TASTY WEEKEND

Photos: Jeremy and I, Jon and Peta, Peta and then Deb enjoying chocolate, Deb/Bren/Logan and Fay and I.

Wine, cheese and beer tasting; that was the order of the day. In fact that was the order of the days!
’Twas great to have Peta, Jon, Jeremy, Deb, Brendan and Logan come and enjoy some family time together in the beautiful Hunter Valley over the weekend. The Hunter Valley Gardens are quite incredible. The wineries (and the brewery) we visited were quite lavish setups. We were quite happy with the Pokolbin Hill Chateau Resort, although we thought they might have been able to slip us some extra tea bags, soap and toilet paper after a few days. We had also expected we’d have internet facilities as promised. One wet day and a couple of cool days amongst a week is not too bad.
Visited the following wineries and other memorable establishments:
* Ken Duncan Gallery
* Hunter Valley Chocolate Company (yummy!!!)
* Hunter Valley Gardens
* Roche Wines
* Oakvale Winery
* Peterson House (for champagne) – go the Pink Blush!
* Hunter Valley Smelly Cheese Shop
* Brokenwood (Cricket Pitch wines)
* McGuigan Cellars
* Small Winemakers’ Centre
* Australian Regional Foodstore and Café

We simply had the best meat pies at the Blue Tongue Brewery on the Sunday. Peta voted them absolute tops and nobody disagreed. Jeremy led the beer tasting admirably. Bill would have been proud but envious.
Quite a few roos here and there. The dams were full but we learned that that had only happened thanks to recent rains.
Deb/Bren saw Harry Potter at the local movies while the grandparents watched the kid. We also had a family champagne drink on Saturday night to celebrate recent family milestones (there have been a few…. keep watching this spot, or inquire separately.)

Late news: Had a beaut time over near Singleton, visiting ex WWTC friends Graeme & SuzieO'B. All went well except for two things:

1. hit a roo on the way back to the resort - fortunately no damage to solid Pajero (yes, I was driving... but I missed the second one!)
   
2. found out on our return to the resort at 6 pm that in actual fact we were supposed to check out that morning! So, they bundled up all our gear (while we were away) and put us into a different pad for last night! Thanks Rick and the team. Sorry about that.


3. now back at Dubbo...finally. Congratulations to Pokolbin Hill Chateau Resort for giving us a beaut family holiday.

FAMILY TIME

Well, things have really hotted up since I turned 64! (Even if Dana thought I was 44!)

Fay and I drove up to Ipswich (near Brisbane) to spend a couple of days looking after Logan Jack. He's 9+ months old now. This allowed his Mum, Deb, to work on some mining equipment before it gets put into operation. It was a great time taking the little man around the sights of the city of Ipswich.

Then we drove back to Dubbo via Narrabri (bro Alan and his family live there.) It's about 800 km from Ipswich to Dubbo. Deb and Logan came with us. We were only in Dubbo a short time and then off to Yeoval for a weekend Bike for Bibles ride around the district. I am not up to cycling as yet thanks to a crook back. But my chiro and I have high hopes that I'll be back on the bike pretty soon. A guy like Cadel Evans inspires even old blokes like me! At least Debbie rode the BH for me! (See above photo.) And loved it!

Now, another sleep here in Dubbo and then off to Cessnock for a week at the Pokolbin Hill Resort in the Hunter Valley. Our kids are going to join us there which will be great.

[Don't worry, the BH is back in the bike shed under high security despite Jim's efforts to get it relocated to Sydney!!]