Hunter Valley Minibreak

A couple of weeks ago Jimmy and I took a little trip to the Hunter Valley. We set off after lunch so it was a v scenic sunset drive. 

We stopped at a truck stop for something to eat and entertained ourselves looking at all the strange soft drink flavours. 

We went with Cheery Cheer, which just tasted fizzy and sweet. 

Then we got back in the car and headed to Pepper's, where we had a lovely room for just $109 a night - thanks Wotif! The shower was absolutely horrible but everything else there was really nice. 

On the first night we had dinner at a tapas restaurant. 

The food was great but the experience was sort of bizarre.

The waiter explained to us that the food came in small servings so we should order about five or six dishes to share, his tone seeming to say "I'm as surprised as you are, this place is kray-zee", and they served the food as courses, only bringing out a new dish once the previous one had been cleared, so it was more like an oversize degustation than regular tapas. 

For dessert we chose chocolate soufflé, delicious!

We finished off our greedy evening by rolling back to our room and breaking out our new Scrabble set. 

The next day started with breakfast at Enzo...

...followed by a wine tasting tour!

We visited five wineries that were very different but all lovely. I don't remember the names but I Instagrammed them all, for those of you playing at home. 

This lunch was yummy. 

The last winery was the most fun as we got to sit at a table with the other couples on the tour and eat cheese and crackers with our wines, yum yum. 

When the bus took us back to Pepper's we were so wined out that we fell asleep the minute we got into the room! 

We managed to get up a few hours later and drag ourselves out for a meal at the Japanese/Thai restaurant at Tempus Two. Jim picked Massaman, but he was jealous of my classic Pad Thai. 

We headed home the next day, but not before stopping at a local brewery for lunch. 

Needed to balance out all that wine, after all. 

It was a lovely long weekend and to top it all off we came home with a great selection of wine and some delicious local foodstuffs. Yummy.