Blogs from Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia, Oceania

I woke by the alarm today. It was a difficult job to wake up today! Normally, I wrote my blog on the move, mostly during, or straight after the events that occur. Yesterday, that didn’t happen. I was simply too engaged in what I was doing. In order to blog. This was mainly because there was no, ‘bus time’, and my phone died after unsuccessfully attempting to video the dolphins! So last night I spent a couple of hours writing the blog, retrospectively writing the blog, then labelling all the photos. People often say to me, not to stress about missing a day, but it is important for me to record my days, because I make my blog into a book for me to remember my travels well. As they are detailed of events, thoughts, and ... read more

Enjoying "The Hunta" wine, food, and views!... read more

We should have taken more notice, when our first purchases “on the road” were a new set of wiper blades and a tarp, but off we headed oblivious and full of excitement about our adventure back to the centre of oz. Waving goodbye to Windella and our good mates Madge & Mick & and shedding an inner tear leaving our beloved cats behind for a month (thanks also to Kate & Mark Simpson & team of Sugarloaf Animal Hospital for ranga-sitting!!) our first stop was Dubbo where we arrived after dark, promptly found the nearest pub for a feed and set up the tent for the first chilly night of about zero degrees! Waking to a sunny morning we continued west camping in road side stops the next couple of nights, with a quick tourist detour ... read more

Hunter Valley was our first destination along our trip along the east coast and it was a great first stop! We were in separate accommodation as we didn't know if we'd have the campervan or not, but our hotel was only 5 minutes from the others. It was such a beautiful place to visit, vineyards for miles with amazing scenery! There were even wild kangaroos outside the little cottage Kerry Dave Margaret and Keith were in! It was like something you see in magazines or on TV ! We got there by mid morning so unpacked and headed out to do some wine and cheese tasting :-). Yes the 2 nights there included lots of wine tasting, perfect!! We bought some cheese and bread for our lunch and headed back to the cottage for a mini ... read more

Today I had to wipe my 'I only drink Pinot Grigio and it has to usually cost more than £8 but be on a half price special' slate clean, or should I say palette clean! We headed into Australia's finest Hunter Valley for a vineyard tour and some wine tasting. We picked one of the oldest vineyards in the region, McWilliams Mount Pleasant and had a very interesting tour. We were able to pick a grape, see the wine-making process in action and learn all the tips and techniques that they use. The Hunter Valley is famous for its Semillon (white wine), Merlot and Shiraz red wines. We had a very comprehensive tasting session. Grandad - James highly recommends the Mount Pleasant Rose Hill Shiraz! We also had a try of some sparkling wines and dessert ... read more