Wine & The Beach

We survived driving the car on the opposite side of the road! When it was my turn to drive, I kept saying to myself "drive on the left, drive on the left"...it became my mantra for the day! I kept hitting the windshield wipers instead of the signal, but no accidents, so that's good! Hunter Valley was beautiful - green rolling hills and 142 wineries nestled in between! We went to 16 in total. In our humble opinion, the verdelho, semillon and shiraz are the best the area makes. The absolute best that we visited was Iron Gate, a boutique vineyard (they don't sell it anywhere but at the estate). Cara, thanks for recommending that we hit that one..we loved it and bought 4 bottles! Tempus Two was the other really great winery that we visited. McWilliams, Lindemans and Rosemount are others that we saw...you can buy those at home!

In addition to the great wines, Hunter Valley makes some phenomenal cheeses, olives and chocolates. We overindulged in brie, bleu and cheddar. I ate more than my share of the best marinated kalamata olives I have ever had...and lots of fudge. I am really looking forward to working out again in China! ;)

We went to Scarborough Vineyards (M.C., Barbara Jean, little and big Truman...just because of you!)...the picture of the vineyard above was taken there. After tasting the wines, we saw our first kangaroo hanging out near their vines! The kangaroo was massive! I had no idea they'd be that big. After a day of wineries, we went on a kangaroo hunt. We found several grazing in a field. Really cool!

We headed from New South Wales up to Queensland where we ended up at the Thala Beach Lodge in Port Douglas (Matt McNeel and Sierra - thanks for recommending the lodge - we loved it!). It is truly paradise on earth. The Lodge was way out of my price range and way too fancy now that I'm unemployed but luckily I paid for it while I was still working! The view of the Coral Sea from the beach is attached. We spent a day and a half doing nothing but reading, sleeping in hammocks and walking on the beach...a vacation from my vacation! The food at the resort was phenomenal! We each had Moreton Bay Sea Bugs and Yabbies (freshwater crawfish)...those will be added to my notable nibbles list I'm keeping!

Back in Cairns today...Mendy is exploring the Great Barrier Reef via submersible boat and I'm hanging out in the city. I got eaten alive by a spider in my bed last night, so it's been fun dealing with that!

Sadly, Mendy and I part ways tomorrow. She heads back to Sydney for her flight back home on Wednesday. I leave tomorrow for a two night sail/snorkle to the Outer Barrier Reef. I'm looking forward to spending a couple of days on the reef! It's been great having a friendly face from home to experience this beautiful country with!

After the sail, I'm flying to Brisbane and heading to Rainbow Beach. After one night there, I'll be going in a 4x4 jeep to Fraser Island. It's the largest sand island in the world...the views should be incredible! Also, there is a large population of dingos on the island...I hope they don't eat my baby! (ha ha...think Seinfeld!). I'll spend one night on the island getting really sandy. After Fraser Island, I head to Byron Bay for 3 nights. I'm staying at an Arts Factory where they have a recording studio on-site. I just might make my own music CD..I'll sell them for a really good price (seriously, please buy one from me...I'm going broke!) ;)

Thanks for your posts and emails! Hope all is well with each of you! It will be another week before I post, so talk to you then! Cheers from Cairns!