Australia, 2009-11-26
We woke early again — although we still hadn’t adjusted to the time yet, so we didn’t really have a choice in the matter — to head into downtown Sydney to meet a man with a van and plan: a Hunter Valley wine tour. Hunter Valley is a few hours outside of town, so there was a little chatting amongst the passengers, as encouraged by the friendly tour guide, but overall it was a pretty uneventful trip. Essentially, we hit three wineries, a cheese shop, and had a mediocre lunch break, all over the course of 8-10 hours or so — and we only really liked one winery and the cheese shop. Not to mention, we probably quaffed a total of perhaps 2 glasses apiece for the entire day.
The first place, Petersons’ Savanna, wasn’t very good, the last place, Ernest Hill, was acceptable, and the middle one, Iron Gate, was fantastic. I normally don’t prefer white wines, but the Mellenio and Chardonays were exceptional. And the “Smelly Cheese Shop” lived up to it’s name: very smelly, very delicious. Highly recommend the Danish Viking Blue.
We powernapped on the way home and check into the Sydney Central Hostel. It was much more like a hotel than Bondi Beach, but it also high a nice rooftop sauna and pool. Nae and I sweat out some wine, showered up, and Frenchie magically appeared at our room.
Thanksgiving dinner was traditional Irish at Paddy McGuires, after which Nae, Frenchie, and I hit up the rooftop and broke out a bottle of Millenio from Iron Gate. While the wine was fantastic, Nae got bit by a spider, eventually had trouble breathing, and spent the rest of the evening in the ER waiting rooom.
Um, Happy Thanksgiving?