Hunter Valley - wine region

We went to the Hunter Valley for the weekend with our friends Hal and Tash. Stayed at a very nice lodge at the Hunter Valley village and gardens, where Hal and Tash have their kitchen wares store. Tash had to work at the store on Sat, so we went wine touring without her. Found a couple of really nice vineyards and bottles of wine, that we went back to purchase on Sunday. The countryside somewhat reminds me of the wine region in Italy, looking out across fields of vineyards - with the exception of the kangaroos in the fields here. I only saw a few though, as they mostly come out at dawn and dusk.

Drank exceptional Aussie wine, ate good food, and toured the Hunter Valley Gardens on Sunday, which were really nice (garden idea based on Butchart Gardens, which the owners had visited a few years back, and wanted to create something similar).

Back to Hal and Tash's Sunday evening for a BBQ, and then they drove us back into the city, where we checked back into the Westin for another week of downtown living.