Week 49 Port Macquarie, Newcastle & Hunter Valley - OZ

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This week has been heaven for a budding gastronome and oenophilist. Its been about wonderful scenery, wine, chocolate and cheese plus the odd shot of chilli schnapps. Fabulous. Only three things ruined it - getting trapped in the Hunter Valley, putting on another ton of weight and some seriously strong winds.

I had a day to kill in Port Macquarie before my evening bus to Newcastle, so I booked onto a Hastings River trip for a 3 hour jaunt spotting wildlife. The ride was packed with sightings of all manner of birdlife and plenty of fish, but even before we had left the estuary we spotted a pod of bottlenosed dolphins playing about and feeding on fish being brought in with the incoming tide. We headed off on a gentle motor half way around Pelican Island which is a sand and mangrove protected area with huge pelicans. Actually we didn’t see very many here but you cant move for the greedy buggers all hanging out at the town wharfs, because that’s where all the tourists feed them - but I guess they overnight and breed on the island. We then took a brief 10 minute detour to enter some of the manmade canals lined with wall to wall posh houses that sell for millions.

As we moved leisurely along the proper river past the cable ferry that joins the town to the North Shore community (its a 2.5 hour drive around if they don’t use this car ferry), we started to spot some interesting birds. There were a whole bunch of darts sitting on wooden pilings with their wings spread open to dry - they don’t have any oil in their feathers as these birds need to dive deeply to catch fish and the oil would make them too buoyant. After spotting a massive nest high up in a tree we stopped to watch a pair of big osprey diving down to catch fish in their talons. Learned something new - the biggest killer of osprey is actually fish, as the birds often go after fish that are too big and strong for them but once they have their claws gripped on a fish they have no instinct to let go and the big fish pulls the bird under the water and drowns it. See what you get for being greedy ?

Oyster farming is a huge business here and is extraordinarily successful as the river water is so clean and they even seed the tiny young oysters and sell them on to other river systems across the country who then nurse them to maturity. We passed by dozens of farms with their lines of floating pontoons under which the racks of oysters mature for 3 years. Our mid-cruise stop for morning tea and cake was taken at one of the farms where we watched a chap stripping oysters from the long thin lathes of wood that they stick to in the racks. We also got a chance to feed the river fish and enormous shoals of silver bream appeared at the first handful of pellets.

It was a very relaxing, gentle way to spend the morning and on the way back we saw some guys exercising their horses by having them swim behind a rowboat which was very cute. I wandered down to feed the pelicans at the wharf and was rewarded by seeing two more dolphins playing just a few yards away from me for about 5 minutes. I decided to have a big lunch as the long bus trip was leaving at the awkward time of 5.30pm, which ended up being a good call as the dinner stop at 8pm was at an awful roadhouse called the Rock, with a huge ugly fibreglass turd on its roof that was meant to be a replica of Uluru. Speaking of turds, the toilet door had a rather disturbing poster on it showing the different droppings of native Australian animals. Tasteful.

I finally got to Newcastle in the dark at 9.30pm in the pouring rain, so caught a cab the short distance (uphill of course) to the motel, which was probably shortlisted for the Bates Motel in Psycho. It was creepy and the strange night porter made it more than a little disturbing. Perhaps that was why it was so cheap. It was a little better next morning as the rain seemed to have blown through during the night allowing the odd bright spell between the clouds and I could actually glimpse a minuscule postage-stamp-size view of blue sea from my bedroom window. However it was incredibly windy. So windy that you were buffeted around constantly and when I took photos I had to take several shots of the same thing as so many were blurred as the wind juddered the camera. Small children were being blown off their feet and the were huge waves on the Hunter River as well as the sea.

My first stop was Nobby’s Beach with a vague plan to walk out to Nobby’s Head Lighthouse but the wind was blowing on this side of the headland and after walking for 10 minutes bent double trying to make headway and having had my glasses that were hanging round my neck whip up and poke me in the eye, I turned around and headed for the river and the wharf area instead. Now one of the best ways to sit in posh expensive restaurants with great views when you are on a tight budget is just to look reasonably smart and to order the cheapest thing on the menu, followed by a leisurely coffee. This is how I managed to spend a couple of hours at one of the finest places in town, out of the wind, overhanging the river with panoramic views through 3 sides of glass watching the steady stream of mammoth coal ships being guided out of the estuary by tugs and pilot boats, then the empty ships being escorted in the opposite direction to load up at the huge coal terminal nearby. From all of the beaches you see a line of these massive vessels strung along the entire horizon, waiting their turn to come into the coal-loading terminal and the photos don’t truly demonstrate their size. We were also right next to the ferry terminal so had the pleasure of watching the passengers getting buffeted around by the wind as they waited and then boarded the nippy little ferries that crossed over the width of the river to Southport. Better than another poke in the eye.

Newcastle is the second largest city in NSW and 6th largest in Australia and was quite interesting to walk around as it still has a large number of heritage buildings, mainly from the Edwardian era but with a really good collection of art deco period too. The KFC was a great example of art deco. Its also the World’s biggest coal export harbour, with over 3,000 shipping movements handling 95 million tonnes of coal a year and its weird to see familiar names on the map as some of the suburbs mirror those of Newcastle in England, such as Jesmond and Hexham.

Feeling guilty about lingering for so long over my seafood chowder lunch, I started a walk to the beaches on the opposite side of the headland that were out of the wind. On the way I passed Queens Wharf Tower that the locals call the Giant Penis or the Big Dick. It apparently has 180 steps but I only managed to climb up 130 before the wind was so violent that I took a few photos with the camera wedged between the metal slats to stabilise it, then went back down. I walked through some of the city then climbed over The Hill (yes, its so steep that the whole area is just called The Hill) and down to Newcastle Beach which was slightly more sheltered from the vicious wind. There was a large group of guys from a wide range of ages practising rugby moves and lots of surfers making the most of the swells. On the headland I popped in to see the Ocean Baths but they were closed for repairs and cleaning until December and looked pretty sad without water - I checked out some photos on the web of what the Baths look like when they are full and being used and they look fun and a super amenity - I bet its packed in the summer if its free from stingers and sharks. The fabulous art deco facades are propped up with scaffolding and supports, with no actual buildings behind them but its nice to see that they are being preserved.

Newcastle is only an hours drive from the famous Hunter Valley, which is the most visited wine region in Australia with over 2.5 million visitors a year. There was no way I was going to pass this one by, so I booked a tour with Gone Walkabout Safaris who kindly agreed to take my luggage onboard and drop me at my next stop at the end of the day which was a motel in the little town of Cessnock in the middle of the Valley. During the course of the day we visited 5 wineries where we could try an average of 8 wines at each stop. Of course you don’t have to try all of the types on offer, but it does seem a bit rude not to, as does spitting it out. The only thing that saves you from being on the floor before lunch is to ensure that you drink a shot of water regularly. In fact you would end up downing up to 2 full bottles if you did swallow each sample at every cellar door, but to be honest you get selective after the first stop and start to take a tiny taste sip and throw away the rest (except for your favourite couple). If we were not getting shredded enough on the wine, they also throw in a visit to Golden Grape where they produce a whole range of wine-based liqueurs in a wide variety of flavours - their coffee and strawberry offerings were luscious.. It all ends with the team building exercise of downing a shot of chilli schnapps all together, which gives quite an interesting feeling of being warmed rapidly from the inside out - a bit like having a hot radiator in your chest and throat - interesting for a one-off experience I thought, little knowing I would be doing it again just two days later with a different team and then yet again on my last day when I finally managed to escape The Valley.

One new thing I learned was how different a port style drink can taste when its served in 3 different ways - I was already familiar with trying it over ice and straight, but we were also given it in hot glasses, which completely changed its flavour, aroma and characteristics. This was definitely a keeper and is something I will be trying in cold weather situations in the future. I love the Aussie name for the ports, fortified wines and liqueurs here - Stickies - which in typical Aussie straight-talk perfectly describe these viscous gloopy drops of heaven that make you lick your fingers, create indelible stains your clothes and leave permanent rings on wooden tables. Oh, and give you murderous hangovers too.

We had a hearty lunch at the restaurant next to Golden Grape which sold bargain $10 dishes and I can recommend the bangers and mash with piles of caramelised onions and lashings of thick gravy. It was just what we needed to line our stomachs for the battering we gave our guts and livers in the afternoon session. In addition to more winery visits we also sampled the goods at the Smelly Cheese Shop and the Hunter Valley Chocolate shop too. I was sensible enough to buy some creamy blue cheese and a crusty loaf to have for supper for the next couple of days.

The next day I decided to have a day off the booze and checked out Cessnock but I had to rush around as everything closes at lunchtime on Saturday. I ate lunch washed down with a very restrained diet coke, in a typical town pub with a long bar and loads of pokies (slot machines) and a restaurant room attached out the back. The couple running the motel were I stayed for 2 nights were really friendly and helpful with organising tours and tickets and even pegged out my laundry. It was a typical old-fashioned motel with a drive-through entrance and parking spaces outside your room door but it was very clean and had good TV choices, which were needed as most channels were endlessly reporting the results of that days general election, which looks to have resulted in a hung parliament with serious negotiations going on between the two main parties and the handful of Greens and Independents who hold the balance of power. Reminded me of what happened in the UK just a few months ago.

The following day I had a sensible breakfast of bacon and eggs (served in my room) which I hoped would line my stomach in readiness for the abuse it was about to face as I went on my second all-day wine tour (Rover Wine tours) which felt like a private tour as Bob our guide only had 3 passengers, myself and two girls from Sydney. It was also another cheeky way to get my luggage moved to my new lodgings in the tiny village of Pokolbin - an Irish Pub. This sounded like great fun and was cheap as they were in the middle of refurbishing the rooms, but in reality it was a big disappointment with no character and food that would have been rejected from the worst Harvester chain. The new-paint smell in the room was overpowering too.

Anyhow, the wine tour was excellent and apart from a tiny bit of duplication, covered some of the nicest vineyards in spectacular settings. Even though its the Winter and dormant period with bare vines, the countryside is still very attractive with rolling hills and lightly forested areas. I imagine that its really beautiful in the other seasons. During a packed day we hit 5 vineyards, some new cheese and chocolate shops and also visited an olive farm to sample the fruit, flavoured oils, jams and chutneys and a wicked selection of mega-hot chilli relishes. If that wasn’t enough, we ended up at the local Blue Tongue brewery where the other girls ordered the tasting paddle with 6 shot glasses of the different brews, with a full-sized glass of your favourite to follow. I am not a beer drinker at the best of times, and this was a glass too far for me, so I whimped out and cadged the occasional sip of their samples. I did succome at one place and bought a bottle of luscious tawny port, which added to the mountain of luggage in my retinue, but will be nice to drink slowly over the next couple of weeks.

The next two days were cold and wet and I sallied out on little trips between showers to the shops and restaurants within a 2km radius of the Pub. I also I spent much of the time trying to find a cost effective way of getting out of the Hunter Valley to move on to my next destination which I had intended to be the Blue Mountains, but kept being thwarted as the area is only set up for people with cars or return day tours from the big cities and those companies would not sell me a one way tour. The nearest rail station (two changes of train) was an expensive 30 minute taxi drive away and the car hire company wanted an extra $200 for a one way rental to Sydney. I wont go into details of all the things I tried but it was frustrating, made harder by the indifference of the staff on Reception at the Pub and the complete absence of internet - it cost a huge amount in mobile calls. In the end the wonderful Gone Walkabout Safaris agreed to do a mini reverse of my original trip and would take me and my luggage back to Newcastle. However they collected me at lunchtime, meaning I had to do another half day wine tour with a third group of people. It was hard but I was a trooper and was the first to down my third team building shot of chilli schnapps..

There were no reasonably priced rooms available in Newcastle and the only room at the hostel was an 8 bed mixed dorm which I wasn’t keen on, so I caught the 6pm train, arriving at 9pm into Sydney where I stayed at the YHA Railway Square attached to Central Station, which was very nice.

On to the Blue Mountains next

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