Hunter Valley and our last days in the Van

Weds 27th Dec

After our beautifully scenic drive from Tamworth, Arriving here at Hunter Valley tourist park began quite stressfully!!

We found that it was very busy, and someone was in our space, first time this had happened.

Soon sorted, nice Dutch guys, somewhat confusedly moved to 41 when the manager explained to them that her boss (the owner) had messed everything up whilst on Christmas cover and they were in the wrong place so please could they move 😳

Meanwhile, the guy opposite to Pitch 21 was fixing an awning to the side of his car, which meant he was taking up half the width of the road and going nowhere

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e expert manoeuvring by Gav, assisted by the Park manager's husband meant that we were in our slot and that's where we'd stay until 30th Dec.

I Soon developed Motorhome envy

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ckout the plate OUT 365

It belonged to a couple about our age who are 'just travelling' hence the number plate. Been on the road from Perth now for 16 months, she said 'this is home now' they'll just sell the RIG when they're dun roaming. Their kids and friends come and visit in various places so don't miss home too much.

Another amazing transformation to watch was this young couple create this 2 bed place with an outside kitchen below the back bedroom, from a caravan that was originally no higher than the roof of their car. Very clever, and it only took about 20 mins

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ch 21, aside from the aforementioned complications, is right next to the path that 70% of the site uses to go to the loo, shower or laundry. A bit tedious 😤 especially when they trundle by with their toilet cassette to the dump station.

Solution – hang all the washing, that I needed to do anyway-to create a privacy screen, sorted 👏🏽👏🏽

Thursday 28th Dec Given that we were effectively trapped in our space we decided that we’d book a chauffeur driven wine tour. Not available today but booked for tomorrow.

So we walked across the road to our local Brewery / Restaurant/Gift shop today. 👌.

It used to be a brickworks, 5 of the original kilns are still in situ

Tasted 4 different beers before lunch

Very nice owner

Innovative idea-saving on staff I guess. They page you when your food’s ready and you go and collect it .

On the way in I’d spotted a gift shop, the very nice owner gave Gav

Another couple of beers FOC while I browsed. The ceramics were stunning and very reasonable, shame I couldn’t buy any. There were a couple of necklaces with my name all over them though, so not a fruitless mission🛍

Friday 29th Dec
11 am
liant’ driver and guide Andrew picked us up. Pretty soon after starting, he took the wrong turning because he was too busy nattering, but we eventually got on our way.

He did tell us something useful/interesting. The area as well as being famous for vines is also dotted with coal mines, hence we’d seen a disproportionate amount of coal 🚂

First Stop Tinklers.

A boutique winery that had been family run for 4 generations, the only part of the process they outsource is the bottling.

Great tasting session with Nick, one of the owners. Very knowledgable chap. We left with a bottle of each of our favourites as souvenirs.

As well as 🍇 they also grow veg and have a table selling their produce. There were none on show but Andrew asked if they had an Apple cucumbers ? They did and Nick gave us one.

Curious but quite tasty as I discovered later

Next another small winery, Blueberry Hill, that only produces enough for the tastings, shop and a local restaurant.

We sat under the shade of a tree looking down at the vines. Stunning They produce a fabulous fizz, but at $40 we passed on that as well as the all the other wines we tasted there, however, “I found my thrill……..” 🎼

Their chocolate covered blueberries will provide a perfect sweet treat in the days to come.

Lunch was required by this stage, and Lillino’s didn’t disappoint, a great Sardinian family run restaurant at the top of the valley.

The view from our table

A lovely grandad making BIG bubbles for his Grandson

A perfect end to the day was stopping at the Pokolbin Chocolate Company, who also had a cheese shop next door.

No prizes for guessing who went where.

Back in the Van, with the A/C off the temp had reached 42 😩.

Outside wasn’t much cooler, and extremely oppressive. Clearly a change in weather on its way.

Not sure if it was the weather or the concoctions I’d consumed all day but I felt very peculiar for a few hours 🤒

A rest in the now cooled van, tonic water and pain killers sorted me enough to start packing.

With some planning we’ve now filled the largest suitcase with what we’re NOT going to need for the rest of the trip, so whilst we still need to take it with us, it can stay in the car unpacked making travelling, with mostly 1 or 2 night stops, a little easier.

That’s one of the MANY things I’m going to miss about our Romany adventure, the fact that we moved around without packing and unpacking all the time. 😫.

Saturday 30th
It’s raining
with a similar forecast for Sydney but hopefully by tomorrow it’ll clear again.