In the new year the temperature in near-by Brisbane (Queensland, Australia.) was hovering around a balmy 360C, so it was time to escape the heat, relax in the cool mountain air and view the world through the bottom of a wine glass. Off to Mt Tamborine.

In the new year the temperature in near-by Brisbane (Queensland, Australia.) was hovering around a balmy 360C,

Situated half way between Brisbane and The Gold Coast, Mt Tamborine Village is the perfect spot to spend the day if you’ve just done a hard run of gigs around the south-east of Qld.

Like all mountain communities close to capital cities ‘Tamborine’ is an eclectic mix of coffee shops, cafes and ‘arts n craft shops’….and wineries!

We decided to time our run so that we arrived in time for the olde-fashioned manual wine press demonstration and, more importantly the afternoon wine tasting.

This small winery has been producing and selling award winning varietals – and their own brand of Port - “Bush Turkey” - for over 10 years. As usual for the typical small-production vintage, Bush Turkey Port has been heard of by many people, but verified drinking is comparatively scarce! It is a name that Aussies find easy to remember as it is often used in Australian slang. The bush and/or scrub turkeys stand for tough and wily characters, ‘scrawny but not to be messed with!’

The birds are different species with different local meanings…doh, doh!!

The liquids are different colours, different types of bottles, labels corks…the list goes on - I know, I actually held one, they're not a myth…doh, doh, doh!!

Despite being in the centre of the international media and legal fraternities' spotlight, life at the vineyard has not been effected. We got yarning to a few of the staff at the afternoon 'Red' tasting and all agreed that life was pretty sweet!

By the end of the day we were all extremely relaxed!

So relaxed we decided to 'stay on the mountain' and drive home the following day.

Everybody should chill at a mountain…salute!

Willy T.