126 & 127. Richmond Grove Black Cat Shiraz 2003 and Cockatoo Ridge Cabernet Merlot 2004

A few years ago I drove to Ullapool in the north of Scotland with a couple of my mates. It was New Years Eve and we were on our way to a massive party on the Isle of Lewis however, despite leaving Glasgow at 10:30am it took us almost 7 hours to get to the Stornoway ferry in Ullapool. As we travelled up the centre of Scotland to Aviemore the snow that was falling became worse and worse. There were cars strewn all over the roads and as we crawled through each of the summit passes they systematically closed behind us. When we reached Aviemore we were sure that we were going to have to call it a day and spend New Year there. Luckily we bumped into to another mate from University whos family had hired a local hall for the nights festivities and they said we were welcome to join them.

Despite this kind offer we decided to soldier on and within a few minutes we were sure we had made the wrong decision. There was snow everywhere and it drifted into large banks which swallowed cars easily. We were in an old 3 series BMW which was rear wheel drive and that made our journey even more interesting. At one point we had to make a pee break and even though we were only travelling at 25mph it took the whole length of the lay-by to come to a halt. It was a nightmare to get the car moving again but eventually we did.

It turned out we had made the right decision to carry on moving since as we approached the west coast the snow turned to rain. However, the rain became heavier and heavier and as we pulled into the car park in Ullapool it was biblically torrential. We had to walk about 200m to the ferry terminal and over that short distance the cases of beer we were carrying were destroyed by the sheets of lashing rain. When we got onto the ferry the boxes were so battered that we had to dump all the beer into a bin and then pull the liner out and carry them Santa style for the rest of our journey. None-the-less we made it to Stornaway in one piece even though we had to share the ferry with 250 drunks. Due to the weather the 11am ferry had been unable to sail and so passengers had spent the last 6 hours drinking in the ferry bar waiting for a break in the storm. It didn’t take long for us to catch up with them and at 7pm we finally set sail for the Island. The next 72 hours were as much of a blur as the drive up but one of the most memorable New Years ever.

Without a doubt that was the worst rain that I had ever been in. The worse rain ever until last week! After a drought ridden summer Sydney was suddenly flooded. When I say flooded I don’t mean a small amount of rise in the water level, I mean proper Bangladesh-style flooding. Part of the Pacific Highway collapsed killing 5 people, the Hunter Valley is under water and wine crops are ruined, schools and roads were closed and a massive tanker has washed up on Nobby’s Beach in Newcastle.

The rainfall has been monumental to say the least and so it has put a bit of a stop to our exploration of the local area. So by the third day of the storm we were at our wits end – freezing, wet and bored. In an effort to warm us up I braved the freaky conditions and headed out to the local Thai takeaway and bought the hottest curries on the menu. That was followed by a trip to the bottle-o where I bought these two huge wines. They cut through the heat of the curry and the icy temperatures of the rain with no trouble and they made the weather seem much less traumatic.