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Lunching- With Llamas

By Lynda Joy Smith

Caution. A seriously good time ahead!

An experience for intrepid souls. Bush trekking, gourmet luncheon, woolly llamas, and for romance, add your own two- legged companion.

With thirty years of married bliss on the horizon, I was on the lookout for a celebration with a difference. Willing to try most things once, I let my fingers do the walking via the internet. Gourmet llama luncheon trek, how different is that?

Kingbilli Country Estate, Taggerty, an hour and a half north-east of Melbourne via the beautiful Black Spur road brings you to the property gates. A day trip, or if time allows, indulge in a stay over in one of 3 self-contained stone cottages.

Meeting us at our cottage door, we made the acquaintance of our llamas for the trek. Periwinkle, he of the long brown hair, and Bubbles, one of those shy, blonde types. With lunch safely packed onto the guys, our guide Georgina handed over Periwinkle’s lead and we ambled off through Kingbilli’s natural wildlife reserve, the Blue Gully Sanctuary.

A casual one hour trek to the luncheon stop, depending on the llamas. Periwinkle kept stopping and starting, whilst nervously glancing upwards, looking for koalas, Bubbles had the longest toilet stops, and had to be coaxed ever on towards the ridge.

Georgina set up our picnic table and left us with the llamas to enjoy the scrumptious food, wine and views. A highlight was her dad’s fresh homemade chocolate cake. Periwinkle surveyed the feast over my shoulder, but was happy to graze. Llamas are inquisitive, and this is part of the reason that they make good guards animals.

The guys grumbled when they were re-loaded with the empty packs, they’d had some holiday time and seemed to be suffering from Mondayitis. Llamas are social characters who can easily carry up to 40% of their bodyweight. The trek home was all downhill, then a relaxing afternoon for all. We managed a bike ride, (helmet’s and bikes provided), and a long relax in our gazebo enclosed, garden spa.

If you want to experience something different, learn about some incredible animals, eat gourmet food, drink great wine and imbibe all this in a pristine environment with a view worth bottling. Go to it.

Getting There:
An hour and a half drive north-east of Melbourne via Healesville.

When To Go:
Available all year round.
Don’t recommend those 40 +c or 0-c days.

Find Out More:
Be on-line savvy and check out Kingbilli’s website www.kingbilli.com.au

To Book:
Email kb@kingbilli.cim.au
or Phone 61 3 5774 7302 to reserve your place leading a llama.

Images By: Lynda Joy Smith

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