Day 2 5/5/07 - Australia

Newcastle -> Pokolbin -> Newcastle

Highlight

• Woke up really early because of the bird calls outside the dorm room, so we ended up having breakfast really early and leaving the house by 8:30am. As a result we got to the Hunter Valley around 9:30 am, so of course nothing was open yet.
• First stop was the Hunter Valley Smelly Cheese Shop, which wasn't opened yet, so we had a wonder around the Pokolbin Chocolate & Jam Company General Store at the Pokobin Village Resort.
• Too impatient to wait, we went to the Hunter Valley Gardens Village (HVGV), where there is a beautiful church with stained glass windows overlooking the gardens (incidentally there was a wedding there too).
• There are plenty of shops around HVGV to poke around in, my favourites were The Waiters Friend, selling all manners of kitchen stuff, and of course The Hunter Valley Chocolate Company, where they craft some delicious chcolate, my favourite being the chilli chocolate. They didn't have the dark coffee beans we wanted, so the girl was kind enough to call their other shop and store some aside for us.
• We hadn't actually tasted any wine at this stage, so we thought it was time to give it a go.
• We started off at the Bluetongue Brewery, but since we had to pay to taste the beer, so we just had a look before moving on. You can go on brewery tours, but seeing we've been on tours before, we gave it a miss.
• Across the road was the Binnorie Dairy, it was very crowded, but the setting as beautiful, overlooking a lake and vineywards, so we didn't mind waiting around. When we finally did, we got to taste test the whole range of their cheese, duetto, marinated fetta, labna, mascapone. Their cheese offering was excellent, we were really pleased so bought up big.
• On the way there, we passed a really nice looking winery, set in the valley and they had a huge balcony, so we decided to use that as our first wine tasting stop. I am so glad we did. The Keith Tullochwine Winery was excellent, a small brewery that only makes a small collection of wines, on sale at the cellar store or at the Small Winemakers Centre, and restaurants only. The best thing about this place is the way you do tasting. You pick your spot on the spacious balcony or inside, and they bring you glasses and the wines one by one. They only produce 2 whites, three rds and a dessert wine only. The wines were of pretty good quality, and the service was excellent. Each wine was explained to you and you can relax with your tasting, reclining on the comfy couches. There are also newspaper and mags to read. We spent over an hour there and ended up joining their wine club as well as buying a dozen.
• We went back to the Smelly Cheese Shop but it was so crowded that we didn't stay there long. They have a whole range of their own cheeses as well as cheese from all around the world. If you're here on a quiet day it's well worth a wander, especially in their cheese room.
• The Hunter Valley Cheese Factory is located at McGuigan Cellars. We walked through the range of their cheese, including the marinated fetta, fresh herbed cheese, the smelly Gold Washed Rind, 2 goats cheese: the Branxton White Mould and Grape Vien Ashed Brie, a strong blue and a cheddar from Queensland. The marinated products were not as good as Binnorie Dairy, but we really enjoyed the washed rind. We also managed to pick up some excellent olive oil.
• Across the road for some lunch at the Australian Regional Food Store, but alas, the lunch menu was boring and unimaginative, not to mention expensive, so we made to with 2 mediocare coffees, before heading next door to the Small Winemakers Centre for more taste testing. Not only was the person rude and slow to us, but the wine was pretty ordinary. We left there in a hurry, plenty more cellar doors where they are more welcoming.
• Finally we made our way to the reason we went to the Hunter in the first place, the Meander on Marrowbone Road event as part of the Harvest Festival. Unfortunately it was a bit late in the day, and also because we'd drunk our weights worth in wine, we only managed to make it to 2 out of 5 wineries. Draytons Family Wines where they were offering a winery tour. But before that, we got to taste a few of their offerings, and picked up a dozen reds for the price of $4 each! The wineary tour was pretty informative, and covers the whole process - I've been to a few winery tours in my lifetime, and I actually never remember much of it...
• Our 2nd stop on Marrowbone Rd was to the McWilliams Mount Pleasant Estate, one of the oldest winery in the Hunter. They had a photo exhibition, showing wine making there in teh 50s, taken by famous photographer Max Dupain.
• Our last stop was to get our chocolates from the . I never realised why this was the last stop, as the girl mentioned the shop was just down the road. As it turned out, Slokky had "misinterpreted" and thought we had to go to the factory at Lovedale instead. So 20 minutes later, we found ourselves at the factory shop, where we watched two workers making chocolates. A few taste of fudge later, we came away with bags of chocolate treats.
• We wanted to go to Restaurant II, but it was booked out. So Slokky suggested Honeysuckle Wharf, the supposed Newcastle equivalent to King Street Wharf. Well, in terms of architecture, that's correct, but in terms of shops and people, there were like 1/4 of the people. Since we were with mum and dad, we didn't really get ot eat at where we wanted, so ended up at Twist Cafe Bar, which is not a highlight. Read about it in my review here.
• Got forced to go to Coles to buy soap, even though there were still heaps left, then got forced to eat "yam dessert", even though there is no sugar in it at all.
• As usual, Elaine refuses to sleep early and also refuses to keep the noise down when other people are sleeping, so had to stay awake even though I was really really tired.

Food

• baked beans, scrambled eggs and cheese on toast
• porriage with fruit and nuts
• Bliss Coffee Roaster cappuccino ($3.50)
• taste testing olive oils, jams, chutneys
• taste testing wines
• Australian Regional Food Store latte ($3.80)
• taste testing chocolate and fudge at Hunter Valley Chocolate Company
• mandarin
• Twist Cafe Bar dinner:
  • seared blue eye cod fillet in South Indian aubergine and potato curry topped with seared scallops and riata ($26)
  • pan fried yellow fin tuna served on sauteed kiper potato, asparagus and sundried tomatoes with wild roquette, basil oil and essence of balsamic ($26)
  • roased whole spatchcock with french lentils, currents, speck and merlot glaze ($24)
  • chargrilled bangalow pork cutlet with roasted parsnip and thyme mash, sauteed dbaby spinach and caramelised apple jus ($26)
  • seared atlantics salmon with beurre blanc, asparagus spear and potato rosti ($26)
• yam potatoes "dessert"
• peanut butter fudge