A few months ago whilst catching up w friends over some eggs; we couldn't help but wonder how much more decadent they would've been when truffle season hits. But why don't we do one better & participate in a truffle hunt ourselves, we exclaimed!

SO THE ADVENTURE BEGINS.

My lovely friend did some searching on cyberspace & via Truffle Melbourne, we decided on Wongarra Farm - one of Victoria's oldest Truffieres. As part of the Truffle Hunt Program, Riley the truffle dog takes you on an adventures across the paddock sniffing out truffles hidden beneath the ground. Apart from the early morning wake up call, all sounded pleasant & exciting. So with that, we booked our tickets & set out for an adventure before the sun rose on a Sunday in July.

About 2.75 hours later, we arrived at Wongarra Farm & were greeted by Roderick. He kindly invited us into his spectacular farm house, where he resided w a dog named Bella & about a hundred truffles casually sitting on the bench being cleaned. Face to face with gold nuggets, I tell you; shiny, aromatic, pungent gold.

Brand spanking new gumboots, like the city folk we are

After explaining to us the logistics, he ushered us out to put our gumboots on. Often, there is a bleach bath you must step into so not to carry foreign materials into the paddocks and contaminate the soil. As all had brand new boots (like lost 'city folk' setting foot on a farm for the first time in their lives), we didn't have to do this walk in.

Riley telling Roderick "It's here, ya damn fool, can't you smell like I do?"

So the adventure began! We met Riley and his handler, who told us strictly we couldn't play w Riley - he's on a mission you see, and truffle hunting is serious business (especially when it feels like 1 degrees C & the wind is threatening to blow you off the hill, you want to get in, get out ASAP w your bucket of gold).

Though it began slowly (we spent the better half of the first hour digging out straight up dirt, Riley finally got his mojo & we ended up w a decent bucket of truffles. Though oh so aromatic, shiny & somewhat juicy; unfortunately we do not keep the treasures that we found. Hehe.

However, after a generous three hour hunt, we returned back to the farm house where Roderick cooked up a simple brunch of truffled scramble (from his own chickens!) which had been steeped w truffles this whole time. Paired w a light salad & glass of white, the finishing touch was a generous shaving on the truffle we painstakingly found that morning.

Safe to say, we left the farm certainly content, merry & full of adventure. Roderick sent us on our merry way back to Melbourne w a dozen eggs from his chickens & free range ham from his Wessex Saddelback pigs - to accompany the sweet little keepsake we took home w us - a bouncy ball sized truffle! xo