We were up at 5:30 am to get ready for a tasting tour in the Hunter Valley wine region, a couple of hours northwest of Sydney. A bit groggy, but ready to go at 7 am, our tour guide, Max, picked us up at the hotel. We chose this particular tour because there were few people and food was included (with the appropriate wine pairings). We hit the road and rode for about an hour or so before stopping at the Australia Reptile Park for morning tea/coffee. We got to pat a baby koala, American alligator, and we fed some kangaroos what appeared to be puffed wheat. That was fun!
Mike's new best friend!
The wombats were super cute too!
Next stop was Wollombi Village- where we sampled Dr. Jurd's Jungle Juice- a yummy winey drink.
We sampled cheeses at the "Smelly Cheese Shop", had some gelato, and trekked on toward the wineries. We visited and sampled wines from 3 of the gazillion wineries in the area. They were mostly good- my favorites were the Sangiovese and dessert wines. :)
There were a dozen or so people on the tour. We were all very quiet when we boarded the van in the morning- after our first wine tasting, it was amazing how animated and friendly we all became! ;) We also sampled a paddle of beers at a local brewery. They made an amazing (alcoholic) ginger beer at the Blue Skink Brewery.
Our last stop was the local chocolate shop where we purchased chili chocolate (demolished on the way back to the hotel), chocolate covered coffee beans and white chocolate macadamia bark (drooling yet?)... We all piled into the van to head back to the hotel and it was eerily quiet- I was quiet anyway- fell asleep instantly after all of the wine, beer and food!
All in all we had another wonderful day. To top it off, we headed to the Waterfront Restaurant for a late, light dinner. Perfect weather, perfect day.
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