Tales from Down Under #2 - 3/4/2004

The Hunter Valley is the most amazing place we saw in our little tour of Sydney by Car. Imagine that we could have been young enough to have visited Sonoma or Napa Valley before anyone cared to visit... Where the wine is pour generously and at no charge by the family members that make it. No crowds and no lines and life is simple and easy. Although they have a few winemaker names that some of us would recognize (not me), the vast majority of the 130 wineries are small, family owned businesses who all grow their own grapes on their own land. The Hunter Valley is only about 1 1/2 hour drive on the "motorway" (translation "freeway" ), but we decided to take the scenic route, which touches the coast, and is quite arid and thick with rock rather than soil, before diving into the Wollombi Valley where thick crab-grass pastures feed into the well-recognized wine regions of the Hunter Valley, which is best known for it’s Shiraz (pronounced “sheer-raz” instead of “sir-rah”) and it’s Semillon wines.

We started out at a small family winery called Petersons (reminding us of friends at home of the same name) which is perched on a hill overlooking their fields. They have an additional sparking wine cellar in a different part of the valley as well. Lindemans was next, and we noted that they were much more expensive that what we have seen at Trader Joes’s and Costco here in the States. We also stopped by a vineyard owned and operated by, at 25 when he started and 27 now, the youngest winemaker in the valley. He calls his place Pigg’s Peake and has all kinds of cleaver “piggy” names for his wine stock. My favorite was another small, family run business with an Italian theme, called Tintella. Besides their wines, they produce olives and infused olive oil. We bought some of the olives for dinner that night. Although we didn’t have time to go, Wyndham Estate, propped up against the Hunter River, is supposed to have phenomenal grounds.

Manly Beach
Lonely Planet describes this popular beach as “the jewel of the North Shore”. It is a narrow peninsula that has both bay and ocean beaches, although the ocean side is much more popular. It is edged with large Norfolk pine trees and has a fantastic exercise path that winds down to the cliffs at Shelly Beach. We took the ferry over to Manly and that made for an energetic start, as the swells coming in from the head lands – which we crossed – bounced our large ferry (and the catamaran “Fast Cat” on the way home) to large peaks and crashing troughs, making people scream in delight and little kids just plain cry. We got a nice tour of the Sydney Harbor on our way out and soaked in the pedestrian environment at Manly. Today was the first day of un-interrupted sunshine, and I was going to be sure to take advantage of every little ray. It would be shameful to return home with little or no tan, and since the wedding was the following day, it might be my only chance. My enthusiasm was almost as strong as the sun. After just 30-40 minutes of tank-top wearing... There is no joke – the hole in the ozone, they say here, does exist and you are apt to burn up to 4 times more quickly here as in the States, leaving my little shoulders bright red with very distinct strap marks… Not good when you are in a wedding the next morning, in a strapless dress and your hair up. I decided to talk the bride into having my hair down to try to hide the strap-marks as best as I could. Oh, well…