Wine tasting

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We arrived in Newcastle yesterday, which is three hours north of Sydney. The greyhound bus ride went very smoothly and is much more backpacker orientated then in the USA. Newcastle seems a very surfer dominated town but our attraction here was the nearby Hunter wine valley which we toured today. It was great!! We got picked up at 9am and taken into the valley. Our first stop was a small boutique winery called Coopers. I tried 5 wines here - 3 white, a red and a dessert wine. They were all very good, particularly the dessert wine. Sadly, you can only buy Coopers wine direct from the winery so no chance of getting this anywhere else. I tried another 4 wines at the next winery, including a nice white port and then we moved onto an olive grove and tasted loads of chutneys, oils and jams. I tasted 2 whites at the next winery and a really good dessert. They also had various liquers - a lovely white chocolate one and a sweet butterscotch. I didn't try the chilli, Dragon's Breath one! We also got wines and liquers at the 4th winery - more of the same and we bought a Semillon here. Our last stop was at three shops selling chocolate, cheese and....wine! I didn't try anymore wine but did sample some chocolate. It was all really good. It has been a beautiful, hot, cloudless day so perfect for driving around the vineayards.
For some reason I felt a bit sleepy this afternoon so went to the beach to chill. We also got a free BBQ at a local pub this evening so should sleep well tonight!

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