Day 31: 20231024 Tuesday October 24, 2023- Blue Mountains National Park to the Hunter Valley Winery District
Getting our suitcases back down the narrow stairs from the apartment back to the car was only slightly less onerous than getting them up. When Ben dropped off the keys at the front desk the young gal working the desk said she was delighted by my American accent. So funny, now it’s us with the cute accent, and not the other way around. It’s funny to observe the way the Aussies respond as we ask questions like in stores and museums. They do give you a more intentional look as they try to figure out where the accent is from. We do the same at home when we encounter Aussies, Kiwi’s and Brits. They each have their own unique accents, which to our American ears, is hard to figure out which is which, but each is distinct.
The weather has been glorious with clear blue skies, gentle breezes and moderate temperatures. In the Blue Mountains in the morning it was in the mid 60’s as we had breakfast on the deck of the apartment. We spotted some cockatoos working the balconies of other units for possible breakfast scraps.
As we headed back down the mountains and angled to the northeast towards the coast and Hunter Valley, the temperatures increased to about 80 degrees, but it was dry and not unlike Tucson, Arizona in late fall and early winter.
We had Apple Maps navigate us to Hunter Valley avoiding tolls. This took us on many secondary highways through some of the smaller communities between the mountains and Sydney. For the most part, there are medians separating traffic, and there is good signage reminding drivers to stay left of the median. On the smaller 2 lane roads, a double white line marks the center. The vegetation and communities all along our route were very attractive and welcoming. We never saw any homeless encampments, land fills or ugly industrial areas. And Australian drivers are far more considerate than Americans.
Today had been an extended excursion where instead of driving an ATV on some tropical island, Ben gets to drive a right hand drive automobile in real traffic driving on the left side of the street. For as much trepidation we had going into the trip, learning how to drive on the left side of the road with a right sided steering wheel has been relatively easy.
Our first stop was a return to the Marsden Park Costco. The store was remarkably different on a Tuesday morning. There were few customers, ample parking and no waiting at the checkouts. Even the soda machines in the food court were all working and dispensing ice, and there was plenty of seating. We did buy a box of Tim Tams to take home for gifts, and Ben picked up a pair of shorts.
We topped off the gas tank and then hit a pharmacy near by to purchase decongestants, mucolytics and cough suppressants to get us through the next cruise. It’s interesting that in Australia, Costco doesn’t have a pharmacy in the warehouse, so they don’t carry anything that is considered OTC medication other than a few cough drops. They don’t have decongestants, mucolytics or cough suppressants. You can get vitamins and nutritional supplements but that’s about it. It took two pharmacies to find one that had pseudoephredrine and a mucolytic and cough suppressant. In the US, we can get pseudoephedrine which is an effective decongestant, but because it can be cooked into methamphetamines, it is only sold behind the pharmacy counters in the US with identification. In both New Zealand and Australia, pseudoephedrine is simply banned. In the US, dextromethorphan is an effective cough suppressant but because it is a very mild narcotic, it was partially banned in New Zealand. However, Ben was able to purchase it in Australia, although only in the form of lozenges. In the US, guaifenesin can be purchased in tablets up to 1200mg. In New Zealand you can also purchase it in tablets up to 1200mg, but in Australia, it is only sold mixed in cough syrups at much lower doses. They do have a mucolytic called Bromohexine that is available in tablets, but it’s hard to know how it might compare with guaifenesin in efficacy. We’re hoping the cold we picked up between San Francisco and Hawaii will be the only one this trip, but you never know.
Our routing took us through the Berowra Valley National Park, which is most notable for the road through Galston Gorge, which has an average 5% grade and 6 hair pin turns. It started out like Chuckanut Drive back home but rapidly turned into some rather extreme switchbacks and hairpin turns that required maximum steering and a prayer that traffic coming the other way has cleared each corner before you enter into the next corner. There are guard rails, but the road is very narrow and the drop offs are very steep. Another thing for acrophobics to avoid. It would have been a blast to drive it on a motorcycle or 2 door sports car.
The next stop was at an Officeworks store in Hornsby to pick up Parker gel pen refills for our trivia pens. We had two run out of ink during the transpacific crossing cruise and we have another nearly month long cruise starting tomorrow on the Coral Princess. Parking was surprisingly tight in the store’s garage. It’s a good thing our rental has a back up camera and proximity sensors at all 4 corners.
As we headed out of the mountains, the beautiful blue/violet Jacaranda trees at the lower elevations are quite a sight this time of year in the greater Sydney area. Although these trees are native to South America, they are desirable because of the beautiful blossoms that last for weeks. Sydney is famous for Jacarandas like Washington DC is famous for cherry blossoms.
We were soon in the “Central Coast” area between Sydney and “Gold Coast” to the north. Hunter Valley runs inland from the Central Coast, and is wine country for New South Wales. The climate and geography is very similar to the Yakima and Sonoma Valley regions of Washington and California respectively, which are also wine country. There are many vineyards and wineries scattered all over the very wide valley. There are also chocolate shops and many businesses catering to the wine tasting crowds. There are also some horse ranches in the area where you can do trail rides.
Before turning inland up the Hunter valley, we hit the Costco at Boolaroo, on the coast. We topped up the gas tank and had another chicken burger with fries and slice of pizza for lunch.
The combo pizza in Australia appears to have pepperoni and at least one other kind of sausage, in addition to mushrooms and onions. It’s too bad American Costco’s have cut back to offering only cheese and pepperoni varieties. This Costco had very few customers, so parking, checking out and the food court were easy and stress free. The store opened just a year ago after much arguing by locals over the potential impacts a Costco would have on other local businesses. Costco ultimately won out. BTW, Costco’s in Australia also carry hard liquor.
Driving up into Hunter Valley was like driving into Yakima, the Willamette Valley or Sonoma with arid warm air, rolling hills and vineyards on the hillsides. It is certainly a dramatic contrast to the Blue Mountains region or coastal area around Sydney. Australia is big country so it shouldn’t be a surprise that so many different microclimates and environments can exist within a single state like New South Wales, but it is certainly interesting to experience them for your self as you drive from region to region.
The Leogate Winery and Estates was a bit further drive up into Hunter Valley than many others, but it was highly rated for its Leogate restaurant and wines. Their wines are served in business and first class on Quantas airlines. The estate has several villas that can be rented. These are spacious, modern and comfortable. Again, compared to a cruise ship stateroom, it is enormous. This one had a much more comfortable bed and pillows than the Falls Mountain Retreat. In fact, the bedding was very comparable to those on our Princess cruise staterooms which rank amongst the most comfortable we have encountered in all our travels. The villa we are in is wheelchair compatible with a bathroom that is at least 12’ x 20’ in size with a roll in shower including fold down bench and overhead rain fall shower head in addition to a hand held adjustable shower head. These probably serve as very comfortable home bases for Sydney residents spending a weekend exploring the surrounding vineyards, chocolate shops and distilleries.
We had booked dinner reservations at 8pm because we didn’t know how long it would take us to get from the Blue Mountains to Hunter Valley. After we checked in at around 4pm, we got a call from the restaurant manager who offered to let us reschedule our dinner reservation earlier if we desired. We moved it up to 6:30pm. The dining room opened at 6pm, and the manager said the food would be at its peak around that time.
We showered up and rested after exploring the grounds a bit. There is a pond out front that is home to numerous types of ducks, swamp hens, and even a cormorant. On the lawn in front of our villa, a momma kangaroo and her kin were snacking on the grass, not unlike we would have rabbits in our yards.
The restaurant and banquet facilities of the Leogate Winery are very fancy and suitable for high end weddings. Ciara and Tom have been shopping wedding venues, but the Hunter Valley is a bit out of the way for them and their friends. Dinner was a 2 course formal meal and we both decided to start with a kangaroo entree followed by a lamb shank. The kangaroo was basically filet mignon from the kangaroo. The texture was very much like a high end beef filet mignon, and the flavor was very mild with no hint of gaminess. It was perfectly prepared and served with some root vegetables. The lamb shank was similarly expertly prepared and falling off the bone tender. This was a very young lamb, again without any gaminess. This was served with potatoes and root vegetables. The plating and service were very well done. It reminded us of how good a value our cruises have been because we could get lamb shank many nights in the main dining room of very similar quality and flavor. We also enjoyed a glass of Leogate Cabernet Sauvignon, which paired perfectly with both the kangaroo and lamb.
Ben got out his camera after nightfall to try to capture the Southern Cross, but unfortunately in this location, the surrounding foothills obstructed viewing of the bottom two stars of the Southern Cross constellation. They would have been visible from the to of the surrounding hills, but it wasn’t clear how much effort would be required to get up to the top of one of the hills at night. Ben doesn’t like to drive in the dark anymore. We may yet have one more opportunity to photograph the Southern Cross during our overland excursion on New Zealand’s South Island in December with Price and Ciara.
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We put our Coral Princess luggage tags on our suitcases in preparation for tomorrow’s embarkation in Sydney. We will have to drop off Janet with the bags at the cruise terminal, and have Ben return the rental car, and then hop a cab back to the cruise terminal. We’re hoping dropping off the rental car is much faster than checking it out was. We’ll need and early start tomorrow to get back to the car rental location before 10am.
