This morning we collected our hire car at 9am, picked up our bags from the hotel, then started the drive to Rotorua. We wanted to pick up a SIM card and had read Skinny is the best option (cheap, uses the Spark network so has good coverage, and we’d got a code for 4GB free data). Unfortunately it turned into a bit of a mission, as the first three Countdown supermarkets we visited had none in stock. We drove a bit further out of town and eventually managed to buy one.
We stopped off in Pokeno for a quick break and snack and bought a sausage roll to share at Pokeno Country Cafe. It was an enjoyable sausage roll with nice flaky pastry, although the filling was a bit like a Cornish pasty filling (contained vegetables and had similar spicing).
We then went to the neighbouring Johnson Takeaways for an ice cream. Pete was very pleased they had banana split flavour.
Quick sausage roll and ice cream snack at Pokeno
After our snacks, we continued on to Rotorua and went straight to the Whaka Geothermal Trails. The entrance fee of $30 (about £15) is a bit pricey, but the Jurassic Park like landscape is very cool – a lot of colourful steaming lakes and thermal pools.
The landscape of the Whaka Geothermal Trails feels like it came from the time of the dinosaurs
There are also bubbling pits of mud, which felt even more prehistoric.
I particularly liked the bubbling mud pools
We spent about 90 minutes walking the Whaka Geothermal Trails (including lots of pauses for photos!), before making our way to BK’s Rotorua Motor Lodge, where we’re staying for the night.
The room was huge, more like a small apartment than a motel room, and very clean and comfortable. We relaxed for about an hour or so, before heading out to dinner. The first restaurant we tried was fully booked, the second was temporarily closed for Christmas/January, so it was third time lucky when we got to El Mexicano Zapata Express. We ordered some nachos and empanadas for a starter, then tacos and a burrito to share. The portions were way bigger than we were expecting, so disappointingly this was one of the few meals we were unable to finish. The food was tasty enough, but I’m not sure it quite warranted it’s 4.9 star google rating.
Mexican for dinner at El Mexicano Zapata Express
After eating, we stopped by at Countdown to pick up a bottle of wine on the way back to our hotel. We enjoyed a glass of said wine while watching an episode of After Life on Netflix, before going to bed.
There’s not much to write about today, as most of the day is spent travelling (despite the flight only being 3hrs). Our flight leaves at 12.10pm, so we need to leave the hotel around 9am to head for the airport. Its surprisingly quick clearing security, so we set off in search of breakfast. There aren’t many good options at Sydney Airport so we settle for a McDonalds McMuffin and has brown. Yeah, I know it’s not the best choice but it’s satisfying for an occasional treat.
Mmm, McDonald’s breakfast!
Our plane ends up taking off an hour late. I’m not sure exactly why, we just sit on the tarmac for ages and they apologise for the late running and say it’s because they’re waiting for “documents” to allow them to fly. I’m slightly concerned we’ll end being told to disembark, but fortunately it’s just an hour delay.
We’re flying AirAsia but even so I’m surprised that the inflight menu is identical to that of our Bali to Perth AirAsia flight (Asian food, all priced in Malaysian Ringgits, and very cheap for airline food). If you pay in cash, your change will be given in Ringgits. Pete and I only had breakfast a couple of hours ago though, so aren’t hungry and don’t bother with any of the food options (Pete wanted a pineapple juice but apparently they’d run out of all juices!)
We landed an hour late, which (due to the 2hr time difference) was now around 6pm. When we were in the air, they’d announced we needed to fill in passenger arrival cards in the arrivals hall of the airport. Apparently that’s now changed and we need to fill these in before we disembark the plane. There’s another wait while we wait for the forms to be delivered to the plane, then handed out to everyone, and finally filled in. Eventually we leave the plane. The airport, however, is not much better. There’s a huge queue to go through customs. Eventually we get through, exit the airport, and get an Uber to the Auckland Airport Motel where we’re staying the night. The room is quite basic, but it’s a convenient location as we’ll be picking up a car from nearby tomorrow morning.
After checking in and dropping off our bags we go to the nearby Sage by Zabr’one for dinner. We’re greeted by a very enthusiastic, friendly old English chap. He’s lived in New Zealand for about 50 years but the English accent combined with the rain outside make us feel right at home! The menu is mainly curry based, so we order a starter of calamari to share then follow it with a butter chicken and lamb curry.
Curry supper at Sage by Zabr’one
The food was pretty decent and we left feeling tired but satisfyingly full, and looking forward to our first full day in New Zealand tomorrow.
This morning we were driving to Somersby Falls, so I was slightly surprised when Pete pulled up after about 5 minutes. Apparently he’d scoped out some good sausage rolls at the Baker’s Den Bakery Cafe, so we shared one for breakfast. It was a decent enough sausage roll, though not the best we’ve had.
We shared a sausage roll at Baker’s Den Bakery Cafe
We then continued to the waterfall. The car park is right near the top of the falls, and there are paths leading to the middle and bottom of the waterfall. The footpaths are relatively short but involve lots of steps which were covered in leaves and were quite slippery. I can’t say Somersby Falls is the most impressive waterfall I’ve seen, but it was still a very pleasant walk.
Somersby Falls isn’t the most impressive waterfall I’ve seen but was still very pleasant
We next drove to Walkabout Wildlife Sanctuary. The sanctuary has wild roaming emus and kangaroos, which was quite cool. Although I was slightly nervous around the emus, they’re big birds to be that close to! There were also other animals, including meerkats and koalas, which were inside separate enclosures.
The kangaroos and emus are free roaming at Walkabout Wildlife Sanctuary, with other animals in separate enclosures
Twice a day is the kangaroo and emu roundup, basically where they get fed. As soon as the keeper appeared with a big bucket of animal feed, she had a long procession of kangaroos and emus following her. It was a bit manic but very cool to witness. This ritual also gives the keeper the opportunity to count all of the animals and make sure none are injured or ill.
The emu and kangaroo round up at Walkabout Wildlife Sanctuary was fun to watch
Perhaps the best things about the Walkabout Wildlife Sanctuary is that the kangaroos are so tame you can pet them. I was very surprised when we bought our entry tickets and were told how to touch them (on their backs only, if you touch their heads or shoulders they may mistake it as an invitation to fight!). I was slightly concerned about whether it was cruel or exploitative in any way, but I assume the kangaroo would just walk away if it didn’t want to be touched (and if it came to a confrontation I’ve no doubt the kangaroo would win any fight!)
I was surprised but very happy that you can pet the kangaroos at Walkabout Wildlife Sanctuary
We listened to the koala talk at the sanctuary (surprisingly we were the only ones who attended), which was cool as we got to see one of the koalas up close and a bit more active (as it had just been given fresh eucalyptus leaves). It was then time to drive back to Sydney. We went straight to the Novotel Sydney International Airport (our hotel for the night) to drop off our bags before returning the car to the airport terminal.
By this time it was evening and time to think about dinner. When we got back to our hotel, we found we’d been given a complimentary bottle of wine for our honeymoon. We also had a bottle from Hunter Valley still to drink, so now had two bottles to consume before our flight tomorrow. The hotel room was huge, with a table and chairs so the obvious solution was to order a takeaway. We used Uber Eats to order some Chinese food from JML DUMPLINGS Wolli Creek. The food was exceptional, we absolutely loved the pan fried juicy pork buns. The spring onion pancakes were also delicious (not at all greasy) and the beef brisket just fell apart and had an amazing flavour.
Our takeaway from JML DUMPLINGS Wolli Creek was exceptional
After eating, we relaxed with the rest of our wine and watched a couple of episodes of After Life on Netflix before bed. Tomorrow we fly to New Zealand.
After checking out from our hotel, we went to explore Morpeth. It’s a quaint little olde worlde town, very picturesque with loads of cute little shops and cafes.
The small town of Morpeth is very quaint and picturesque
We went into Morpeth Gourmet Foods & Ginger Beer Factory, an interesting shop with a variety of gourmet foods and drinks, and quite a few free sample to taste. The ginger beer was especially good!Unfortunately they’re only sold in large bottles of cordial that needs to be diluted with soda water, and there’s no way we’d have time to drink a full bottle before we fly to New Zealand in a couple of days time.
Morpeth Gourmet Foods & Ginger Beer Factory
On the top floor is Morpeth Gallery, a small art gallery. There’s quite a range of art, all for sale, and the staff are extremely friendly and chatty. We were told about one artist who uses gold (including rubbing his wedding ring on the paper!), silver, and platinum in his artwork. His portraits were so realistic and life like, but I’m not convinced the precious metals added much.
Morpeth Gallery is a small but interesting art gallery above the shop
We then continued on our journey to Newcastle, where we visited Newcastle fort. You can walk around the old fort and several of the buildings house small museum exhibits. It’s a pretty interesting place. Entrance is free, although you can pay to do a tunnel tour. Unfortunately we arrived just after the 11am tour had already started, and the next one wasn’t until 1.30pm (which would be too tight to make our 2.30pm lunch booking).
Newcastle Fort is free to enter and pretty interesting to visit
We did, however get to see the gun being fired at 1pm, which was pretty cool to watch. They explained the process as they did it. If you ever visit Newcastle Fort it’s definitely worth sticking around for the gun firing.
We saw the gun being fired at 1pm, which was quite impressive!
There were also fantastic views over Newcastle from top of hill, so we sat on a bench to relax while enjoying them.
There were fantastic views over Newcastle from the top of Newcastle Fort
We then went for a late leisurely lunch at The Flotilla, where there’s a set 5 course tasting menu. The food was exceptional. I especially loved the buttermilk fried barramundi wings and the slow cooked beef short rib (which literally fell apart and melted in your mouth).
We enjoyed a late leisurely lunch at the Flotilla
After lunch we drove to the Swansea Hotel, where we’re staying for the night. It’s basically a pub with accommodation above it, and is probably one of the worst places we’ve stayed. The room was tiny and pretty shabby looking with no door to the bathroom. It was fine for a night, but I’m glad we weren’t staying any longer.
Swansea is on Lake Macquarie, and as it was a lovely day we decided to walk to the Swansea Channel, where the lake meets the sea, and sit and watch the world go by for a while. By this time it was evening, so we walked back to the hotel for an episode of After Life (which we’ve just started watching on Netflix) and an early night.
Yesterday, we’d tried to visit the Watershed Gallery only to find it was closed (despite both google maps and the gallery’s outside opening hours sign saying it should be open). So we thought we’d give it another try this morning. Alas, it was closed yet again.
We’ve got a wine tour booked for 12 noon, so have a bit of time to kill. We therefore decide to go to the picnic area near Hunter Valley gardens and have a little breakfast picnic of bread and charcuterie.
It started spitting with rain, so we went to the nearby Hunter Valley Chocolate Company. It’s mainly a big shop, but there are also informational boards telling how chocolate is made. At the back are also big windows into the factory, so you can see the chocolate being made in real life.
Seeing how chocolate is made at the Hunter Valley Chocolate Company
It was then time to head to De Iuliis Wines for our tour. We were started off with the white wines and a lovely cheeseboard, and were talked through the wines one by one. We then had a tour of the winery, which we found very interesting, and then concluded with a tasting of the red wines and the rest of our cheeseboard. It was excellent value at $45, or about £25, as non drinkers were free (and Pete was driving). We very much enjoyed the wines and bought a Shiraz to take away with us.
We thoroughly enjoyed the tour and tasting at De Iuliis Wines
We then drove to Maitland Gaol, which has an entrance fee of $19 (about £10) per person. There’s an audio tour, which you listen to by downloading an app to your phone. It was a pretty interesting place to visit. Many of the structures are still in their original condition, and the audio tour really bought it to life.
We found the audio tour of Maitland Gaol pretty interesting
After Maitland Gaol, we drove the short distance to the Hunter Morpeth Motel & Villas, our hotel for the night. After checking in and dropping off our bags, we went back to Maitland for early dinner of Chinese at Mellow Bistro. Some dishes were better than others, but overall the food was great. I loved the flavour of the filling in the xioalongbao, but they were not quite as soupy as I’d like (less liquid inside than you usually get with soup dumplings). The chicken with ginger and shallots was definitely the best dish, the chicken was ever so tender and the sauce was very flavourful. The chilli beef was good, but a little too sweet for my liking.
Our Chinese dinner at Mellow Bistro
The Hunter Morpeth Motel & Villas has washers and dryers that are free to use, so we went back to our hotel to do some laundry before going to bed.
We both woke up with colds today, so have decided to take it easy. We had wanted to go to the Hunter valley gardens, so drove there in the morning after checking out of our hotel. The tickets were way more expensive than we were expecting ($35, or about £20) though. We debated about whether to go in or not, but in the end decided not to bother.
Instead, we went to the nearby Hunter Valley Sculpture Walk by ARTPark Australia, which is free to the public.
The Sculpture Walk basically comprises an interesting collection of artworks, scattered amongst the grounds of Vamp by Lisa McGuigan, Pokolbin Distillery, and Blaxland Inn. Some of the sculptures were definitely better than others, but it was a pleasant way to pass some time.
Some of the artworks in the Hunter Valley Sculpture Walk by ARTPark Australia
We then drove to Jimmy Joans in Lovedale for an earlyish lunch. Jimmy Joans is a bit like a food focused pub, with a huge and lovely beer garden. You order your food and are given a buzzer thing, then go and collect your food when the buzzer goes off. We ordered chicken pate, a scotch egg, and a wagyu and onion pie to share. It took ages for them to prepare our food. Not that we minded, as it was very pleasant sat outside in the garden. The pie was excellent, though smaller than we’d have liked. The scotch egg was also great, though Pete was disappointed the piccalilli with it was very bland.
Our lunch at Jimmy Joans
We then attempted to go to the Watershed Gallery art gallery. According to google maps (and it’s outdoor signage), it should have been open but there was a big rope with a closed sign blocking the entrance.
We therefore proceeded to our next venue, the Hunter Valley Cheese Factory Co, where we had a cheese tasting plate to sample their cheeses. The cheeses were ok, but didn’t blow us away, and we felt the portions were quite stingy for the $15 (about £8.50). The factory has daily talks at 3pm, to explain how cheese is made, which are free to attend.
We sampled some cheeses at the Hunter Valley Cheese Factory Co
As Pete and I were both feeling slightly under the weather, we drove to our hotel in Cessnock (the Wine Country Motor Inn). We chilled out for a couple of hours, before getting burgers and milkshakes at the nearby Burgerfiend. Nothing like a bit of junk food to make us feel better.
Burgers and milkshakes at Burgerfiend in Cessnock
After dinner we headed back to our hotel for an early night
Today we’ve hired some electric bikes so we can explore the wineries of the Hunter valley. We’ve decided to do a loop of about 20km, starting and ending at the H Boutique Hotel, where we’re staying.
Our first stop was Hart & Hunter, where we shared a tasting between us (we didn’t want to drink too much when we’re cycling!) The big surprise was the lovely creamy Chardonnay. We’re not normally massive Chardonnay fans but both agreed this was the best wine and are very tempted to come back with the car tomorrow to buy a bottle.
The setting was also beautiful. We were overlooking the vineyards and fields, where lots of kangaroos were relaxing under the trees. There were also quite a few rabbits that hopped past every so often.
I loved the setting of Hart & Hunter with its great view of the kangaroos. The wines weren’t bad either
Our next stop was Keith Tulloch Wine, which has a lovely balcony overlooking the vineyards below. Again we shared a tasting, although felt this one was less good value as it was more expensive (at $15, or about £8.50) and the pours were very small. We also shared a grazing plate, which was nice enough, but we expected a bit more for $32
Keith Tulloch wines with its balcony overlooking the vineyards
We continued to James Estate Wines, which is overlooking a lake with rabbits playing in the surrounding fields. The wines here were very pleasant but none particularly stood out.
James Estate Wines overlooks a lake with kangaroos and rabbits
We then decided to mix it up a bit by visiting Hunter Distillery. This time the tastings were of spirits, and were served out of test tubes. It was an interesting experience, but I found most of the spirits and liqueurs a bit too sweet and artificial tasting.
Tasting spirits out of test tubes at Hunter Distillery
Our next winery was First Creek, which again was in a beautiful setting. The tasting room was also quite cool, and we were sat on a table by a window overlooking all the wine barrels (although I forgot to take a photo!). We really liked the wines at First Creek and bought a bottle of Shiraz and a bottle of white to take home with us (and because we’d made a purchase, the tasting fee was waived).
First Creek winery
We then continued up the road to John Wallace Wines. Here the highlight was a lovely sparking rose, which was a bit of a surprise to both of us as we’re not usually that keen on rose. We might need to come back tomorrow morning and buy a bottle.
We were surprised by how much we loved the sparking rose at John Wallace Wines
Our next stop was Calais Estate Winery, which is just opposite. Although it closes at 5pm, when we turned up around 4.20pm they said we were too late for a tasting which was slightly disappointing.
Instead, we went to neighbouring Moorebank Vineyard. This also closes at 5pm but they were quite happy for us to have a tasting. The tasting includes a choice of 5 different wines. They’ve got 10 in total, so we decided to have a tasting each so we could sample them all. They were good wines, but we’ve already bought a couple of bottles at other vineyards so didn’t make a purchase.
We tasted all 10 of the wines at Moorebank Vineyard
On the way back, we called off at Pokolbin Brothers Wines, which is open until 6pm. Here, the owner was extremely friendly and chatty (if he’d not offered to give a couple of other customers a lift to the station, I’d half suspected him of being tipsy!). I’ve no idea if you’re meant to pay for tastings, we weren’t charged but that could be because we bought a couple of bottles. You can also hire electric bikes from here, which gets you a discount on the wines. We’d hired ours from elsewhere (as we could pick up and drop off at our hotel), but he still gave us the discount which was lovely of him.
We really enjoyed the tastings at Pokolbin Brothers Wines, and the owner was so friendly
We also spotted a flyer for takeaway pizzas. The owner saw us looking at at and highly recommended giving them a go – so that’s dinner sorted!
We cycled back across the road to our hotel to return the bikes. I was slightly apprehensive as the return time was very vague (the guy that gave us the bikes had said he thought it might be 5pm but wasn’t sure) and it was now approaching 6pm. Fortunately though, it was all ok.
All of the units at H Boutique Hotel have terraces overlooking beautiful fields where loads of kangaroos hang out. It was a lovely place to relax with some of the wine we’d just bought, and we ordered a takeaway pizza from Gourmet Pizza Cessnock (where the flyer was from).
The pizzas from Gourmet Pizza Cessnock were delicious
The pizzas were delicious! A great end to a fabulous day.
Our first stop of the day was the Putta Bucca Wetlands, just outside Mudgee. Unfortunately, most of the paths closed were closed when we went, apparently due to flooding, so we could only do a short route. It was still a pleasant walk though.
Most of the trails at Putta Bucca Wetlands were closed due to recent flooding (even though it was a bright sunny day when we went!)
Our next destination was Drip Gorge, but shortly after leaving Mudgee we passed by Huntington Estate, a winery. According to google reviews they do a very good cheeseboard so we decided to call by for a snack. Alas, the cheeseboard is no more, apparently due to them losing their chef before Christmas (although I’m not quite sure why it requires a chef to cut up a few cheeses….) However, we did taste their wines. When I say we, I did most of the tasting as Pete was driving. The wines were pretty good, but we particularly enjoyed the fortified red (basically an Australian version of port) so we bought a bottle to take away with us.
Huntington Estate winery, near Mudgee
As we’d told the woman serving us that we really enjoyed port, she suggested we went to Pieter van Gent Winery & Vineyard as they do a good white port. So off we headed. They already had a large group party in, so we had to wait for a little while. This didn’t bother us as it was quite relaxing sitting outside looking out over the vineyards.
We were soon called in to the tasting room, which is lined with huge barrels and looks pretty majestic. Again we shared a tasting, but were actually slightly disappointed by the white port that we’d come here for. It was extremely sweet (more so than the ones we enjoyed in Portugal). The lady added a dash of lime juice to it, which was surprisingly good (refreshing like a gin and tonic), but still not quite the white port we were looking for.
The tasting room at Pieter van Gent Winery & Vineyard is lined with huge barrels and looks pretty cool
We had wanted to go the the Pipeclay Pumphouse Restaurant for lunch, as it looked lovely and according to Google maps was open. We drove there, only to find it just does lunch at weekends. There didn’t seem to be any other restaurants nearby, so we continued on our way to Drip Gorge.
The Gorge is absolutely stunning, and there’s a very easy walking track that runs alongside it. It took us about 1.5 hours to walk to the Gorge and back, at a leisurely pace and stopping to have a paddle in the water along the way.
Drip Gorge is absolutely stunning and is easily reached by an easy walking trail
We went to the nearby Hands On The Rock – Ulan Aboriginal Rock Art. You go down a very narrow, slightly overgrown walking trail through some woods and then scrabble up rocks for the last 100m or so.
The trail to Hands On The Rock – Ulan Aboriginal Rock Art is quite narrow and overgrown
At the end of the track is a huge cliff with some hand paintings. I didn’t find it intrinsically impressive (much preferred the Gorge) but I guess it’s the fact that they’re so old which makes them worth seeing.
Handprint art on the cliff face
By this point we were starting to get quite peckish. Apparently Merriwa Cakes & Pastries do great pies and sausage rolls, so we were looking forward to getting a snack there. Unfortunately when we arrived there was a note pinned on the door saying they’re temporarily closed (this seems to be a common theme around here!). There didn’t appear to be anywhere else we could get lunch or a snack here, so we continued on to Denman, where we’d pinned our hopes on The Royal Hotel (according to google maps it was both open and does decent pub food). Alas, the kitchen was closed and wouldn’t reopen until 6pm.
The next reasonably sized town was Singleton where we were finally able to find some food (by this time, a very early dinner) at the Club house hotel Vietnamese cuisine. It’s basically a pub with a Vietnamese canteen at the back. The food wasn’t as great as we were expecting for its 4.5 star google rating. The mixed appetisers were typical deep fried fare, ok but nothing special. The quail was a bit dry and didn’t have a good meat to bone ratio (although to be fair, I guess that’s the nature of quail… though it was probably slightly overcooked). The fish with ginger and spring onion was, however, excellent and if that was the only dish we’d had my impression of the restaurant would’ve been so much higher.
The food at Club house hotel Vietnamese cuisine was alright, but slightly disappointing for its 4.5 star google rating
As we were eating, the weather had turned. We were greeted with a beautiful rainbow when we exited the restaurant.
The rainbow over the skies at Singleton
Driving from Singleton to Pokolbin (where we’re staying tonight), we got our first glimpse of kangaroos in the wild. I was surprised by just how many of them there were, and by how close to the road they came.
Our first glimpse of kangaroos in the wild
When we reached our hotel, the H Boutique Hotel, we were even more delighted to find that kangaroos commonly come into the hotel grounds. The hotel rooms are more like small apartments, each with their own little terrace. It was so lovely to sit out on ours watching the kangaroos (and occasional rabbit) quite close by. A great end to a great day!
We’d booked a gold panning tour for today, so set off early to drive there. We’d allowed plenty of time as we weren’t quite sure what the roads would be like (they were actually pretty good and very wide) so arrived with a couple of hours to spare. We went to explore nearby Hill End. It’s a quaint little former mining town, and has a small museum (the Hill End Heritage Centre). The museum is pretty small, but is free to enter and an interesting way to spend half an hour or so.
The quaint little former mining town of Hill End is interesting to visit, and you can learn about the history at the Hill End Heritage Centre
We then continued to the meeting point for the gold panning tour, which was described as a brick chimney. Sure enough, we soon spotted the brick chimney at the side of the road, and parked up at the lay-by.
The brick chimney marked the start of our gold panning tour
The were quite a few people on the tour, much more than I was expecting. We were first given a demonstration on how to pan for gold by Jhob.
When we’d booked the tour, I had romanticised visions of panning for gold beside a gently flowing babbling brook. Instead, we were in a very muddy, leach infested creek.
Panning for gold wasn’t quite as I’d imagined – particularly the least infested muddy waters!
Jhob didn’t warn us about the leaches (he was wearing Wellington boots), but Pete and I soon discovered this for ourselves. We were both wearing sandals, and within 30 seconds had several attached to our feet and legs! I soon leapt out of the creek (possibly screeching slightly), trying to shake them off. It was pretty disgusting and we ended up with bleeding feet which soon turned into bright red spots!
We ended up with loads of bright red leech bite spots, which fortunately faded after a couple of days
It wasn’t quite the experience I’d envisaged, but on the bright side we did find gold! Well, a few specks of it, but that still counts right?
We found some gold! Just a few specks, but better than nothing.
We then went to the History Hill Museum & Underground Mine. To be honest I didn’t find the museum the most inspiring ever. It’s basically got a huge collection of eclectic items, some of which relate to the town’s gold mining history and some of which seem totally random. The interesting thing about this place, however, is the disused underground mine which you’re free to explore. I very much enjoyed this part of the museum.
The underground mine was definitely the highlight of the History Hill Museum & Underground Mine
On the way into Mudgee, we saw a sign for some wineries. So we obviously had to check one out, and called in at Burnbrae Wines. We got a tasting between us, with me drinking most of them as Pete was driving. They were very pleasant wines, and it was lovely sitting outside overlooking the vines. We bought a bottle of their sparkling wine to take away with us.
Burnbrae Wines, a small winery outside of Mudgee
We continued driving the short distance to the Woolpack Hotel, where we’re staying for the night. It’s actually a pub with accommodation above it, and is right in the centre of Mudgee.
We dropped our bags off, put our wine in the fridge, then went out to explore the town. It’s quite an attractive small town, although there’s not a huge amount to it. Several of the restaurants seemed to be closed (due to it being early January), so we actually ended up eating in My Thai Mudgee, a Thai restaurant right next door to our hotel. We had chicken satay and Thai fish cakes to start, followed by crispy chicken with chilli and basil and a pad kee mao for main course. The food was actually very good, and we especially enjoyed the chicken satay and the crispy chicken (which had a lovely chilli kick).
The food at My Thai Mudgee was very good
After dinner, we went back to our hotel room to enjoy the bottle of sparking we’d bought from Burnbrae Wines. We finished the bottle, and were still in the mood for a bit more wine. The advantage of being above a pub meant Pete could go downstairs and get us a takeaway bottle. We ended the evening with an episode of Money Heist on Netflix before going to bed.
Before getting a train into the city, we went for a breakfast Bahn Mi at Enmore Delicious Roll. We had the roast pork Bahn Mi and it was definitely one of the best Bahn Mi we’ve had in Australia, with a very generous filling of juicy (but not too fatty) pork with a crunchy crackling.
Breakfast Bahn Mi at Enmore Delicious Roll was indeed delicious
When we arrived at the quay, we had about an hour before our tour, so relaxed outside the Opera House.
The tour itself was very interesting and enjoyable. I hadn’t quite appreciated just how vast the Sydney Opera House was until today. There are several theatres, although we were unfortunately not allowed to take photos of the largest and most impressive areas (apparently it’s forbidden due to the proprietary props on stage).
At the end of the tour, we were told we could get a discount on performances if we showed our tour tickets. Unfortunately we’re leaving Sydney today, so won’t be able to take advantage of this. But if you’re interested in doing a tour and seeing a show, do the tour first so you can get a discount on the show booking.
I really enjoyed the Sydney Opera House tour, and was surprised by how huge it is
After the tour, we walked through Hyde Park to the Australian Museum. It reminded me a bit of the Natural History Museum in London, with loads of dinosaur skeletons and stuffed animals. It’s free to enter and would be a great museum to take children.
The Australian Museum is a little like the Natural History Museum in London
Before picking up our car, we went for a lateish lunch at Macchiato Wood Fire Pizza and Coffee Roasters, where we ordered an interesting prawn and pepperoni combo. It worked surprisingly well,
Our prawn and pepperoni pizza at Macchiato Wood Fire Pizza and Coffee Roasters
We enjoyed the pizza so much that we ordered a second to share – this time pulled beef ribs. It was actually even better than the first.
Pizza round 2 – this time with pulled beef ribs
We then walked to museum station to catch the train. It reminded me a lot of the London Underground!
Museum Station in Sydney reminded me a lot of the London Underground
We went to pick up our hire car, then drive to the Blue Mountains (via our hotel to quickly pick up our bags). We stopped off at Wentworth Falls, where there are several different walking trails. You could easily spend half (or even an entire) day here. However, as it was late afternoon we didn’t want to do one of the longer routes as we wanted to be back before dark. We followed the Weeping Rock circuit to Fletchers Lookout, which was an easy 30 minute walk (though there were quite a lot of steps). The lookout had some beautiful views over the mountains.
It’s an easy 30 minute walk to Fletchers Lookout, for some lovely views over the Blue Mountains
We then continued to the top of the falls (about another 10 minutes, and again fairly easy going), before returning to the car park.
We walked to the top of Wentworth Falls
We drove to the Alpine Motor Inn, where we were staying for the night. It’s a pretty standard no frills motel, perfectly fine for a one night stay. It’s slightly out of town in a main road, so after dropping our bags we drove into Katoomba to pick up a bottle of wine and a few snacks. We’d had a substantial late lunch so didn’t feel the need to eat out anywhere and went back to the motel for the evening.
Emma and Pete’s Asian Adventure 