A birthday gift...

For DH's birthday this year, I gave him 2 vouchers for a Scenic Rim Wineries Tour and on December 27 we did the tour. The company is 'Cork 'n  Fork' and their motto is 'Let us Drive you to Drink'!
The Scenic Rim area of SE Queensland, covers a large area...
'Just one hour’s drive from Brisbane and the Gold Coast, the Scenic Rim region is home to the thriving country towns of Beaudesert, Boonah, Canungra, Kalbar, Kooralbyn, Rathdowney, Tamborine Mountain and Aratula. '

In our naivety, DH and I thought that we would cover the whole area in the 1 day tour...but of course that was not possible as we were to find out.

Our pick up point was the Sofitel Hotel above Central Station...what a lovely place to wait...look what was in the foyer :-)

A rather large gingerbread house in the foyer of the Sofitel

 When the tour van arrived we found that our tour that day would centre on the Tamborine Mountain area and that 4 more people would be joining us at the first winery as they were being picked up at Coolangatta. So we settle back to enjoy the drive to Tambourine. 
Our first stop was the Cedar Creek Estate Winery. It is in beautiful surroundings...including a man made lake...

 And the wild ducks love the lake...

Then the wine tasting started. Bronwyn was very knowledgeable about wine, and we tried a number of different varieties, including one that was similar to Baileys...mmmm very nice! lol

The next winery we visited actually made wine on the premises unlike Cedar Creek Estates...

 This was Witches Falls Winery...
The next photo is looking into the bottling shed...

This next photo shows a crusher...

 Then we went into the shed where all the barrels of wine are stored...each of those barrels holds enough wine for 300 bottles!

 This was the tasting room area of the Witches Falls Winery...

Our next stop was the Distillery...the spirits and  liqueurs here were beautiful and smooth. Mike, the owner, being aware of the laws governing his business was very strict in the number of samples we could try even though we weren't driving. DH and I were quite happy but some people were a bit disgruntled and wanted to quaff/sip a lot more! lol

The charming Distillery

Our tour van parked at the Distillery

One of the pigeons in the little loft at the Distillery

 Our next stop was at the beautiful Heritage Estate Winery...and this was our lunch stop which was fully included in our package...
The restaurant is an old church that was moved to the site bit by bit, and then restored...

The bar in the background of the photo was rescued from an an old Commonwealth bank that was demolished...

 Peter, our tour guide, had organised that our group would lunch on the verandah, complete with small church pews...

 This is DH's lunch...

 This is mine...Pierre the French chef here, has a wonderful reputation and the meal did not disappoint...

 The next stop was at the other end of Tamborine and it is a Brewery and Cheese Factory.

 Surprisingly DH and I didn't think we could face sampling beer after sampling all those wines and liqueurs...

So we left the other 5 to do that while we went into the cheese factory. We bought 2 varieties to bring home...
And then it was time to be driven back to the Sofitel in Brisbane and then a bus ride home. It had been a lovely day and DH certainly had enjoyed his birthday gift!