roll o'er the valley

Last Saturday was shaping up as a "nothing-to-do" day. There were no new real estate to view, kendo/iaido actvity or social commitment scheduled. So, Malc & I decided to drive to the Hunter Valley. After lunch, we filled our water bottle and drove off to the valley.

The drive was fantastic, well after we got out of Sydney, that is. The highway passes through the edges of the national forest, the Hawkesbury river and the coast. While driving, I was thinking of how much I will enjoy the drive back when I'll have my turn as passenger, then I realised that I will still be doing the driving on the return leg, because Malc might be over the limit from the wine tasting.

We arrived a bit late (and without a map) in Cessnock. So we headed off to the nearest "i" to get a map and some brochures. Our first stop was the McGuigan cellars (corner Broke and McDonalds Roads, Pokolbin, NSW) , which was in the same compound as the Hunter Valley Cheese Company. Malc tasted a few whites and decided on 2 bottles of Bin 9000 Semillon and, at $14 a bottle it was very good value. Afterwards, we trooped to the cheese store where it was my turn to do some tasting, I got a block of brie (for home) and a ploughman's lunch platter (for immediate consumption).

Our next, and last, stop was the Brokenwood cellars (401- 427 McDonalds Road, Pokolbin) and Malc first had some whites (not impressed) and then the Sangiovese (better).

And then, an uneventful (and beautiful) drive back to Sydney with our loot from the Hunter Valley.