Blogs from Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia, Oceania - page 3

It is almost as if winter does not exist in the Hunter Valley, especially not to an English girl. It was a 'blink and you'll miss it season', i don't even own any winter clothes. I do apologise as i realise the timing of this blog isn't impeccable and whilst you are all ploughing your way to work in blighty, i'm hiding from 40+ degrees under an air-conditioner that's making me sneeze...if only we could meet half way! Anyway, i shall fast forward to Spring.. It's a beautiful time in the Valley when the vines start to bud, they grow at an alarming rate so it was quickly turning the stunning views from brown to green. It started to get a bit busier as more tourists came to visit the wineries and in the busy lead ... read more

A Taste of Wine-country Jeff and I headed down out of the Blue Mountains via a slightly different path than usual. Thanks mainly to a GPS system with a passion for backroads, and a concept of exploring the most random niches wherever we go, we turned off the highway and went down a small road which splits two National Parks from each other. Essentially we were cleaving a path right between two pristine wildernesses; what better way to begin exploring Australia. Just getting down off the plateau was an adventure in itself as the road twisted and turned like a curled snake on its way downwards. Each turn afforded a view out over the valley below and for the first time on this trip I felt as though I was truly out in the middle of ... read more

Another road trip on the weekend. First stop, Hunter Vallley, a wine country that is about 2 hours drive north of Sydney. This place is kind of like Kelowna, full of vineyards and wineries, except it is a lot bigger. Wines are cheap here, but of course quality varies. The Yellowtail wine that we had on our wedding is almost 50% cheaper here! " OK, i will bring some back when I leave. Next day, we headed to Port Stephen after breakfast. Guess what Port Stephens is famous of? Yes, OYSTERS! YEAAAAAAAAH. We went to an oyster farm and bought another 2 dozens of oysters for lunch, wild jumbo pacific oysters and farmed plate osyters for only ~$1 each again!! We like the firm and crispy texture of these oysters, unlike the creamy ones we have ... read more

The other weekend I went on a wine tasting tour to the Hunter Valley with one of my roomates Elsa. We coulden't have wished for a more beautiful winter day. We wen't to several winneries, and tasted some cheese and chocolate as well. It was great fun and I bought 2 bottles of wine, one which is a really sweet fruity white wine that tasts like candy and you are supposed to drink in over ice, and the 2nd was actaully a red wine! I know shocking! But it tasted like cinamen and was actually quite delicouse! At one of the winneries there was a field with wild Kangaroos lazying around so we decided to chase them! I'm deffinitly going to have to try this again in the summer time or whenever the grapes are still ... read more

This June Longweekend we hitched up the caravan and drove up to the Hunter Valley NSW. The Hunter Valley is a wine growing region. We arrived on Saturday morning and were very fortunate in that the constant rain we had been experiencing for weeks had finally cleared. We spent the afternoon catching up with our friends and in the evening we enjoyed a 'themed' dinner - A Mexican Night. We all made different Mexican Dishes to share. On Sunday, some of the group went to play golf and some of us (myself included) went to visit the wineries and taste some wines. Sunday evening we enjoyed a barbeque tea and each others company. On Monday we drove up to the little village at Pokolbin to wander around the shops. On the way home we stopped just ... read more