Yeah, this is my 101th post and this is on what we did for Xmas and my bday. After having a tiring but wonderful catching up with my family and frens I returned back on the 17th dec to Oz sweet Oz. On xmas day we left home for a getaway. I knew we were going to Hunter Valley but no idea where in Hunter Valley and what we were going to do. We almost packed up our whole kitchen!
We set off for about 3hours and 45 minutes drive. We passed Sydney and was close to Newcastle. We then exit to Maitland. I could feel that the urban life was slowly peeling off as we drove deeper and deeper. We came to a point where we had help our GPS find its way to our destination. It was really out in nowhere.
We then passed by 2 wine barrels aka post boxes. Krish then turned into the Hunter River Retreat. They had sheeps, cows and emus grazing. They all stopped eating and looked up at our car as we passed. There was a strange silence as though they are acknowledging us, the strangers. We drove upwards on a steep dirt road (occasionally squashing on cow dung). There was even a outdoor spa and massage cottage on its own. Krish then parked under a cottage called Bluegum Cottage. Now from the road you can't catch a glimpse of this cottage at all. It is well hidden away from everything. I could only hear the sound of the surrounding rainforest. No sound of traffic. It was like cushioned in the forest. It had a run down wooden look from outside but inside it was more than perfect. It had all facilities and more. And even an outdoor jacuzzi! We just had abit of a problem with air condition which was resolved soon.
This cottage is about half an hour from Hunter Valley region itself. Upon arrival Krish saw a grey kangaroo. It hopped by fast checking out our cottage or maybe us. We unpacked and we explored the surroundings. The nearest cottage was nowhere near in sight. We saw 2 horses up on a hill far away. I thought that was the nearest we could get. We were then greeted by them everyday as they came by our cottage and stopped for carrots. They were five old and retired horses and they were not in their best of shape.
There were also cows, different types of wild birds, grey and red kangaroos, possums (which I think I heard rambling in our roof on some days), enchiladas and even good looking beetles that I have not seen in my life before.
We then had wet weather for 3 days. Australia has been suffering from drought many years now. Even with the 3 days of rain their dams in Hunter still looked very pathetic. Huge plots of land looked very thirsty. But still the farmers and their families were joyous for the rain.
On my birthday we skipped the horse riding as it was still raining. We explored Hunter Valley which is Australia's oldest and best known wine region. With a spectacular backdrop it is the home for more than 110 wineries and cellar doors offering free tastings of their best wine selection. Some of the wineries used helicopters to check on their grapes so you can imagine how never ending their land is.
We went to Hunter Valley Gardens which is a popular tourist attraction. They had 10 themes of garden: Formal, Indian Mosaic, Chinese Moongate, Sunken garden, Rose Garden, Storybook Garden, Border Garden, Italian Grotto, Oriental Garden and The Lakes Walk. I really loved the Storybook Garden and Rose Garden. There were more than 8,000 roses in a corkscrew design. More than 500,000 plants are being planted each year in HV Gardens.
Thereafter we went by for lunch at the Hunter Valley Gardens Village. This village had many interesting small shops like lolli shop, smelly cheese shop, chocolate shop and of course xmas shop. We lunched in a restaurant called, The Cellar. My Braised Morrocon Goat particularly melted in my mouth. It was the best meat dish I have eaten. I ate as slowly as possible cos I didn't want it to finish (was so sad when it did).
After lunch we decided to pick a Winery and go for the wine tasting. We went to Scarborough and we greeted warmly by the host. We learnt alot on the wines that they offer. The best thing is that they didn't push u to buy anything at all. But I wanted to. My all time favourite is Chardonnay and so we bought one of their 2007 collection and also a dessert wine which tasted like a heavenly pair with their cheese platter.
Well that was how we spent my 29th birthday. Thanks to Krish we got to experience country life abit. Of course there was the harsh fact that most people there depended directly on the daily weather for livelihood. They wake up like even before the first light comes on and softness is not the word to describe a lady's hand on a farm. But nevertheless the peacefulness is just soothing.
We left the next day back to our suburban life. I still miss the place and the at peaceful feeling that the cottage gave us. Life is so unpredictable but I know for sure that we have to return there someday.
