Wine and Whale Weekend

After a fun night out which ended late, I had to get up at 7am the next mornig to catch an 8am bus for a Wine and Whale weekend provided by Colourful Trips.

We drove to Hunter Valley in the morning for some wine tasting. First we went to McGuigan. We had about 9 different wine tastings there including a Semillon (which the region is famous for) and Shiraz and Port. The tasting area was really well set up and we had a sheet to follow along. I really enjoyed the wines and I bought a 2002 Shiraz for about $17. Adjacent to the wine cellar was the Hunter Valley Cheese Shop. So we tried 5 different cheeses and crackers. These were really, really good. There was sharp cheddar, brie, blue cheese and a really nice soft one. All that wine and cheese sure did fill us up. We then stopped in Hunter Valley garden for a BBQ. Meagan and Mary Kate (from Northwestern University) and I walked around. The area was established by the Roche family who own a large pharmaceutical company. We visited the church that was purposely built for the daughter’s wedding and we walked through the gardens. It was so serene and relaxing. Again, the weather was beautiful… I can’t believe they call this winter!

At Hunter Valley, tasting cheese with Mary Kate and Meagan and my bottle of wine.

Hunter Valley Garden - chapel

After the BBQ, we went to De Bartoli. I didn’t enjoy the wines here that much and the set up made it difficult to enjoy it. But nonetheless, another good wine-ing experience. The vines were fruitless so unfortunately, I couldn’t take nice vineyard shots.

We then headed to Newcastle for the night. We checked into the Newcastle Beach YHA and walked around before heading to the MJ Finnegan’s Pub for some beer and grub. The pub was ok, a little over priced and the service was terrible. But tipping isn’t the customary thing here in Australia so I’m glad there wasn’t the usual tax + tip like in Canada. The pub became loud when the started broadcasting the National Rugby League game (All Black vs. Wallobies) on the TV, so we headed back to the hostel. The group of us girls, including Meagan, MaryKate, Sandy, and two others walked around. We were so exhausted and the nightlife in Newcastle wasn’t exactly happening, so we just called it an early night.

But in the hostel, as we were about to get into our 10 person dorm, someone struck up a conversation with a friendly guy from Melbourne… that conversation lasted about 2 hours! We just stood around the fireplace and leather sofas and chatted about the differences between our cultures and funny experiences we had had. He gave us some good tips like always shake out your shoes in case there is a funnel web or red back spider in there. And we asked him questions like, how do you respond to “how ya goin’” (which is a common greeting phrase and the response is: you repeat it back). It was a really nice conversation but unfortunately, like many of my other experiences, we never formally introduced each other, so I don’t know his name. I do know that he and his girlfriend broke up and he needed to ‘get away’ so he showed up at the airport and saw a flight to Newcastle for $50 so that’s were he went.

Being tired, we finally made it into the dorm at midnight and got ready for bed. I was sound asleep when at about 3am, another girl who had stayed out later and who was sleeping in the bunk above me decided to make tons of noise. It first started with moving the bed and shaking everything. And then she had a LOUD conversation on the phone in German. She didn’t even TRY to be quiet. It woke me and half the room up. I couldn’t take it anymore and finally tapped her bed and told her to kindly go outside because I was trying to sleep. It was very inconsiderate and rude and couldn’t believe it was happening. After that, I couldn’t get back into a deep sleep and therefore, didn’t have a very good night.

On Sunday, we packed up our stuff and left the hostel, heading toward Port Stephens to catch our boat. We left the bay and into the open ocean. The boat sure did move up and down a lot. Although sea sick pills were given away for free, I took the risk and opted out of it. Thankfully I didn’t have to use a little plastic bag at the back of the boat. We first saw a school of dolphins and the captain followed the school around so that we could get closer. It was really cute.

The captain allowed us to venture to the stern of the boat. So a few of us climbed down on the net and up to the stern to appreciate the views and have a Titanic moment.

Having a Titanic moment

School of dolphins

Then a number of minutes later and further out, we saw the spray of a humpback whale. Again, the captain moved in closer and positioned us well to get some good viewings. There were 2 pairs of whales on either side of the boat at one point. People were snapping away with their camera and moving around the boat’s sides to get the best view. It was amazing to see these creatures. At one point, a large wave allowed us to see the large body in a turquoise green light under the water. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any jump or go belly up. But I was impressed that we got the views that we did and the captain was really knowledgeable.

"There she blows!"

A pair of humpback whales

The tail!

After eating flake (shark meat) and chips, we headed to a nearby beach that had massive sand dunes. This was something I did not expect to see. The dunes were just so vast and wide. The wind made ripples over the sand and there were valleys and hills of sand. I couldn’t believe… it was as if you were in a dessert – minus the extreme hot sun. The sand was cool and super fine beneath our feet and when we got to the summit of the dunes, we overlooked the blue ocean. It was breathtaking. We walked out onto the beach and dipped our feet in the water (which was quite cold). We also saw camels giving camel rides to some people. I wish I knew the name of the beach… I would definitely want to go back.

Among the sand dunes

On the beach

Overlooking the beach

Then we headed back to Sydney and I tried to sleep on the bus, but our tour guide (who was a bit of a spaz and made us laugh) played the music quite loud. I was tempted to ask him to turn it down but didn’t. Despite the annoying music, the whole trip was a great success. I had a fun time and got to meet some more people, including another Canadian form Oakville who also lives at the Village.

This little weekend trip did make me realize that I don’t want to do an organized tour when I go up the east coast in December. I’d much rather go form hostel to hostel, on my own, meeting people on the way and having the experience of a lifetime.

Pictures: http://ca.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/lilliandemelo@rogers.com/album?.dir=/4dd8scd&.src=ph&.tok=pheg3QFBj2qBaEip