Have to leave my luxury hotel... :( but I am sure I will have fun in the Hunter Valley, which thankfully, is not too far away. This staff at Lilianfels is great -- superb service.
No problem getting out of Katoomba. Beautiful day here and a good day for traveling. The concierge gave me a map of how to get to the Hunter Valley and also told me directions. Now if I can only follow the directions. They have the most screwed up toll system -- no toll booths; you have to call in to pay the tolls. Surprisingly when I got north of Sydney, they did allow me to pay $2.75.
I saw some interesting vehicles on the motorway -- check out this Maserati.
I also had my first (and last) Aussie Mackers meal (that’s what they call McDonald’s, don’t know if I spelled it correctly or not). It’s as gross here as it is at home, but they did have ketchup.
Found the Hunter Valley and after a few turnarounds in the lovely countryside, found Harrigan’s Irish Pub and Accommodations. It’s a very nice place out in the middle of nowhere. Set up my tour for tomorrow. I have an inkling feeling I will not be partaking but I do want to see the countryside and the pretty places.
The next order of business was to have clean clothes. To those of you who have not traveled for extended periods of time, clean clothes are a treat. I was down to my last pair of undies and needed to wash my jeans (as they could probably walk on their own). You wouldn’t know it by the amount of stuff I brought, but I did pack light for me, two of everything and then lots of undies and socks. TMI, I know.
So I ventured back into Cessnock -- interesting mailboxes on the way:
I found a Launderette. It cost $11 to wash and dry one load of clothes. I learned last summer that it is ok to throw it all in together. I always wash darks and lights separately, but when you only have one machine available, you do as you have to. Luckily it only took one hour (I sat and worked on my journal which is one week behind) AND nothing turned out with faded colors.
On my way back, I stopped at a winery just to check out how everything worked and I knew a friend who would want a picture of this place. It was a very nice winery and tasting room -- set up for a lot of people. No, as I was driving I did not sample anything.
Also the nice people there helped me out with places to eat and see. I saw a beautiful sunset on the way back and a few kangaroos and wallabies (eating in fields thankfully not in the road).
I stopped at a few of the recommended restaurants on the way back to the hotel, but they weren’t open until 6 or 6:30, what’s up with that? At my hotel, their restaurant wasn’t open until 5:30.
I waited around until then. Voila, I found the first place that didn’t have coke products -- no sprite for me tonight. I had a good grilled chicken and salad meal. Then back to my room to fold and put up my clean clothes. Yippee clean pajamas. It doesn’t take much to make me happy.
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