sure-what-season-this-is yesterday, and it was damn cold. But a morning at Healesville Sanctuary was still hugely enjoyable. They specialize in native fauna, and you get great chances to view not only the relatively accessible koalas and kangaroos, but also the generally more elusive Aussie animals. So we saw a wombat (Florence often gets up at 11 am to greet visitors, providing there's enough sweetcorn on offer to make it worth her while), a Tasmanian devil (Healesville accommodates an "insurance" population while they try to sort out the facial cancer that's decimating these little guys in their native Tassie), several platypuses (don't know what the animal-design angels were thinking when they came up with this one...), the sole dingo who'd reported for outdoor duty on this cold day ("You go..." "No, you go..." "It's definitely your turn..."), and many more. The Sanctuary has a beautiful forested setting, and kookaburras and wonga pigeons cackle and coo an ongoing accompaniment to your visit.

After that, we did lunch at the Killara Estate, sampling some of their excellent Shiraz, while enjoying quintessentially Yarra Valley views from the wide windows of their restaurant. Where else can you get mountains, lush green forest, vineyards, sulphur-crested cockatoos, and kangaroos all in the one scene?

We rounded off the day with a visit to our absolute favourite winery, Five Oaks, to stock up on some of their stunning Merlots and Cabernet Sauvignons in time for Christmas.

Our very first trip to this area took in the historic homestead of Mont de Lancey. There we found pictures of early settlers from the Isle of Man, including many who shared my family name.

I totally understand what brought them -- and kept them.