Hunter Valley vineyards

We left early to do some wine tasting at the Hunter Valley vineyards. The drive was about an hour long to get to the vineyards. Keith was kind enough to drive Ann, Holly, and myself. As we made our way closer to the the vineyards, Ann and Keith begain to argue which we they should go. We eventually plulled over in Singleton to have some coffee and biscuits to figure out where we wanted to go today. We found a tourist information kiosk and grabbed a map to plot out what vineyards we wanted to go to. 

Due to time restraints (Holly and I wanted to swim in the ocean before the sun went down that evening), We decided to only go to three vineyards. The first one we went to was the Hope vineyard. The building sat on a large piece of land that had a wide open field behind it. Ann and Keith once came to a concert that took place on this large grass lawn. Inside, we were able to taste the wine and also walk through the facilities. There where large barrels that housed the wine stacked in a large barn attached to main building. The hostess was very friendly. We talked to her about being from Kansas while we tried varius wines. We told her that we planned to go swimming once we finished at the vinyards. IT was 65 Degress outside and she thought we were crazy!

Fingal Bay

Today we leave Sydney to make the four hour bus ride to Glenn’s (Hollys host dad) parents’ house. We will be staying with them and traveling to the Hunter Valley vineyards for some wine tasting. To get there, we will take a charter bus from the Sydney Central Train Station to Port Stephens where Ann and Keith (Glenn’s parents) will pick us up.

We checked out of the hotel and made our way to Sydney Central Station where the bus picked us up. Due to the time gap between hotel check out and bus departure, we had some time to kill. Once we were at the train station and knew exactly where our bus was going to be, we decided to get some lunch and have a picnic in the park across the street. The sun was out and the weather was incredible so we sat on the grass relaxing and ate our food. 

Once it was time to leave, we grabbed our bags and walked over to the train station. While we were waiting to board the bus, some creepy old guy came up and started talking to Holly. Apparently he didn’t notice me. He was asking her for a lighter then told her that he always looks a woman in the eyes because it is impolite to stare at their boobs. Weird. Then he asked us to look after his bag as he went to go look for some papers for his tobacco. The minute the bus driver told us we could get on the bus, we left the crazy guys bag and boarded. Don’t know what ever happened to him but we didn’t stick around to find out. 

The bus only had a handful of people on it, mostly senior citizens. Holly and I relaxed as the Australian countryside rolled past us. The view was beautiful and what I had come to expect over my past week in the country. The view out the window was filled with rolling hills and dense, green forest. After a quick nap, we eventually arrived in Port Stephens where Ann and Keith were waiting to pick us up. 

Ann and Keith were very friendly. They reminded me of my great aunt Lora and great uncle Doug. They were always correcting each other and Keith had stories about everything. It was very kind of them to pick us up and let Holly and I stay with him.

It was dark by the time we reached Ann and Keith’s house at Fingal Bay. Being fall/winter in Australia, this happened around 6:00pm. Ann and Keith had planned to take us out for dinner so once we brought our bags in and freshened up, we all made our way to the Fingal Bay Bowls Sports & Recreation Club where Ann And Keith are regular visitors. Ann was a frequent player of lawn bowling and both had many friends at the Recreation Club. We had a lovely dinner with a bottle of wine. Friends of Ann and Keith would come up to say hello. Holly and I would always have to explain that we were from Kansas. Actually, Holly did most of the talking. I just sat there and ate.  Once everyone had more food than thought they could eat, we headed back to the house. We all sat and visited for bit before heading to bed. Holly had been to Ann and Keith’s once before for Easter. I think this allowed them to be more comfortable with us staying in their house. It was also made it easier to just sit and talk with them. As with most people I had met in Australia, they had questions about the United States as well I had questions for them about Australia. After everyone finished their glass of wine, we all headed to bed. Tomorrow, we travel to the Hunter Valley vineyards. 

Sydney Day 3 - The Opera House

Our perfect weather has come to an end. We started the morning early because my incredible girlfriend was willing to go see Hubble in IMAX (the same “Worlds Biggest IMAX” screen we had watched Pirates of the Caribbean in.) Being a space nerd, I loved the movie.  NASA footage shot with an actual IMAX camera was the only proper way to show off this screen. Too bad the movie was only 45 minutes long. I could watch science for hours! One perk of going to the IMAX theater was that we got to use our ticket stubs in various restaurants at Cockle Bay Wharf. For lunch, we ate at Blackbird Café where Holly was able to get a free drink. After lunch, we got some Galletto (buy one get one free) and made our way to the Chinese Gardens.  

Today we wanted to go to the Sydney Opera House. Because it was cloudy and there was rain in the forecast, we elected to complete all our outdoor/walking activities. After we got our Galletto, we walked south to the Chinese Gardens.  The gardens were filled with Chinese décor and native plants that wrapped around a small pond. We walked around looking at the various plants and structures. I love bamboo. It’s such an interesting plant. I know the Chinese use it for building and I love how it looks. In the gardens, they even had black bamboo which I had never seen. We spent some time in the gardens just sitting and relaxing before we decided to leave and go check out China Town just a few blocks away. China town was smaller than we thought it was going to be. It was one street that had various shops and restaurants on it. Each restaurant had a person standing out in front. They would come up to you and pester you with a menu. Holly was nice enough to say “No. Thank You.” I would always ignore them. 

We were losing daylight so we decided to head over to the Sydney Opera House, stopping at our hotel along the way to drop off some of our bags and grab a drink. We rode the bus over to the same spot we got off when we went to the Royal Botanical Gardens. Once there, we checked out some of the shops before we got to the opera house. I needed to start looking for gifts and there were some cute stores that I knew would have something I could bring back to America. After picking something out, we made our way to the Opera House.

The Sydney Opera House is a beautiful structure. It has a very unique concrete design that is covered in tile. We wanted to take the tour but this was easier said than done. A “Yo Gabba Gabba” show was just wrapping up and there were kids everywhere! No one would give us clear directions about where we needed to purchase tickets so we had to traverse flights of stairs numerous times trying to find someone to sell us some tickets. All while navigating through noisy, crying children. 

Eventually, we found our tickets and made our way to the lower level and waited with the group for our tour again. Before we could begin the tour, we had to do two things. First, each person/couple had to get their photo taken in front of a green screen before we could go. Second, the tour utilized wireless headphones so we could hear the tour guide and also hear some videos that played through the tour. Once everyone sorted out their technical difficulties, we began the tour.

The tour comprised of a lady showing us around the building and also showing us videos on various monitors placed throughout the opera house. For reasons that were beyond me, we weren’t allowed to take photos inside the concert hall. Of course, this didn’t stop me from trying. Holly was certain I was going to get us kicked out. Another thing I learned is that someone could take the tour and not see inside the concert hall. If you can’t see inside then what is the point? Before we could go into each hall, the tour guide had to go check with someone to make sure we were allowed in. Why wasn’t this determined before we started the tour? Our guide was very unorganized. If we were unable to see inside the concert halls I would have demanded our money back. For how impressive the Sydney Opera House is, I was very disappointed in the tour.

After we looked at the last room that was dedicated to the man who designed the building, Jørn Utzon, we made our way out of the Opera House. Along the way, they had for sale the photo they took of us at the beginning of the tour. The photo was of Holly and I, superimposed on a photo of the concert hall. For $50, we could have that photo, a DVD, and a brochure. What a rip off! Instead, I walked up and took a photo of the photo. The person behind the counter didn’t like that and ran over to tell me I couldn’t take a photo. I said, “Thanks. I got it.,” and we walked out. 

The rest of the evening was spent walking around the outside of the Opera House. We enjoyed how the lights shined on the tile roof (it was night by the time we finished the tour.) Both the Harbor Bridge and the Opera House were beautiful. It was getting late so we decided to head back to our hotel and pack for early checkout and our long ride to Fingal Bay.