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Published: October 20th 2012
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We left sydney on the very efficient Greyhound early in the morning, to make our way slowly to the Hunter Valley. This it seems is no easy task, as people just want you to book on tours to make things simpler. To get there involved the Greyhound to Newcastle, a train to Maitland then a bus to Cessnock, before being picked up by the YHA staff and driven out to the little hostel on the main road called "Wine Country Drive". When we arrived it was mid afternoon, and they were keen to ask us how we planned to see the vinyards the next day. We asked how far the first one was and they said about 3km, suggested it was too far to walk and that if we wanted to do it ourselves and not book a tour we should get a taxi...or madly, a bike! We then asked them if there was anywhere to go walking around there, given we were in beautiful countryside, and the response was, "what, you mean like for exercise, well i suppose you could just walk down the road!" They really don't seem to walk anywhere in this country, and we are constantly being
told that 3km is too far to walk!
Just a couple of hundered meters from the hostel was a micro brewary and pub called potters. So after our walk we went in there for a tour and tasting, and planned to return there in the evening for food, as its the only place for miles! When we got back to the hostel we planned on doing something active, but after some strong beers and a long days travel, we chilled in front of the DVD until it was time to walk back to the pub for tea. It was packed in the pub, full of big groups and hen parties, clearly it really is the only place for miles. There was a Karaoke night going on, so much quality entertainment of course!
The next morning we ended up getting up stupidly early after some confusion around the clocks changing the night before! But once we were up we played around in the gardens, playing volleyball and Frisbee. The hostel is such a lovely location, different from the Maclaren Vale in that the scenary is a mix of hill sides and animals grazing in amongst the vines.
We had decided, much to everyones shock, to walk between the Vinyards, this turned out to be a great idea as the sun was out on a beautiful day and the Vinyards were really close together. We really didn't want to pay $60 each to be taken around in a big group and do an activity that is free! We had a steady 40 minute walk to the first winary, along the side of the road. This resulted in lots of beeping from drivers who could not understand our walking. Then we visited De Bertoli,Hungerford Hill, Balaboureen, Kevin Sobel, Tempus Two, Tower Estate and Merrea Park - the home of a real narky woman who stated we had to pay for the tasting and when we had done so, rushed us through it as fast as possibe, to be somewhat shocked when we actually bought some. We had lunch at the Smelly Cheese Shop, eating cheese and crackers out in the sun. Our favourite was Balaboureen, where every single wine was fantastic but sadly they won't ship out to the UK. There was no more than 5 minutes walk between them all, with only a small hill to climb, it
was a lovely way to do it!
As we were walking home, a lady pulled over and called us over, we thought it might have been someone from the hostel so we went over. It turned out she was just a lady driving past, and offered us a lift - as long as we didn't "stab her or something!" We accepted, but when we were in the car she asked us if we often hitch-hiked, when we explained we were just walking not hitch-hiking she didn't really understand. For a country with such beautiful weather and outdoors, they are really not walking fans!
We spent the evening cooking up some tea and sampling some of our purchases. Then we had to grapple with the internet for that farmiliar glastonbury ticket scrum. Unfortunately, yet again, we couldn't get anywhere near the website! Dissapointed we headed to bed, leaving for Port Mcquarie the next morning and so had to be up before 6am!
The Hunter Valley really is a beautiful place, and trust us when we say, if you pick the right area, walking is a brilliant way to see it, as long as you don't buy too
much wine!!
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