It’s definitely harder for smaller groups to find the right venue for their staff party, but a top tip is to join a convivial event that’s already happening.  For instance, have you thought of hiring a table or two, or even a carriage one December evening on Puffing Billy?  Or, depending on your numbers, booking the entire train (60 to 80 pax)!!

Did you know you can charter a train for any night of the week – but check availability, because November/December dates are getting pretty booked up already.  Many companies book a function aboard the Dinner & Dance Trains leading up to Christmas, which is perfect for a small group, as you can travel on one of the scheduled departures (sharing in the festive atmosphere with other happy revelers).

So call today on 9757 0700 and discuss your Xmas event with Puffing Billy’s helpful staff and book your party.  It’ll feel so good to tick it off your To Do list and send out that Save the Date.  Your colleagues will love you for booking them on Puffing Billy for Christmas.  :-)

Helen Collier is a local writer in the Yarra Valley with her own business JustWords

Healesville Sanctuary has played a significant role in the protection and survival of Australian Fauna, including being the first organisation to successfully breed Platypus in captivity in the 1940s.   Healesville Sanctuary is also one of the locations outside Tasmania, working towards the survival of the Tasmanian Devil, which is suffering from the spread of the Facial Tumor Disease in it’s homeland of Tasmania.

With the opening of the Australian Wildlife Health Centre in 2005, the Healesville Sanctuary treats more than 2,000 sick and injured native animals each year.  The Wildlife Health Centre is also a training facility for wildlife veterinarians, and a centre for wildlife conservation research.  The Wildlife Health Centre is open to the public, and is an amazing experience, seeing the drama of the emergency room, observing surgery, and watching the recovery process.

In recent times, the Healesville Sanctuary has developed other experiences for visitors.  If it has been awhile since you last visited the Healesville Sanctuary in the Yarra Valley, now is the time to reacquaint yourself with one of Australia’s premier wildlife sanctuaries.

To get to the Healesville Sanctuary from Melbourne, travel on the Eastern Freeway through to Ringwood.  From Ringwood, travel east along the Maroondah Highway, through Lilydale, towards Healesville.  Once in Healesville, follow the signs to the Healesville Sanctuary, located on Badger Creek Road.

Make the most of the Yarra Valley, and your time at the Healesville Sanctuary, combine your trip with a visit to one of the many Yarra Valley Wineries, including Domaine Chandon, De Bortoli, Yering Station or St Huberts.  There are over 80 cellar doors in the Yarra Valley, so there is plenty to choose from.  Many cellar doors also have a restaurant or café, so take a break and relax in the heart of the Yarra Valley.

For personalised advice and information on the Yarra Valley, contact the Yarra Valley Visitor Information Centre on +61 3 5962 2600 or click here to view accommodation options

I’m easily mistaken for ‘old poo’, yet mycologists and chefs swoon when they see me, I need careful scrubbing, cutting and grading, and I have been told I have the most arresting aroma in the culinary world.  I’m sought after, hard to grow and fiendishly expensive, but a little goes a long way?

Have you guessed?

Scroll down for the answer…

I am of course a truffle.

Foodies celebrate these fungi annually as they come into season, and at Chateau Yering Hotel they dedicate an entire weekend to the delicacy (14-15 July).  Executive Chef Mathew Macartney will not only cook with them but he’ll have foraged for them too.  Join Mathew at Tibooburra Estate near Woori Yallock for a truffle hunt on the Saturday afternoon and then enjoy the fruits of your forage that night over a six-course truffle degustation dinner served with matching wines.  Tibooburra Estate was the first property in Victoria to successfully grow French black truffles back in 2005 and has been going strong ever since – so much so, Chateau Yering doesn’t go anywhere else for their truffles.

If you can’t make the whole weekend, fear not, truffles will again take centre stage on the Sunday, as Mathew produces another six-course degustation lunch in Elenore’s restaurant served with perfectly matching Domain Chandon wines.

So, come and join the annual celebrations for this fought over, sought after aromatic ‘shroom at Chateau Yering Hotel – bookings are essential, as you can imagine.  9237 3333 or email info@chateauyering.com.au.

Helen Collier is a local writer in the Yarra Valley with her own business JustWords

And that’s where an evening on the Puffing Billy Dinner Dance Train, is perfect.  You’re travelling in style, in beautifully restored 1^st class train carriages, you’re toasty warm and the atmosphere is convivial.  Puffing Billy takes you from Belgrave Station over the famous trestle bridge through the Dandenongs, and pulls in for you to alight at the hundred-year-old Nobelius Packing Shed, so welcoming with its blazing open fire.

And here, your entertainment for the evening is taken care of, with music, delicious food, flowing wine (if you wish) dancing (for the brave) and a gentle train ride back to Belgrave at the end of the evening.  If you don’t live locally to Belgrave, Dandenongs Ranges

Tourism can recommend a selection of nearby gorgeous accommodation, to suit all styles and budget, to REALLY make a night of it.

So come on, get your diaries out, and your friends together, for an evening out on iconic Puffing Billy.

They are running a special deal for the Queen’s Birthday long weekend – giving 15% off, but hurry, places are limited, so grab your tickets online today.  Or call 9757 0700 and mention promo code D0906.

Helen Collier is a local writer in the Yarra Valley with her own business JustWords

How good does some snow play sound for the Queen’s Birthday long weekend 9-11 June up at Lake Mountain?  Test out your skills at a toboggan race and stuff snow down the back of your friends’ jackets!   It’ll hopefully lead to an all out snow ball fight.  And if there’s been a real dump of snow, you can even go snow shoeing, and cross country skiing along some of their 37 kms of cross country ski trails.  With live bands and wine tastings for après ski, and face painting and show bags for the little ones, it’s a great family day out.

Thanks to the resort’s world-class snow making machine, you don’t even have to wait to hear the snow forecast, you can just book tickets today – knowing there’ll definitely be enough snow for your toboggan race.  And all this is on Lake Mountain – the closest slopes to Melbourne – it’s totally affordable and a great family resort, especially for first timers.  Top tip, be sure to get there early to get the maximum out of your day, as your hire gear has to be returned by 4pm. And the best way to get there early is to stay the night before at the foot of the mountain in Marysville, then you’ll be first up on the mountain!

And as we come into winter, it’s great to know a day at the snow starts from as little as $30 for the whole family (if you purchase in advance online – a ‘mid-week resort vehicle entry’).

For the rest of the season, they are offering some good value deals, where they’ve packaged up great activities, including ski lessons.  And, if you buy in advance online, you can take advantage of ‘discounted resort entry’ (purchase online via their website or through Ticketmaster).

So, as they say on the mountain – there are ‘No excuses’ not to come and enjoy the snow – just jump online and book yourselves a  day of play on the mountain for the Queen’s Birthday long weekend.

Helen Collier is a local writer in the Yarra Valley with her own business JustWords

Does the combination of a steam train journey, a big carvery dinner in front of an open log fire and a turn on the dance-floor sound like your idea of a good night out?  If so, book yourselves on a Puffing Billy Dinner & Dance train, which run most Friday and Saturday nights.

Perfect for these cooler nights, climb aboard the heated ‘Mount Lyell’ first class dining carriages where you’ll be served a warming soup for your entrée, as the steam train gently chuffs its way to Emerald.  There you’ll alight at the hundred year old Nobelius Packing Shed – with its welcoming warming log fire and beautifully laid tables.

Up at the carvery you’ll be offered roast
beef or Cajun chicken along with a great selection of dishes from the buffet, as the evening’s entertainment begins.  Will you take a turn on the dance-floor?  Or will you be singing along to Gloria Gaynor “I will survive?”  I have it on good authority that singing is encouraged!!

Whatever floats your boat – just enjoy being in great company, with all the fun and none of the responsibility of cooking and clearing up later.  You’ll be having a great night out in the Dandenong Ranges and when the whistle blows, and Puffing Billy is ready for the return journey to Belgrave, you’ll be served a lovely after-dinner coffee, with chocolates and a glass of port.

So, check through your diary and find a reason to celebrate with a night out on Puffing Billy.  You can look up available dates and get all the information you need from Puffing Billy’s website.

Helen Collier is a local writer in the Yarra Valley with her own business JustWords

Did you come up to the Archibald Exhibition at TarraWarra Museum of Art last year?  I was lucky enough to go three times – one of the perks of being local – we can just pop along when the crowds have died down.

Why don’t you come up and stay locally and that way you can ‘feel like a local’ too?

Many of the beautiful accommodation providers here in the Yarra Valley, like Chateau Yering Hotel, are offering you an Archibald package, where you get tickets to the exhibition, a la carte dinner for two at Eleonore’s, an overnight stay in a beautiful River Suite and a full English breakfast in Sweetwater Café the next morning.  And best of all, you’re staying just down the road from the exhibition, and you’ve already got your tickets, so there’s no rushing, no long drive to get there or queuing at the exhibition.  Perfect.

If you can’t stay, but you still want to make a lovely day of it here in the region, Chateau Yering Hotel are also offering a great lunch deal served in their beautiful light and airy Sweetwater Café – so take your time and enjoy a 3 course set menu washed down with a beautiful glass of TarraWarra Estate wine – all for just $55.  You could go to the exhibition late morning and then wend your way across to the hotel and discuss your favourite portraits over a leisurely lunch before heading home.  I’d recommend you book though, as a deal like this will be popular.

The lunch menu will be available throughout the duration of the exhibition – 8 June to 9 July 2012.  Call today and reserve your table for lunch or your accommodation treat! 9237 3333

Helen Collier is a local writer in the Yarra Valley with her own business JustWords

Being English I look forward to autumn each year: those glorious colours of the turning leaves, and wood smoke curling up from people’s chimneys across the valley.  But autumn is only fun if you can keep warm, so if you’re after a day out which doesn’t involve getting cold, then you’ll love lunching in the warmth of the first class heritage carriages on Puffing Billy.

When its dark by 5pm and the last throws of summer are a distant memory, I find it really helps to have something special to look forward to in the diary, like having lunch with a friend on Puffing Billy.  It’s a great, convivial atmosphere in the carriage and it is a lovely way to catch up on someone’s news, without a care about cooking or driving.  And Puffing Billy has devised a great system in that you order your lunch from the menu when you make your booking – choosing either to share a ‘Natter Platter’ or go the full monty and have a decadent three-course lunch.

On the outbound journey to Emerald Lake Park, if you’ve ordered the Natter Platter to share, you’ll be presented with a generous tiered stack of savoury antipasto goodies, such as cured ham, smoked salmon, olives, pate, roasted veggies and gorgeous creamy cheeses.  Then, on the return journey, out come the scones with jam and cream and a warming cup of tea or coffee.  So, if you have got off the train at Emerald Lake Park (where the train stops for about 50 minutes) and gone for a wander in the bracing fresh air around the lovely lake, that cuppa will be rather welcome once you’re back on board.

I ordered and thoroughly enjoyed a three-course lunch and I certainly didn’t need feeding again that day!  We each opted for a different menu item and I can heartily recommend the free range chicken followed by lemon-curd cheesecake, which tasted of real lemons, just the way it should.

Not everyone will want to leave the
warmth of the carriage at Emerald Park Lake, especially if it’s a bit wintry out there, and passengers are welcome to stay onboard and continue enjoying their drinks as the locomotive takes water and prepares for its return journey back through the Dandenongs to Belgrave Station.

Your ticket price covers your train journey and meal and you just pay for soft drinks and alcohol on board.  We enjoyed a couple of glasses of a great local Yarra Valley wine and kept commenting on what a super relaxing way it was to spend a day out together with friends – all the fun and no responsibility.  So don’t delay, book today while it’s fresh in your mind.  The train goes daily from Belgrave Station at 12:30 and returns at 3.30pm.

Helen Collier is a local writer in the Yarra Valley with her own business JustWords

Vintage is in full swing here in the Yarra Valley so the winery was a hive of activity atTarraWarra Estate when I arrived; winemaker Clare Holloran was topping up barrels, the marketing team was preparing for the arrival of Chateau Yering’s Front of House staff and Zac the handsome vineyard dog was busiest of all, soaking up the last rays of the autumn sun.

I’d been invited to tag along on a ‘vintage visit and tasting’ for Chateau Yering’s staff and listen in as TarraWarra Estate’s General Manager, Simon Napthine introduced the winemaking process, philosophy and sustainable farming practices of the Estate.

As we climbed our way up the dirt track to J-Block to the Shiraz vines, Simon explained the Estate’s approach of ‘minimal intervention’ in both the vineyard and winery.  The vineyard team use organic fertilisers and re-use the grape marc (skins and stems waste) for composting and cattle feed.   Their aim is to achieve a balanced eco-system, keeping the vines and soil healthy whilst ensuring the right number of grubs, bugs and microbes are present to maintain the health of the whole Estate.

At the top of the hill, we surveyed the
three kilometres of north-facing undulating slopes, planted out in 17 blocks, between Yarra Glen and Healesville; 28 hectares in total under vine.  Their oldest vines are Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, which were planted nearly 30 years ago.  Nowadays, the estate also has Shiraz and Merlot, with a couple of rows of Rhone Valley white varieties Viognier, Marsanne and Rousanne (which just happens to be my favourite TarraWarra Estate wine, 2010 VMR). Nebbiolo has recently been grafted to older Pinot Noir vines and Barbera will soon be included too.

Back at the winery, Simon took us through
to the barrel hall to the open fermenter Shiraz vat, where we could literally feel the heat from the whole berry ferment.  Plunging his arm under the warm fruit, his stained arm revealed the rich dark grape juice below – this intense colour of the wine is a real feature of the 2012 vintage.

The visit reinforced for me how exact and precarious the wine making process is: with every stage critically influencing the wine for better or worse.  To perfect each element of the process and produce consistently award-winning wine is about as easy as getting a hole in one every time you play golf.  I take my hat off to TarraWarra Estate, for perfecting that art and painstakingly producing stunning wines we love to drink.

Helen Collier is a local writer in the Yarra Valley with her own business JustWords

Be one of the lucky few to join Leanne, Steve & James for a six course degustation dinner on Saturday 28 April as they host a sumptuous Autumn Harvest Dinner as part of the Yarra Valley Food & Wine Festival.

After sparkling wine and canapes on the lawn overlooking the vineyard, the lucky guests will be escorted to De Bortoli’s restaurant ‘Locale’, where a six course feast prepared by Executive Chef, Heath Dumesny awaits.  All that Heath would reveal about his menu, when recently quizzed, was that he will be using all his favourite Yarra Valley produce.  Buxton trout, locally forraged pine mushrooms, Yeringberg lamb, veggies from the kitchen garden, berries from Wandin and figs (if there are any to be found nearby) will feature.

Throughout the dinner, James Halliday and Steve Webber will discuss the wines (matched to complement each course) and the joys of calling the Yarra Valley home.

The evening promises to be an absolute treat for food and wine lovers, so get in quick, tickets are on sale so grab yours now.

www.experienceyarravalley.com.au

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Helen Collier is a local writer in the Yarra Valley with her own business JustWords