Cessnock NSW September 21 2016 (Hunter Valley, Wine Tasting, Wine Tour)

Cessnock NSW September 21 2016

A slight change to our travel plan sees us over in Cessnock, about 80km from Soldiers Point. The thing is, its raining again and we thought we might just take us that little bit closer to home and we can spend the day doing the wineries.

We’ve been here to the Big4 about 6 years ago and it was a bit run down then, but now it is in the middle of being converted to a retirement village, or ‘lifestyle living’ as they would have us call it. It’s a trend that is definitely on the rise all through this area; caravan parks as such are quickly disappearing in favour of these pop-up villages. The thing is that you only own the actual building, and just as they are transported in, you can take it and go somewhere else, in theory. The appeal is that its a closed / secure community and that your costs are limited to less than a hundred a week, and you get a clubhouse and pool and the like thrown in.

Anyhow, we chose the full day winery tour which includes 5 or 6 wineries, a cheese and chocolate shop, and of course, one of the wineries would have a cafe so you could look after yourself for lunch.

So here is the potted tour.

You are picked up from your accommodation in a little bus. Bonus number one, you don't have to drive so everyone can relax and taste whatever takes their fancy. ‘They’ are supposed to be red-hot on the roads here, so tasting (drinking) / driving isn't an option. 

Vineyard Shuttle Bus. Pokolbin NSW

First stop is Sobels, and along the way we are treated to a nice local chat from the fellow who owns the buses, Frank. Frank was born here and his great grandmother owned one of the first wineries, from the 1800s. His chat is peppered with: ‘Gran used to own that...’ or ‘Dad worked here...’ or ‘this whole hillside was once vines, now all gone.’

The second bonus being on a well known tour is the way you get treated at the cellar door: they have special places for the tours and each one has a set patter about their wines and winery. At Sobels the lady asked if it was our first stop, and as it was, she gave us the potted wine-tasting awareness course: swirl to aerate, sniff to smell and sip, three times - always.  And water to clear the palate as required but always between White and Red.

Sobels. Pokolbin NSW

Next was Audrey Wilkinsons, making it the second boutique winery, but pretty flash actually. On the way we are shown the Lindemans Winery, which has been going since day one, and with was officially closed down yesterday, thanks to its new multinational owners. Audrey Wilkinson is the son of the original pioneer and first planter of grapes. It’s a really nice setup and the views out across the verdant vineyards are great. Out presenter was a funny fellow who made the whole tasting business quite a bit of fun: cracking jokes, speaking mandarin to the Chinese couple visiting Australia for the first time and chatting about his days in Canberra.

Audrey Wilkinson. Pokolbin NSW

Audrey Wilkinson. Pokolbin NSW

Audrey Wilkinson. Pokolbin NSW

Audrey Wilkinson. Pokolbin NSW

Then on to Draytons, one of the biggest boutiques, and our place for lunch. This place just didn't have 
the same welcoming feel to it as the other two, and the wine wasn't to our liking. You order lunch first then go in for the tasting session of about 20 minutes. We know the routine by now: semillon, sauvignon blanc, shiraz, merlot, perhaps a blend, dessert wine.

So we went back into the restaurant for our lunch and waited another 20 minutes for it to turn up, and even then I had to settle for chicken rather than salmon because someone got it wrong and I was in no mood for waiting another 40mins! We had to ask twice for our prepaid coffee, and then the cappuccino was lukewarm at best. Oh, well, can't all be winners!

Drayton's. Pokolbin NSW

After lunch we went to the cheese and chocolate shop, which sounded like it was one and the same but turns out to be adjoining shops. We are led into the cheese shop, expecting to taste locally made cheese but instead are gathered around a tiny round table and given sticks with splodges of various types of fetta-goo on them. No chat except to list the ingredients and then it was over. Don't know why they bothered, we all left (12 of us) empty handed.

Next door is the chocolate shop. We followed our bus driver in and he offered a plastic box containing cupcake papers with 4x chocolate bits in each one. We took, we ate, we wondered what had happened to the slick customer relations / tastings we thought we should have. Left to our own devices we prowled through the shop loading up with lots of chocolate treats, some of which might make it home!

Chocolate and cheer stop. Pokolbin NSW

Another ride, another winery. This time it was Wyn Woods, another small mob, but been here hundreds of years and apparently had almost as many owners and brand names. The fellow was really good though and made us feel welcome and you felt as if he owned the place he was so proud of the business and product.

Wynwoods. Pokolbin NSW

Wynwoods. Pokolbin NSW

Last stop is a biggie: McGuigans Wines. This is the total opposite of boutique, it got so big they built a whole new winery in SA to meet the demand. And the tour tasting area, quite separate from the public cellar door, is set up to handle a 100 sniffers and swillers at once. picture.

McGuigan's. Pokolbin NSW

McGuigan's. Pokolbin NSW

McGuigan's. Pokolbin NSW

That being our last stop for the day, we are driven back to the park. All in all a pleasant way to spend a day and pretty fitting end to our 116 day sojourn around Australia.Until next time, hooroo!

Us. McGuigan's. Pokolbin NSW

Port Stephens NSW September 15-20 2016

Port Stephens NSW September 15-20 2016

Port Stephens, aka Nelson Bay, is our current location - actually we are a place called Soldiers Point, but it may as well be the same place. The first thing you notice driving around is that it's jam-packed people  and housing wise. Every square inch of land has been developed and exploited into huge mansions or multi-storey units or both, and the second thing is that all the roads are 50kph, except those through the shops, which are 40kph. It just makes it dull, boring and downright frustrating to go driving around trying to get a glimpse of the few natural features that are left. There's an added insult - in the towns such as Nelson Bay and Shoal Bay, it's pay parking, either 4 hour or 8 hour, which is too bad if you just want to take half an hour to stroll the marina and buy an ice-cream.

The marina is the usual pretty place, and as usual, the piers and jetty are closed to all but those that own the boats. But a snap just because I can:

Marina. Nelson Bay NSW

The weather has been rainy and windy. our planned trip over to Tea Gardens on the 'ferry' was cancelled due to 'bad weather forecast'. How surprising. 

One day the sun came out and it was quite pleasant. We took the opportunity to go up to the lookout and took a few snaps. One thing that hits you in the eye is the prevalence of Gymea Lily. These are weird looking plants that shoot up this one stalk, up to 6 metres high and topped with these huge bright red flowers and are growing prolifically throughout the bushland.

Gymea Lilys. Nelson Bay lookout.

Nelson Bay to the left, Shoal bay straight ahead. Nelson Bay lookout.

We took a drive out to Lemon Tree Passage, which sounds nice but turns out to be pretty run down and as its quite a way from the rest of the place, looks a bit like its just been forgotten. We thought we might have lunch there but the choice was: some flash looking and stupidly expensive place almost over the water, a choke-and-puke masquerading as a bakery, and a cafe which when approached stank of fish oil, probably stale oil that they deep fry everything in

We ended up back at The Scottish Restaurant (Golden Arches, McD), where we have discovered a reliable source of cheap edible food and coffee.

About 5km from Nelson Bay, down past Samurai and One-mile beach, which you can't actually see from the road because they are big sand dunes, is Boat Harbour. Who are they kidding? There isn't a boat to be seen for miles and if you did want to launch one, it's across the beach and out through a raft of treacherous rocks and reefs.

Doesn't stop the fishos having a go, is it any wonder more than a few get washed away every year?

Bunch of rocks near Boat Harbour, Port Stephens NSW

Bunch of rocks near Boat Harbour, Port Stephens NSW

Then there is Anna Bay, which is just totally forgettable, so let's move on...

We came to Stockton Sand Dunes. These have been on every outdoor / getaway / weekender TV show ever broadcast, and are rather special. Billed as the biggest moving sand dune in the southern hemisphere, you can immediately see why. The big thing here is 'sand boarding' like kite boarding or wake boarding only on sand. We paid a very few dollars to go out to the slopes in one of the 4x4 tour buses as 'walkers'. It's pretty impressive and looks like a lot of fun, a bit self limiting as you have to climb back up to the top each time, and when you come off, you are hitting sand, not nice soft snow or water! The sand itself is shifting all the time, even your footprints disappear in a few minutes. I was intrigued by how there were patches of wet sand and even though it rained overnight, I just assumed that it would all soak right in immediately and that the sun and wind would finish it off quick-smart.

Makes for some interesting snaps though:

Stockton sand dunes. Stockton NSW

Mrs Happy Snapper. Stockton sand dunes. Stockton NSW

Back to the tour buses again. Stockton sand dunes. Stockton NSW

Stockton sand dunes. Stockton NSW

Stockton sand dunes. Stockton NSW

Sliding down the sand dunes, and then a big trudge back up for another go. Stockton sand dunes. Stockton NSW

One last thing for me, I went and found the local swimming pool. Turns out to be a full-sized Olympic pool heated to a very swimmable 23C. Fabulous.

That's pretty much it for our visit this time and to be truthful, it'll probably be a long while before we come this way again. Tomorrow we are off the the Hunter Valley, you can drink wine even in a predicted downpour!

Tweed Heads NSW September 9-13 2016

Tweed Heads NSW  September 9-13 2016

This has to be the worst trip in Australia - Tewantin to Tweed Heads, 245km of high speed, 3/4/5/6 lane highway mayhem - and may the devil have mercy on your soul. It’s just full on, from the moment you hit the Bruce at Cooroy to the moment you pull off the Pacific at Tweed Heads, it’s just go, go go. Mind you ,we nearly came undone when we stopped at some totally forgettable roadhouse for some nerve calming medicine. Picture this, you take the exit, go down the off ramp and into a big roundabout. You take the first exist, basically doubling back along the raceway to to the Golden Arches, which turns out to be a whole bunch of little outlets behind the servo. Having regained our composure with the aid of coffee and sticky buns, we headed out again, back down to the roundabout and wait to go straight across, blinker on ready to be taking the second exit. First you have to gun it to get into the gap, and then you back right off for the semi that comes out in right in front of you and is going straight across, almost predicable behaviour, but nothing prepared me for the stupid sheila in the tiny white buzz box that decided to drive around the inside of me and then right across in front  of us as I was exiting. Who said caravan brakes don't work?

We come to the area for two reasons, one, to go and see the Great Australian Outback Spectacular and the other to see our old mate Reg Vine. Both engagements completed on consecutive nights and very pleasantly too. Judy finally found a place for a haircut, and I went and chilled out with a spa and massage. Nice

We wandered about the area bit but its not what I want to talk about this time out, we've done it all before in these pages, probably more than once.

Let's talk about our choice of caravan park, just for fun. The van park is a new one for us: we have abandoned the council run Ben Boyd for the Big 4, just for a change and mostly based on rave reports from others we have met in various caravan parks further afield. Certainly, on the approach it bodes well, get this for a notice at the entrance:

Big4 Tweed Billabong, Tweed Heads NSW

'Best of the best' eh? We'll see.

I have to say that the entrance is pretty impressive, the paint not quite dry on the reno as we pull in.

Big4 Tweed Billabong, Tweed Heads NSW

Our site is an Ensuite and is OK I guess, as good as any and at least its on the right (left actually) side of the van.

Big4 Tweed Billabong, Tweed Heads NSW

There are 2 pools, side by side. One pool is tiny and infested with children, and in my opinion about 5 degrees too hot; they were quite proud to announce that it was 31C. It has a water slide into it and that end is 1.89m deep, the other is 1m deep and the whole thing is about 5 m long. There is a second pool right next to it - unheated and frigid, nominally 20C, and not to mention just 1.2m depth maximum.

Two pools, both unusable. Big4 Tweed Billabong, Tweed Heads NSW

The hot...

... and the cold.

They also have this large billabong, fed from the river. It has two large floating trampolines in the middle and was just fantastic to swim in, just a bit cool but not freezing. And full of fish. I tried out both of the pontoons, like floating trampolines and I was amazed at just how difficult it was to gain any sort of control balance wise, oh well, easy enough just to fall into the drink!

The billabong... note the large green fence behind. Big4 Tweed Billabong, Tweed Heads NSW

On the edge of the billabong is probably the best ever camp kitchen, it really is quite over the top; you could close the end in and live in it!

Camp Kitchen. Big4 Tweed Billabong, Tweed Heads NSW

Camp kitchen. Big4 Tweed Billabong, Tweed Heads NSW

Camp kitchen. Big4 Tweed Billabong, Tweed Heads NSW

... and just outside is a vegetable and salad garden, just help yourself, so we did, to some nice fresh lettuce

The whole place is set up to cater for families, so in summer and the school holidays it would be manic. To help cater for the children are two playgrounds, a toddler playground, a jumping pillow...

Big4 Tweed Billabong, Tweed Heads NSW

... and what is shaping up to be a cracker of a water park. Its just brand new and is only the first half, but it has a huge bucket spillage thing, modelled on the nearby Fingal head, and a mountain with 4 (yes four) waterslides.

Water park. Big4 Tweed Billabong, Tweed Heads NSW

Fingal Head waterpark. Big4 Tweed Billabong, Tweed Heads NSW

Big4 Tweed Billabong, Tweed Heads NSW

Toddlers wet area. Big4 Tweed Billabong, Tweed Heads NSW 

Big4 Tweed Billabong, Tweed Heads NSW

But, and this is a killer for us, right behind the billabong (look for the big green fence) is the M1 superhighway that has traffic 24 hours a day. It's not a loud noise as such, just a constant high level rumbling that just goes incessantly. One of those noises that gets to you if you start to focus on it.

And then there are the planes. Coolangatta airport is about 5km up the road, in fact we are directly under the flight path. Coolangatta? A country town? Not on your life, they have about six commercial jets every hour, usually spaced about 2 minutes apart, and one or two at the half hour, just to be sure. They start at 6AM, as do the children in the next van, and go right through the daytime until 1030pm. For the first two days they were taking off right over us, and you simply cant talk while they are going over. We had some respite the next day as they were coming into land and not quite as noisy.

Only one of too many right overhead. Big4 Tweed Billabong, Tweed Heads NSW

But after 3 days we had had enough and made arrangements to leave the park and move to Nambucca Heads.

Tewantin Qld September 5 - 8 2016

Tewantin Qld September 5 - 8 2016

What to do in our second week here in Tewantin? Well, the trouble really is that the weather is playing up, in as much as the sun keeps popping out then back in and the rain swirls in and out of our lives.

On Sunday it was a bit miserable so we decided to drive down the beaches, starting at Sunshine and heading for Coolum for lunch. By the time we got to Perigean Beach the sun was out and shining brightly on what looked like yet-another-market. We lucked into a car park and wandered down to have a look around, and then circled the shopping block, picked up yet-another-pair of shoes and settled for lunch at what looked like a delightful place right in front of the car. I had a fish and scallop pie with chips and salad and I have to say that it was truly fabulous. Judy had a fish burgher, complaining the entire time that it had two huge full fishes on it, but I noticed the plate went back as clean as mine!

Coolum is only a short hop further down, and we had saved enough room from lunch for our usual coffee and macarons from the very french Ma Boulange Cafe Patisserie. Surprise, surprise - it was shut, at 2pm on a busy Sunday.

Settling for a less than ordinary coffee and inedible muffin from MacDonalds was a poor choice before wandering down to Mooloolaba to see what the big fuss about some ironman event was. The event turned out to the newest thing on the international Ironman 70.3 calendar. 70.3???? I thought it must have been the local radio station as there was 'noise' blaring out all over the esplanade, but i was wrong. 70.3 is the number of miles (what we had before kilometres and about 113.1379 of them at that) that represented the total length of the course comprising the usual swim, bike ride then run format. The whole thing was scheduled to finish at 4.15, which is exactly 8 hours after the last contestant started in the morning. As it was nearly 4, we stopped next to the finish line and cheered the last few runners through the gate. The last fellow was a kiwi who was 80 plus. And there I was thinking that my 3.10686 miles in 40 minutes on a Saturday was something special.

Mr G Barfoot making a dash for the line. Mooloolaba Qld

Ironman 70.3 finish line. Mooloolaba Qld

A small portion f the 3000 bikes penned in the transition zone. Mooloolaba Qld

Monday wasn't a lot brighter and we found ourselves heading to Cooroy to the butter factory (closed) then Pomona for the Rock & Roll cafe (closed - kaput) and the museum (closed).

We decided instead to head down the mighty Bruce to Montville (not closed) where we were keen to  look into Tina Coopers glass gallery. We have a piece of her work that we bought from the shop in Eumundi last year, but which when we went to find it this year, we discovered it had closed.

After a nice enough lunch in one of the many cafes in this quirky tourist trap, we avoided buying a 'genuine' trilogy emerald ring for $3500, succumbed to another soft shoe sale, and then found the glass gallery. To say it was disappointing would be to wax lyrical. When you walked into the shop at Eumundi, you had fabulous sculptured and coloured glass leaping off the floor and walls at you. This place was just plain flat and dull. Not one article jumped out and said 'buy me!' There may have been some of Tina Coopers work in there, but it was simply lost in the blandness of the place.

View from Montville toward the coast. Montville Qld

Moving on...

Our drive back took us past the Big Pineapple at Nambour, which we went to a few times with the girls. The last time I went there was with Lauren when she was about 17 and we spent a while in the hydroponics pavilion riding the boat around the circular track watching the plants being drip fed. Sadly the only thing left is the structure, now used for motorbike riding lessons. Actually the whole attraction went into a death spiral years ago and I really can't see how it stays open at all as now it is just a huge mostly empty cafe and souvenir store.

The Big Pineapple. Nambour Qld

Hydroponic pavilion. The Big Pineapple. Nambour Qld

Today I was up early and drove down to Noosa heads. I had been wanting to do the headland walk around to Hells Gates again, as I hadn't been there for about 15 years.

From the main carpark to Hells gates must be about 3km. It starts off as a solid bitumen track with plenty of fences to stop you tumbling into the ocean, but about half way the pavement gives out to a sandy track and a sheer drop. Heaps and heaps of people, even at 7am, mostly locals I reckon doing their morning walk/jog/run, or surfers by the score, barefoot and carting their boards 1 or 2 km along this track and then scrambling down to the tiny beaches to catch their dream wave before work or school or whatever.

Hells Gate overlooks a big gouge out of the rocks, full or swirling seas, and a rather nice but obviously remote beach in Alexandra Bay.

Coastal Track. Noosa Heads. Qld

Head of the Coastal Track. Noosa Heads. Qld 

Boiling Pot lookout, Coastal Track. Noosa Heads. Qld

Coastal Track. Noosa Heads. Qld

Coastal Track. Noosa Heads. Qld

Surfies at Tea Tree Bay. Coastal Track. Noosa Heads. Qld

Paperbark forrest. Coastal Track. Noosa Heads. Qld

Granite Bay, Coastal Track. Noosa Heads. Qld

Coastal Track. Noosa Heads. Qld

Coastal Track. Noosa Heads. Qld

Picnic Beach, Coastal Track. Noosa Heads. Qld 

Coastal Track. Noosa Heads. Qld

Coastal Track. Noosa Heads. Qld

Coastal Track. Noosa Heads. Qld

Noosa Heads, Qld

Alexandra Bay Beach. Noosa Heads, Qld

Hells Gates. Noosa Heads, Qld

Hells Gates. Noosa Heads, Qld

Later in the day I went back with Judy and did the boardwalk section from the end of Noosa Beach, over the hill and to the car park. We went a little way up this morning's track as well and were lucky enough to find a fellow who had found a koala high up in the trees.

Noosa beach. Noosa Qld

That's what I call absolute waterfront! Noosa Qld

Noosa and its beach.

Here's the waterfront flats.  Noosa Qld

Koala doing what koalas do mostly - sleeping. Noosa Heads, Qld

Judy making sure that the next group of rubber-neckers could see the koala before we moved on. Noosa Heads, Qld

Ah, so much fun - time for lunch! We had tried twice to get a coffee at a cafe on one of the jettys at Noosaville, called Catalina. There is a small cafe type shop front and a walkway down onto a nice looking catamaran, called Catalina, which is where the cafe proper is. We initially wanted to do a Sunday afternoon coffee cruise, so we asked at the shopfront:

'Nah, can't help you, youse have to call this number' the barista called as he hunted around for the information, a scrap of paper and a pen before scrawling the number down and handing it to us. 'Sorry, you have to call them, its the only way you can book'.

Sounded odd but what the heck, it's their boat.

We called the number only to be redirected to their web site, which directed us to another number. The new number was a machine that told us that the only way to book was by leaving an SMS with full details and that then they might get back to us.

Or not.

Our next try was one afternoon. Having completed our promenade up and down the Esplanade we thought a coffee on a boat would be nice:

'Nah, closed early today at 2 because we have a charter'. the shipboard waiter told us.

Today we thought we'd hit them for lunch and turned up at ten minutes to one, just to be sure:

'Nah, we close at a quarter to one, yer way too late,' the new dreadlocked wonder behind the bar stated. Despite our protests, we were sent packing. Fancy that, all these people walking up and down and looking for coffee / cake / food and now they have decided that it's all over at a quarter to one. Well really!

We stumbled over the road to the welcoming array of very open shops and bars and cafes and chose the 'Moondoggie cafe', which must be the least enticing cafe name you can imagine. But wait, we are greeted by a waiter in board-shorts (okanuis actually) and shown to our table. He brings us water and glasses and takes our order, reappearing moments later with our coffee, and slightly later again with our meals. I had a Salmon on Turkish sandwich which was great, and Judy had the Chicken Club sandwich which looked just as appetising. We sat and enjoyed our meals and then toddled off back to the caravan park where the sun had made a momentary appearance, long enough for us to go for a swim in the pool, but not long enough to want to linger.

Anyhow, that's our lot for Tewantin, we're off to Tweed Heads in the morning.