Miles (or Kilometers!) of Sand Dunes, as far as the eye can see...
The closest to what I imagine a dessert to look like with hills of sand but then all of the sudden beautiful beach (a mirage?! nope just ocean).
This place seemed like it would only exist in a movie. But instead it is real, Stockton is a great beach town with amazing sand dunes and much history. Some friends and I went out to the sand dunes to do a bit of 4-wheel driving as well as a bit of sun baking and swimming off Port Stephens.
But the added reason for the adventure was the Signa, an amazing shipwreck that is only accessible from the sand. The Signa was a 53,000 ton Norwegian coal ship that was beached during a major storm in 1974 and the wreck has become an icon and landmark for the local area. It has completely rusted over, but still has this majestic look.
The other amazing thing about the sand dunes is Tin City, a virtual city in the middle of the dunes of 10 or so tin houses.These tin houses were actually built during the great depression of the 1930s. During World War II the houses were torn down so the land could be used for an Army camp, but were again rebuilt after the war was over.
Just in case it looks familiar.... Tin City was used for several scenes in the 1979 movie Mad Max. Being a child of the 80s I seem to have missed this gem, but apparently it is the claim to fame!
Such a cool place so neatly tucked away among the dunes.
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!
After passing out at 10:00pm from a long day of arduous wine drinking. I was ready to get back in the saddle for day two!
After breakfast, we decided we should perhaps drive down to the information center and get a map! Novel idea one day later. After getting our map we headed to Pigs Peake. This had been a recommendation from a "mate" of Alex's and as it turned out, one of the wine makers there was actually someone we had run into the day before! It was meant to be. And to top it off, they had an amazing Zin! (Zinfandel is few and FAR between here in Australia, so it is very rare to find it, and when you do its even rarer to find a good one.) Our day was off to a good start!
After Pigs Peake, we headed to Binnorie cheese shop, to meet up with Alex's Dad and Stepmom, Lavinia. We did a bit of tasting then headed off to lunch at Amanda's on the Edge. More wine with our amazing lunch, and a quick look around the grounds on another 95 degree day!
We then headed just up the road to Windsons Edge in search of a wine we had a lunch. (A sparking Verdelho) Although they didnt have the one from lunch they did have an amazing Port, which when we arrived, they were just waxing (adding the wax over the cork)
Of course, I asked if I could give it a go, and she said yes! So I ended up getting to wax a few bottles of Port! (If you go, you can probably find the one I did, it isn't quite perfect...I think I need a bit more practice...) But Lavinia thought it would only be fitting for me to keep my first bottle, and got it for me as a gift! Once I had done a bit of wine bottling, we ended our trek with Sandalyn in Lovedale, where we were able to find the Sparkling Verdelho from lunch and a couple of amazing olive oils to boot!
Leaving the Hunter after two days of wine and food was rough, but I know I am going to sleep very well tonight with a sparking Rose and a Port tucked nicely under each arm.
Melbourne Cup is unlike any other Horse Race. Kentucky Derby has nothing on it. When the horse race is on, the nation stops. Our agency along with the rest of Australia stopped work and started partying around 1pm, 2 hours before the big race. In Melbourne, the Cup is a recognized holiday; all establishments close down for the day in anticipation of the race and ensuing party.
I made the mistake of trying to go to the post office this morning before work, only to be turned away by a sign that read, "Closed for Melbourne Cup."
At 1pm, our agency stopped all work and had a BBQ in our upstairs bar, along with endless rows of Champagne, shots, and liquor. A bit after 1pm, the CEO who had just gotten back to the office from the client meeting, exclaimed, "I just get back to the office, and there are still shots on the table, what kind of agency is this?!" Shortly before throwing the neatly packaged shots into the crowd. Although the horse race itself is all of 5 minutes long, the party lasts all day and into the night. A good excuse to end work early and enjoy a day of fun.
The weather outside today was well into the 90s, making it a perfect day to be on the roof top of Ogilvy enjoying the sun and fun.
I had never experienced anything like this, and was so glad to be in Australia for the big race! An experience unlike any other.
Halloween is not very popular in Australia. Too American for most people's tastes. Which when you get to know Aussie culture, this fact is quite a crack-up. Australians are very happy to have "fancy dress" parties for pretty much any other occasion, like a Wednesday for instance, however, when it comes to Halloween most cant be bothered. Because of this, I was only hours away from sitting at home in costume, sulking. Lucky for me, I invited myself to a fancy dress (costume) Halloween party and my costume got to see the outside of my apartment after all.
As many of the people at the party had never dressed up for Halloween, there were a lot of dark and bloody costumes, a few devils, and of course witches (pretty much the stereo type of Halloween attire) and then me.... the maid. The people at the party embraced the holiday and I almost forgot I was in Australia.
The funniest part of the night though, had to be when the mayor of the suburb we were in, showed up with his wife, and 7 month old daughter (all not in costume). After offering to hold the sleeping baby, I proceeded to try to have a normal conversation with him about everything from work to America. Only later realizing how ridiculous I must have looked standing there talking politics all while dressed as a french maid. I am sure he took me seriously!
But when all was said in done, I had a fantastic Aussie Halloween and was very lucky to be among some Australian's willing to give Halloween a go!
Although I missed out on Labor Day weekend at home, I more than made up for it with Australia's Labour day weekend! (yup the Aussies spell it with a 'u')
I was invited to go houseboating on the Hawkesbury River, which is about an hour and a half north-west of Sydney city. The theme would be Woodstock anniversary, 10 girls, and lots of food and booze. Nothing better than hot weather and houseboating with a group of girlfriends, right?....Enter RAIN...and LOTS OF IT! The weekend forecast was decidedly a wet one.
We decided not to let a little rain get in the way of a great weekend. And because of the crappy weather most of the houseboats sat unrented, which allowed us to upgrade for quite a cheap fee! Now with our new huge boat we set sail along the river. Although it was storming, we spent a lot of time dancing outside on the deck doing what anyone else would do, rain dances. Days were lazy and filled with celebrity mags, girl talk, boy talk, board games, booze, bbq, and lots of dancing and laughing. Nights were filled with pretty much the same, lots of beer, wine and pre-teen girl games (hilarious to play now)
Our final day, the rain dances seemed to pay off and we had a beautiful sunny day, we bbq'd--finished the rest of the wine, and ate our lunch together on the top deck of our boat in the hot spring sun. Couldn't have asked for a better finish to the trip.
Miles (or Kilometers!) of Sand Dunes, as far as the eye can see...
