Wine Country: Hunter Valley

After visiting the koala hospital, we headed down to the Lighthouse Beach for a quick swim. We quickly discovered that the water south of Port Macquarie is cold! While it is generally colder than the water further north, it is even colder than average -- about 6 degrees celsius (about 11 or 12 fahrenheit) colder. (There is an upswell bringing the colder water from the depths of the ocean onto the coast. It was about 16 degrees C instead of a more reasonable 22.) I tried and tried but couldn't make myself duck my head under. So, no bodysurfing for a few days.

Instead we headed to Hunter Valley, one of the major wine centers in Australia. Hunter Valley produces some of the big name Australian wines that we get in the US, like Rosemount Estate. For various reasons, it is not the most celebrated wine region but it is the most approachable. We stopped at Peppertree the first day and got a good introduction to the region's grapes. The second day we went to Rosemount, which is way out in the middle of nowhere, only to discover they have moved their tasting room into Pokolbin in the Lower Hunter Valley. Given how many bottles of their Shiraz I have consumed over the years, I was a little disappointed. We took a picture of the sign and went to Arrowfield, a lovely estate overlooking the Hunter River, instead.

It was incredibly hot and dry in the Hunter Valley and we didn't take as many pictures as we should have. We did enjoy a nice respite from hostels and stayed in a hotel after four places refused to rent us because they didn't have air conditioning in their upstairs rooms. (Actually they would rent to Joey but not to me -- little do they know how grouchy he gets when he is too hot.) After two+ weeks of hostels, it was lovely to stay in an air-conditioned room with good linen and a real bathtub.