An Eclectic Mix of Kangaroos, Wine Farms, Pubs & Bush
The Hunter Valley is the oldest wine growing region in Australia, and as such, we had to go and check it out.
Situated just 160km north of Sydney, it’s an easy drive or train ride to get there.
However, since we have family in the area, we trained it from Sydney to Newcastle and then de-camped to Cessnock for a few days.
Unlike say Stellenbosch in the Western Cape, or Blenheim on the northern tip of New Zealand’s South Island, the Hunter Valley is, at first glance, not an obvious wine growing area.
By that I mean that you can drive for kilometers in any direction and not see a single vine, let alone vineyards or wineries. Gum trees and Kangaroos seem to rule although we did not see a single Koala bear in the wild.!
But the vineyards are definitely there, and when you find them, they are well worth investigating.
Wine Tasting
There are a good few wineries within 30 odd minutes drive of Cessnock and we concentrated on visiting a few of these.
It was interesting to find a fairly wide discrepancy in the levels of service at wine tastings. Some were very customer focused while others were far more laissez faire – help yourself and if you need any help we will be ….
But each to their own and every single winery had a unique charm and ambiance. Our participation also varied from day to day depending whether we had a none wine tasting driver with us – or not.
However we saw and tasted enough to know that we would have to re-visit the area for a more in depth study of Hunter Valley wines.
Restaurants
As is common in most developed wine growing areas, where there are wineries, there are restaurants.
Often these restaurants are attached to wineries and serve mostly wines from their own vineyard and maybe one or two other labels that are not in direct competition with them.
You also get some great independent restaurants that have the liberty to serve a variety of wines from surrounding vineyards.
So if you are wanting a great meal with top notch wines, you will need to decide between the 2 options above. It’s a tough choice …so maybe one option one day, and the second option another day?? 🙂
And Then There is Sabor Dessert Bar
There are no optional choices here!
If you are serious about dessert, then this is the place to go. Conveniently situated in the midst of a host of wineries, this is a must visit location for all sweet tooths.
We hit Sabor one afternoon after a leisurely and filling lunch at one of the local vineyard restaurants. We did not have dessert there as we knew we had an appointment down the road at Sabor.
The choice of desserts, together with the blaze of colors they present on display, makes choosing only one (or two) options either extremely difficult – or in our case – impossible. So we adopted a two pronged strategy. Some for now and some for later!
It stretched the budget, but was an experience not to be missed!
The Obligatory Aussie Pub
Every Australian town, no matter how small, boasts at least one pub, and usually more.
Apart from beer and other assorted beverages on offer, most of them boast at least one wall full of pokie machines. Australians, it seems, love to gamble and it is quite remarkable to see all these slot machines in the bars and pubs.
They certainly seem to draw people into the pub and can turn them into a more “non pub” experience in that not everyone there is just propping up the bar.
And even if you are not particularly fond of beer and/or are adverse to a little gambling, there is no doubt that a visit to a quintessential Aussie pub outside of a major metropolitan area will introduce you to some true blue Aussie culture.
Make the effort – and enjoy the experience!
