#HumanBrochure – A Day of Food and Wine

Those of you who follow me may have seen a whole host of posts recently where I’m using the hashtag #HumanBrochure. The reason being: I am one! In Canberra’s 101st year, ACT Tourism put out the call for social media-savvy Canberrans to be part of a huge campaign.

101 Canberrans have been chosen based on the quality of their content, and reach. Some of us are across many social media platforms, including blogs, and others just one or two. We got to nominate one of four available groups: Food & Wine (my group!), Adventure, Family Fun and Arts and Culture.

Throughout the months of May and June, ACT Tourism has organised a whole host of ‘discovery events’, where some of Canberra’s best is revealed to us. In many cases we get to go behind the scenes. Armed with this knowledge, at the end of October we get to invite two interstate guests and one Canberra local for a weekend spent how we choose, but with one special, niche event (still to be revealed!).

In amongst all these excellent discovery events, each group gets a whole day devoted to exploring the region around their theme. Food & Wine was first up – all we’d been told is that the day was starting with coffee, and ending with cocktails and entertainment. The rest was a surprise!

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Sangoma Retreat

Sangoma Retreat is quite literally nestled in the foothills of the Blue Mountains*, past Richmond and Kurrajong, and down a one-car-width-wide street with gumtrees looming overhead, daring the sunlight to enter.

There’s a fence on the right at number 70, a sign, and a buzzer. Amidst the enveloping bush, you could be forgiven for being surprised by the loud, happy voice on the other end after the three hour drive from Canberra, and the person attached to the voice opens the gate and encourages us to drive on through. Beyond where the few cars are parked, there are subtle creeks with small waterfalls, and an entrance marked by rocks and tall sticks. It’s the first introduction of the Australian bush/African fusion throughout the property.

Canberra District Wine Harvest Festival

This past Sunday was a spectacular day, and after enjoying the beautiful cars set against the gorgeous backdrop at Auto Italia 2012, we didn’t want to miss the Canberra District Wine Harvest Festival, so we hurried onto the Barton Highway and set off towards Murrumbateman.

The Wine Harvest Festival brochure promoted 24 wineries in the region, but strangely local favourite Poachers Pantry (which T2 recently visited) was missing. Of course, with 24 wineries and with only three hours available to us before their advertised closing time (5pm), there was plenty to keep us busy. The most difficult part was choosing exactly which ones we wanted to go to!