Off to the Hunter Valley

I got up slightly earlier than usual. When I do, particularly if one puts out some seed, the two familiar (at least I think they are the usual ones) cockatoos swooped down. While they are gorgeous birds they make utterly obnoxious noise- basically just a very loud squawk. At any rate I got a ride with Les down to the Turramurra where I was to be picked up. We then headed northwest to the Hunter Valley, eventually joining National Highway 1. It is a good road but is I think only 20 some years old. The Sydney area is built on sandstone several hundred meters thick, and is very hilly and, even though the soil is very poor, lushly forested. To construct the highway huge gaps were blasted in the hills. Some of the cliffs were 100 feet or so high. As sandstone is not fragmented the faces of these are sheer. After an hour or so we stopped for a snack at a rest stop along the way. The blue Mercedes van is what I was in. It is actually a sprint modified to seat 14 passengers. There were 7 of us on this trip.

In the background you will see a MacDonalds. They are much the same as anywhere save that they have added a MacCafe with its own counter where coffees and pastries are sold. I have managed to avoid trying them.















The third picture is just a typical Hunter Valley scene. It has been very wet the last couple of weeks and as you can see it was an overcast day. But we managed to avoid anything save some sprinkles. Lucky I suppose as there were flood warnings for some of the valley around the Hunter River. About 10:30 we arrived at our first tasting where we sampled a small amount of about 10 different drinks- some whites, some reds, some fortifieds and some wine-based liqueurs. One only gets a small amount, but at this time of day one knows one has had a drink. At this place, Draytons family wines, I bought white chocolate and dark chocolate liqueurs. They will go well in coffee I think and the dark will make interesting strawberry concoctions.