Over the weekend we took a trip up the coast to Hunter Valley. It is around 300 km north of Sydney and is the wine country of NSW. It is the place to go for wine tasting and to enjoy the scenic landscape. They also do cheese and olive tasting. Aside from being a foodies dream, the Hunter Valley is steeped in quaint history and historical architecture, much of which you can learn about by visiting the various museums and historical tours. The Hunter Valley also boasts an abundance of wildlife in a world-class national park and one of Australia’s most scenic golf courses.
It was a bit wet in Sydney so I was glad to get away. Me, AS and my friends SS and PA got into the car and off we went for our trip. On the way it was raining heavily at places so we didn’t know what to expect when we reached our destination but we were relieved when we found it was not raining in the valley.
There are lots of tours on offer but we decided to set our own path.
The first stop was the Hunter Valley Gardens. It is one of the places I visit every time I go to Hunter. I had been there many times, mainly to take all my visitors for a trip. But it was everyone else’s first time in Hunter so it was nice to see them excited with the view of gardens.
Its website has the following description for the gardens.
“Spanning over 60 acres, be amazed by the sensational sights, colours, and fragrances of the ten stunning feature gardens. Explore each garden one-by-one and enjoy an exciting journey through the thousands of flowers, trees, and shrubs with an air of discovery at every turn. Bask in a lavish array of colour and scent found in the Rose Garden with more than 8,000 roses on display; laze above the 10 metre waterfall and take in the superb views from the lookout; or step back in time with all our favourite fairytale characters in the Storybook Garden.
The gardens will heighten your senses with a wonderful display of sight, colour and fragrance.Hunter Valley Gardens is also wheelchair friendly and allows access to all areas. You can find out more here about wheelchairs availability at Garden Entry. Along the eight kilometres of walking paths are more than six thousand trees, one million ground covers and six hundred thousand shrubs. A floral display featuring a variety of plants and statuary, all of a standard that you won’t see elsewhere in Australia. From the main entrance, the visitor will enter through many feature gardens full of breathtaking surprises!”
I love every corner of the garden and I have so many beautiful photos from the day. It was just such a colourful place to be. There were a few weddings happening while we were there. We had lunch in the café there before going for horse riding (I am going to write a separate post about my experience of it). I had creamy pasta and it was one of the best I have tried. I highly recommend stopping over at the café for lunch if anyone is ever going there.
I should say the horse riding experience was bumpy and gave me a sore bum at the end but I did enjoy it.
Then we were off to some wineries where we got to see the ripe grape vines and took some silly photos. It felt so unreal to stand in the middle of acres of grape vines. I just loved the smell of the fresh air and to see bunches of grapes ready to be picked. When you drive pass the area, all you see is grape vines and lots of cows and horses. I felt like I was far far away from the hustle and bustle of Sydney’s traffic and crowds.
Overall a great day in a nice country town. Here are some photos of the day.
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