Hunter Valley Day 1: The begining

I realized that I just have way too much to say about the Hunter this trip to keep it to one post.

So please get comfortable because you are going to be here for a while (I'm talking to all two if you who read this--hi mom!)

In all of my previous trips to the Hunter, I have for many reasons kept it to one day. This time because I had the luxury of the weekend, Alex and I decided to head up for a two day adventure.

Upon arriving in the Hunter we were hit with our first major dilemma: check into the hotel or hit Peterson House winery?--Thankfully not all problems in life are hard to solve and we quickly hit Peterson House for Oysters and sparking wines!

From Peterson House we made our way to the Hunter Valley Cheese Shop (a bit of food in the tummy), Tamburlaine (an organic winery), Tulloch, and Peterson's where we finally came to a halt at closing time-- around 5pm.

We figured we did as much damage as we could without missing our dinner later-on that night and because Alex was the driver, I had the job of making sure his glass was empty as well so I was a bit tuckered out by 5!

Upon checking into our Hotel (The Leisure Inn) the ladies at the front desk mentioned something about Christmas Lights. Now, being that we are just starting summer here and the day sat somewhere around 93 degrees. It was hard to think about Christmas even if it was Novemeber--but the idea of half a million Christmas Lights spanning the Hunter Valley Gardens did have us a bit intruiged.

So after a wonderful dinner, two martinis and more wine later... we deciede to WALK to the Gardens before it shut down for the night. Not knowing what to expect, we thought there may be a few strings of white lights over some shrubs and perhaps some Christmas carols to go along with it.

I have never been more wrong in my life (well maybe a few times, but for context in this story lets just say "never in my life")

There were thousands upons thousands of lights covering the entire Gardens, each area of the Garden having a different theme and music, from Storybook land, to Aussie land, each area's lights and displays worked in harmony to make a spectacular display. We even got to take our picture with Santa! There were even dolphins and a fishing Santa in the lake sitting just below the waterfall and a light-created Harbour Bridge! (see video)

It will be my first hot Christmas season here in Sydney and this was definitely a way to kick it off--wine all day, Christmas all night!