October
13, Saturday
The Reptile Park
Elvis, he's the biggest guy here
and here is a baby croc, no idea if it's Elvis' or not.
and I get to pet a baby koala as well. SO SOFT ! Check the grip he's got on the volunteer's shirt.
and there are kangaroos to feed as well. This one came up to waist level, the smaller one was shier
and in the enclosures, I got to see rock kangaroos.
and flying around everywhere, making an incredible racket with their squawks, cuckatoos.
and of course, there were smaller reptiles in their own enclosures
Max took some side roads to show me Murray’s Run. Some of the scenery has not changed in the past 100 years
This big guy was just sitting beside the road; he did not care that he was on the wrong side of the fence and could have seriously damaged a car.
Our next stop was at the historic township of Wollombi, famous for its local brew called Dr Jurd's Jungle Juice. Sounds more exciting than it really is; it tasted like sherry!
Our first glimpse of the Hunter Valley
and the vineyards
It was a beautiful day for our visit
and they were ready for tourists who wanted to do the wine tour by horse and buggy
Rose bushes in vineyards. I remember seeing this in France and Italy, but had not realized the relationship: ”They have a long history of partnership with grapevines as an early warning system against serious plant diseases; the same function as the canary in the coal mines, did in the past.”
We visited two vineyards before stopping in at a cheese shop where we had a cheese tasting. Only the young man decided to try it; the girls did not. They also sold some great ice cream! It was still morning and we had been drinking wine, so why not have ice cream before lunch ?
One of the wineries
The Chinese students are slowly perking up.
Our lunch was quite nice
We got back in the mini van and went to the third vineyard, where we were having lunch. It was served to us as if it was a family meal: platters of food on the table from which we served ourselves. The Chinese students started picking into the platters to eat, not using their own plates. I motioned NO with my head and showed them that they should take some food with the serving spoons and put it on their own plates. That only worked for about 2 minutes, then they were back picking with their forks and eating straight out of the platters. YUCK ! I filled my plate with what I wanted and did not bother taking second helpings.
The last vineyard
Check out the beginnings of the grapes. They look like teeny tiny little green ball bearings.
(Yvette: or the tiny gold balls on the rings we bought in Athens.)
Some of the vines are quite old
Our last vineyard was one of the oldest in the Hunter Valley.
We visited a fourth winery just across the field from the third. The lady was serving three different groups at the bar, and had simply left the bottles we were sampling open on top of the bar. Two of the Chinese girls were pouring themselves additional servings of wine and drinking it down like it was grape juice. Now I understood why they were hung-over this morning. They have no idea of when to stop.
Our last stop was to a chocolate shop…. YUM !
and it's in one of the shops that I saw this sign that I posted on Facebook. I LOVE THIS and whenever I get gloomy, I will remember this adage.
Driving out of the Hunter Valley, we pass some historical hotels and I noticed all the motorcycles parked in front of it. (Lise P. I thought of you and your husband doing road trips on your motorcycles.)
I had to use my alarm clock for this morning’s wake up
call at 6 am. The tour bus would be
picking me up at 7 am to take me on the Hunter
Valley Wine Tour. The “Red Carpet
Tour” bus arrived earlier than expected however and I did not have time to
finish my coffee, or my bread with peanut butter. (Almost finished the jar I bought in
Adelaide). I was the first person to be
picked up and the driver offered me the seat up front with him, leaving the
rest of the van for the remainder of the group.
We arrived at the downtown hotel and had to wait 20 minutes for the four
young Chinese students to make their appearance, looking as if they had partied
hearty the night before. They were
asleep in the back by the time we crossed the Harbour Bridge, making our way
north towards Hunter Valley.
Technically, I had a private tour all day. Max, the driver, and I chatted the entire
length of the trip. He could see that I
was interested in the information he was transmitting.
Crossed the Harbour Bridge, and drove north passed the
Hawkesbury River
Our first stop was for coffee at the Australian Reptile
and Wildlife Park. The three girls went
into the bathroom and stayed there! They
had partied a little too much the night before I guess. 
The Reptile Park
Elvis, he's the biggest guy here
and here is a baby croc, no idea if it's Elvis' or not.
and I get to pet a baby koala as well. SO SOFT ! Check the grip he's got on the volunteer's shirt.
and there are kangaroos to feed as well. This one came up to waist level, the smaller one was shier
and in the enclosures, I got to see rock kangaroos.
and flying around everywhere, making an incredible racket with their squawks, cuckatoos.
and of course, there were smaller reptiles in their own enclosures
I walked all around the complex
and enjoyed the sunshine. I got back to
the minivan to find everyone waiting.
The students had not bothered to go see any of the animals.
This big guy was just sitting beside the road; he did not care that he was on the wrong side of the fence and could have seriously damaged a car.
Our next stop was at the historic township of Wollombi, famous for its local brew called Dr Jurd's Jungle Juice. Sounds more exciting than it really is; it tasted like sherry!
We continued touring through the scenic national park
regions to the Hunter Valley.
and the vineyards
It was a beautiful day for our visit
and they were ready for tourists who wanted to do the wine tour by horse and buggy
Rose bushes in vineyards. I remember seeing this in France and Italy, but had not realized the relationship: ”They have a long history of partnership with grapevines as an early warning system against serious plant diseases; the same function as the canary in the coal mines, did in the past.”
We visited two vineyards before stopping in at a cheese shop where we had a cheese tasting. Only the young man decided to try it; the girls did not. They also sold some great ice cream! It was still morning and we had been drinking wine, so why not have ice cream before lunch ?
One of the wineries
The Chinese students are slowly perking up.
Our lunch was quite nice
We got back in the mini van and went to the third vineyard, where we were having lunch. It was served to us as if it was a family meal: platters of food on the table from which we served ourselves. The Chinese students started picking into the platters to eat, not using their own plates. I motioned NO with my head and showed them that they should take some food with the serving spoons and put it on their own plates. That only worked for about 2 minutes, then they were back picking with their forks and eating straight out of the platters. YUCK ! I filled my plate with what I wanted and did not bother taking second helpings.
The last vineyard
Check out the beginnings of the grapes. They look like teeny tiny little green ball bearings.
(Yvette: or the tiny gold balls on the rings we bought in Athens.)
Some of the vines are quite old
Our last vineyard was one of the oldest in the Hunter Valley.
We visited a fourth winery just across the field from the third. The lady was serving three different groups at the bar, and had simply left the bottles we were sampling open on top of the bar. Two of the Chinese girls were pouring themselves additional servings of wine and drinking it down like it was grape juice. Now I understood why they were hung-over this morning. They have no idea of when to stop.
Our last stop was to a chocolate shop…. YUM !
and it's in one of the shops that I saw this sign that I posted on Facebook. I LOVE THIS and whenever I get gloomy, I will remember this adage.
Along the way I saw signs for Toronto ! ? ? I researched this on the internet: Toronto was named after Toronto, Ontario, Canada in honour of Edward Hanlan, a world-champion sculler who visited Australia in 1884. The area was named in honour of Hanlan's visit, which coincided with the opening of the subdivision. The name was not publicly used until 1887. The Canadian city's name comes from the Mohawk languagetkaronto, meaning where there are trees standing in the water.”
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