Welcome guests

Margaret Haymes meets Emily the koala. 78208Margaret Haymes meets Emily the koala. 78208

FURRY friends featured as part of the World’s Longest Lunch in the Yarra Valley.
The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival kicked off last week at Healesville Sanctuary where guests enjoyed close encounters with a dingo, koala, and a few slithering friends.
Ferntree Gully diner Margaret Haymes said she was thrilled with the different experience.
“This is a traditional Christmas present from our children, but our first time at Healesville (Sanctuary),” she said.
“The interaction with the animals has been fantastic.
“The keepers are so full of information, and that adds to the conversation.”
The rain held off last Friday, 2 March, and diners enjoyed local produce with four courses including wood fired barbecue Wandin quail, nectarine and strawberry gum chutney, barbecue Yeringberg lamb with roasted Toolangi potatoes and Harvest Farm summer salad, and to finish a Kennedy and Wilson chocolate and olive oil mousse with poached local pears and rosella syrup.