It is the second biggest city in Australia with a population of over 5 million people, and, it is rapidly growing.
BTW - Unless you want to look like a tourist, you pronounce it Mel-bun. And slur it together quickly.
Driving into the city's CBD (central business district) I could see a plethora of new, interesting, modern high rise buildings with cranes building more new high rise buildings.
But, wandering around I saw another side to Melbourne's CBD.
Don’t walk, RUN!
It is beautiful!
In the mountains after every turn in the road we made we’d find another Kodak moment. Photos do not convey the beauty.
If I had a $ for every time I said “WOW” I’d be very rich!
NOTE TO SELF: We still need to work on taking selfies.
They are also a force of nature and need to be respected.
On our last day in Cafayate we needed to drive 3 hours through the mountains back to Salta to catch a flight.
We did not factor the unpredictability and force of nature.
NOTE TO SELF, or, should I say LESSON LEARNED:
Nature does not always cooperate and/or operate on the same schedule that we do.
It is nestled in the Andes mountains and surrounded by vineyards.
I discovered Cafayate through the power of Social Media.
A friend on Facebook has posted many photos over the years of her Happy Place in Cafayate. At Christmas she was back and her beautiful FB photos intrigued me. So I contacted her for more information.
Digging around I also found stunning Tilcara and the surrounding area 6 hours further north.
Loving the mountains I was hooked, or should I say, I was “booked”.
And Argentina's Andes Mountains do not disappoint.
In the NW part of the country is the province of Salta, with the capital city being, Salta.
It is smack dab in the heart of the mountains.
SPOILER ALERT: Lots of mountain photos and the bigger the screen the better.
The mountains reach an altitude of 4,761 metres. (For those of you that are metric challenged, that is 15,620 feet!)
The region Quebrada de Humahuaca was declared a World Heritage site in 2003 for both the colourful mountain landscape and the historic Inca caravan road running through the region.
SPOILER ALERT: More mountain pictures. A big screen will enhance your viewing pleasure.
Traces of human habitation in the area date back more than 10,000 years!
It makes it one of the oldest continuously inhabited areas in Argentina.
It is not hard to get high.
The mountains in the area leave me speechless.
And generally speaking, that can be tough to do.
SPOILER ALERT: Mountain photos are best seen on a big screen, so make me happy and if you can, please look at them on a big screen. TYIA.
Tunuyan, south of the city of Mendoza, has high altitude vineyards with the Andes as a backdrop.
The grape vines were heavy with fruit as the end of February is harvest season in the southern hemisphere.
We felt "lucky" one day as the workers were picking in "our" vineyard.
We asked if we could watch for a bit.
The area is arid, but the city is situated in the irrigated Mendoza River Valley at the foot of the Sierra de los Paramillos mountains, a secondary range in the Andes Mountains.
It is a playground for outdoor enthusiasts with skiing, hiking, horseback riding, biking, rafting, etc. (And Malbec wine drinking, all year around.)
We took a drive from the city of Mendoza west into the mountains starting through the dry foothills.
SPOILER ALERT: Lots of scenery and mountains, so a large screen will be best!
Oh, okay, I also think about wine.
So when in Mendoza wine tasting is in order.
The end of February is the end of summer in the southern hemisphere, so in many vineyards the grapes were still hanging from their vines.
We chose Decentera vineyards to sample some of the local produce.
