Woke up at 4:30 a.m. for no reason to a nightmare about me and my family and friends being swept away in a flood -- there is the overflowing Mississippi headed our way, but we live on high ground a considerable distance from it. Very unsettling dream though, hope it doesn’t come to fruition for people in our area.
phrase for the day :
Got up and got ready for my big touring day in the Hunter Valley, looking forward to being chauffeured around and being able to look out. Had a great breakfast at Harrigan’s Pub. Met Ian Jackson, who is the owner and operator of Cheers Bus Tours, at 10:15 in front of the Bottle Shop. He was very friendly and a great guy. The tour bus was small and scooted around great. He had worked in the touring industry for 9 years and owned this business for about 3 years and loved it. He got to make his own schedule and loved to visit with people. He also liked to take a day off a week to fish and bowl (I think that is lawn bowling not our bowling).
Also on the tour with me were Peter and Lorraine, a couple from Sydney. They were just a little younger than my parents and a hoot. He loved wine and she did too, but couldn’t drink too much of the red stuff. Unfortunately, she had hurt her foot so she had some difficulties getting in and out of the tour bus.
All three of them schooled me in many more Aussie things I didn’t know about -- average wages, the banking system, and the all encompassing Nanny State they lived in. It’s always good to have pleasant and fun people to hang out with during the day. Also we had a grand time discussing Aussie slang/US slang and different pronunciations of words. You say tomato, I say tomato. You say autumn, I say fall.
Our first stop was the Ivanhoe Winery owned by Stephen Drayton. His family has been in the wine business for quite awhile. The vineyard was beautiful and they didn’t sell their wines in stores. It was a boutique winery, with a limited selection etc. They had a nice sized tasting room and our host, Jason, was very good. He had a table set up for us due to Lorraine’s foot. He was very knowledgeable about the product and a positive person.
They had beautiful etched bottles that they did for special orders for people. I had never seen this in any winery before -- special labels, yes, but etched bottles, no.
My favorite part was the suit of armor.
There was an article on the wall about the owner, Mr. Drayton, saving a couple from drowning in his pond. Ian told me the story of how some hotshot was trying to impress his girl (isn’t that always the case) and drove out of there too fast and plunged his flashy Jaguar into the pond by a dam. Mr. Drayton, who had just closed the shop, saw this and jumped in to try and get them out. He couldn’t so he called for help and got the tractor and they dragged the vehicle out and then got them out. Very resourceful, I guess you could say the knight came to the rescue.
Our next stop was Blueberry Hill winery. It was also a boutique winery, the owner/host was very shy and quiet. The place was pretty. The winery/estate looked smaller than Ivanhoe. The label was beautiful -- kind of “Medusa” ish with grapes for hair. I loved the bar -- it was made of beautifully stained wine casks.
Our next stop was Tintella Winery, which is owned by a very well known and influential cardiologist. (Interesting hobby/side business for a Doctor to have.) Our hostesses there was great. She had been to the US and my area and we discussed that. In addition to the wines, she had wonderful olive oils and vinegars and other food stuff that was made there. I bought a great lemon curd to take home (it tastes good on homemade and whomp biscuits as well as scones).
We had an entertaining lunch at the Leisure Inn, Hunter Valley Cafe. I had my first BLT in Australia and as I suspected it was ham not bacon. I do so love American brown crisp bacon.....
Now for my part of the tour -- the food part. We stopped at the Hunter Valley Chocolates. Yummy! We had samples of chili chocolate (yes, there was a kick to that), cookies and cream fudge (bought a small portion), chocolate coffee beans (ugh), and chocolate rocks. I bought the fudge and some chocolate covered peanuts (they were delish). They had some interesting items in their shop (it said no photos but I snuck a few). They even had a few shelves with American Candy -- yum -- I did control myself around the Peanut Butter M&M’s but it was difficult.
Our next stop was the Savannah Winery, which is part of the larger Peterson’s group. They made a deal out of Savannah and me being a Southern Belle. I had to explain to them about the different parts of the south. It was very entertaining and we had a great host with John. I smelled this Muscat in a warm glass -- smelled like Christmas (can something smell like a holiday?). This winery had a medium sized tasting room made of beautiful wood.
Our last stop was the Smelly Cheese Shop, I had been there the day before when they were closing because it was next to one of the recommended restaurants. The staff was so nice to me last night and again today. We tried five cheeses (I only tried four). I liked the cows feta cheeses and the sundried tomato fromage. There was also a Lebanese Yoghurt Cheese that was very nice. I didn’t try the bleu cheese because she asked if we were allergic to anything. That is the first time that has happened. In 40 years, I didn’t know if you were allergic to penicillin you weren’t supposed to eat certain types of cheeses. Glad I have never liked bleu cheese and don’t eat it. Also being allergic to sulfa drugs means I shouldn’t drink some things also.
Loved the name Smelly Cheese Shop and their logo was a cute little mouse. The shop had lots of items in it ranging from specialty cheeses to homemade gelato to nuts and crackers to olives. It was a very gourmet shop.
After I got back to my hotel, I repacked my luggage for tomorrow and waited until 6 when a restaurant would be open. It’s a good thing I didn’t drink today so I could drive to my dinner. I hit Oishii, the Japanese/Thai restaurant next to the cheese shop.
It was very close to my hotel -- so I could hopefully avoid any further kangaroo incidents. I had jasmine rice and cashew nut chicken. It was very good. (And for dessert I had two of the chocolates I got from the chocolate shop earlier.)
I had a great day with new friends and also a bad day in that I got disturbing news from home, late last night and I realized in addition to my lost Aussie mobile I had lost my favorite lipstick and lipstick case (that I would have driven back to Katoomba for -- not the lost mobile -- C’est la vie).
Yes this was a tour company called Heidi's -- they had Range Rovers and had wrecked one real good the day before. I didn't think that was my style.
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