Port Stephens and Nelson's Bay

Saturday morning after breakfast, Tim and Liz drove us about an hour and a half east of Eaglereach to Nelson's Bay beach at Port Stephens.


After lunch at a cafe, we walked along the beach and played in the water for a while.
Nothing says "This water is freezing", like Tim's face in this picture. Although it was cold, all of us eventually adjusted to the cool temperature. We went back into town and spoke to a park ranger at the information terminal in Port Stephens. She gave us a lead on where we might find some wild koalas, but we had no such luck. Koalas are extremely difficult to spot in the wild, although this particular area has a strong population.

We headed back to Eaglereach for the evening and picked up our previously mentioned basket of food, which Tim grilled at the cabin.


Reflections - Go to Hunter Valley Not Napa Valley



This reflection is merely an excuse for me to squeeze 2 blogs into one. The title says it all. In no way am I bashing Napa Valley or Sonoma, but Hunter Valley is much better. Why? You may ask. Because you do not pay for tastings in the Hunter Valley Wine Region. You have to pay for tastings in Napa and Sonoma. Unfortunately, I am pretty sure you will not meet your break-even point for cost justification of flying to Australia rather than California, especially with the weak dollar.

Sunday after breakfast and kangaroo excitement at Eaglereach, we checked out and headed for the Hunter Valley Wine region. We went to two wineries (Pepper Tree Wines and Lindeman's Hunter River Winery) for tastings and had lunch at a cafe. The people at the wineries were very helpful and described the wines that we tried with adjectives that made absolutely no sense to any of us. I have learned that "This wine is more approachable than the other one" typically means, "This bottle costs $10-$15 more than the other one."