We had originally thought about getting to Sydney and then hiring a car to explore this region, but then realised that The Blue Mountains were easily accessible by train and tourist buses, and we could probably hop off the Greyhound at Newcastle and get a Hunter Valley wine tour from there, so plan B it was – more efficient logistics, no backtracking, maximum value from our Greyhound pass, and we could both drink while touring vineyards!

Newcastle & The Hunter Valley

After Debbie insisting that we got to the Greyhound stop in Port Macquarie super-early as the bus was running ahead of schedule, it did indeed arrive an hour early, but the driver confirmed that he was not allowed to depart until all booked passengers had arrived. Most of our travelling companions were also early, but there’s always one who rocks up at the last minute so we left pretty much on time for the 3.5 hour journey to Newcastle. When we confirmed that we were alighting at Newcastle our driver simply asked “WHY?” and on arrival into the bus station after 10pm we understood what he meant. It’s never ideal to be arriving in the dark, and the city looked a little run down, but thankfully our hotel was just across the road from the bus/train station. Holiday Inn Express Newcastle was our base for a couple of nights – nothing fancy but we were arriving late on day 1, out all of day 2 and leaving before the crack of dawn on day 3. And it topped up the IHG points and reward nights!

As the nearest city to the Hunter Valley, we’d imagined that it’d be easy to get a wine tour from there. We had done a quick Google search which confirmed that such tours existed – but most only departed on a Saturday (we were there on a Friday), or came from Sydney, or started in the Hunter Valley itself, so we were in danger of coming unstuck or having to pay a small fortune for a private driver. And then Steve found Group Wine Tours Hunter Valley on t’internet and they could accommodate us at not too bad a price. Paul collected us in his new Toyota 12 seater minibus and it quickly became apparent that we were the only guests so had bagged ourselves a private tour by default. He was a chatty older bloke, born and raised in Newcastle, founded the business with his wife after a career in sales (no surprise given his gift of the gab), and was very knowledgable about the Hunter Valley and its wines. We had 3 morning stops planned, then lunch followed by vodka & gin tasting – oh dear, we’d certainly be glad of having a driver by the end of the day.

The Hunter Valley is said to be the prettiest of Australia’s wine regions and it certainly was lovely – wide open space with gently rolling hills and vineyards as far as the eye could see. It’d be a great place to just ‘be’ for a few days but we simply didn’t have time to linger. Honestly, we’d thought that 3 months was loads of time to take things really slowly in Oz!

1st stop was Sobel Wines who have a small winery and 21 acres of vineyards. We were treated like royalty as Paul was obviously well known to the guy running the tastings. Another older bloke, Steve, who liked to chat. Steve took us into their boardroom for a private tasting, and lots of references to his time working for the Hunter’s biggest wine producer McGuigan. The chat was good, the wines were OK but we were going to need to be very selective in any wine purchases given our limitations on carrying ability onwards by Greyhound bus. If we’d had a car there’d have been no issue – fill our boots and that of the car! The tasting portions were generous (understatement) and we must’ve had the best part of a bottle of wine by the time we’d finished, but nothing really grabbed us. And then Steve brought out the ‘Port’ – which obviously can’t be called that so is labelled as ‘Tawny’ instead – delicious so we left with a small bottle and wished we could’ve justified a bigger one.

Stop 2 was Oakvale Wines – an organic producer (not that we are bothered by all that worthy nonsense) – a far more ‘polished’ tasting experience, sat outside under a sunshade with an Aussie who’d lived in London giving us the technical lowdown on the wines and with a bit of humour. Now here we were more in danger of purchasing as there were quite a few that hit the mark – a beautiful sparkling, fabulous crisp but flavourful Verhelho, excellent Shiraz and a gorgeous apple cider. The Verdelho won, surprisingly as Steve’s not a white fan.

And then to Mercer Wines – our favourite – a proud Hunter Valley boy Aaron Mercer crafts award winning wines from sustainable vineyards across New South Wales. A lovely setting, nice conversation (although they were scandalised by Debbie’s admission of how much she’d paid for that Christmas wine in Margaret River), a cheeseboard and fabulous wines – what’s not to like?! The Montepulciano took Steve’s fancy and of course Princess Deborah wanted the posh Chardonnay. So limited carrying ability or not – a bottle of each was purchased.

Time for food to soak up the wine – 4 Pines at the Farm brewery restaurant was touristy and equipped for big tour groups, but was surprisingly good. Tasmanian salmon and a pint was a nice change from vino and highly recommended. And they had a splendid collection of very old wine bottles too….

And after lunch it was gin and vodka tasting, oh dear God, at Small Mouth – a family dedicated to creating extraordinary organic spirits that sparkle in both flavour and appearance. Their gins, vodkas and liqueurs are all infused with a special touch of shimmering edible glitter, and big bold flavours – amazing and we really wished we could purchase several bottles as Debbie’s Dad would love them.

Our very restrained purchases….

On the way back to Newcastle, with a couple of half-pissed passengers, Paul took us through a wine estate used for weddings and with resident kangaroos – beautiful – and then showed us the best of his home city. A really lovely day and the Hunter Valley is spectacular.

Evening in Newcastle re-confirmed the first impressions from the previous night – our Greyhound driver was right, it’s not the loveliest place but we found a nice waterfront restaurant for a decent Greek-ish meal and bottle of wine. And then an early night as we had a STUPIDLY early start…

The Blue Mountains

The Greyhound we’d originally booked from Newcastle to Sydney was cancelled – sh*t – but we’d found that the train was an alternative option, but then discovered that the day of travel was rail replacement buses, so we bit the bullet and took the 05.20 Greyhound departure instead. Barbaric but we were in Sydney before 8am, crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge and getting our first glimpse of the Opera House bathed in early morning hazy sunlight – it was quite special and Debbie had a small lump in her throat as this meant that we’d made it – the geriatric backpackers (admittedly with trolley bags) had done Cairns to Sydney by Greyhound bus 🙂

The Greyhound dropped us directly at Sydney Central Station (just called ‘Central’ – apparently everyone knows it’s Sydney) – perfect for our train out to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. Weekend engineering works on this line too meant that we needed to change once, but no biggie, and we were amazed by the super-modern double decker trains that ran perfectly to time. Have we just come to accept sh*t UK public transport as being the norm? A couple of hours later we were at our hotel – The Metropole Katoomba – just across the road from the train station and where our room was already available. Cheap as chips, less than £70/night for one of their recently refurbished deluxe rooms, this place was great – an Art Deco traditional guesthouse.

We’d thought about doing the open top Big Bus Tour but realised we could just jump on a local bus near the hotel to get to the must-do sights, so we did that – and within 10 minutes were at the iconic Echo Point lookout gazing in awe at the Three Sisters. There are really no words that will do justice to the viewpoints – this is the most famous of them and is stunning – and the area is about 1/3rd the size of Belgium. Why the Blue Mountains? Because they often appear blue from a distance due to tiny droplets of oil from the eucalypt trees floating into the air and scattering blue light. Whatever, just gorgeous. And amazing that this area is so close to downtown Sydney.

From Echo Point we caught the same bus to Scenic World, basically an adventure playground to marvel at the Blue Mountains from an assortment of viewing vehicles – the Skyway (the largest cable car in the Southern Hemisphere), the Cableway (the steepest cable car in the Southern Hemisphere) and the Railway (the steepest in the world). All were utterly amazing, giving an outstanding experience and views, and with rides being unlimited for the day, we went around the circuit a few times, right up until closing time. The early start from Newcastle meant that we got a pretty full day seeing the best of The Blue Mountains on what turned out to be a glorious day.

The following day was forecast to be poor weather so Debbie booked the Sunday Lunch that she’d been craving in Leura, the next village and just 4 minutes from Katoomba by train. As it turned out, the weather wasn’t as bad as forecast so we took the opportunity to look around the village and walk down to some of the viewpoints. A gorgeous Victorian settlement, it reminded us a bit of a posh, leafy Surrey village or one the The Chalfonts – beautiful boutique shops, an amazing pie bakery (if only we’d not already booked for lunch) and some spectacular views over The Blue Mountains with the blue more apparent on a cloudy day and the scenery just as beautiful as we’d seen the previous day. We were tempted by the absolutely beautiful hand-carved oak rocking kangaroo as a gift for our grandson Carey, but had no way of getting it back – and actually were probably not feeling extravagant enough to part with £850 for it either.

Time for our lunch reservation at The Alexandra Hotel – apparently famous for it’s excellent Sunday roast with The Sydney Morning Herald Good Pub Food Guide having twice included it in its prestigious dining guide. Debbie was beyond excited – wondering whether they’d have Yorkshire puds and cauliflower cheese to accompany a beautiful roast beef lunch. It started well, they were expecting us, the restaurant in the historic hotel looked lovely, and we had time for a G&T on the lawn listening to a singer/guitarist. Then we went to our table and were handed menus – burgers, pizzas but no sign of a roast. “We have lamb shanks” said the waiter, “cutlery and sauces are over there, order at the bar”. So Debbie queued behind 20 people ordering burgers to accompany their viewing of a boxing match, sulked, and finally got the restaurant chap to take our order – she doesn’t even like lamb shanks but it was the best we were going to get. It was a bit like Fawlty Towers – shame, we should’ve had one of the gourmet pies from the bakery instead. Despite the fairly crap lunch it was a lovely day, but the disappointing food theme continued in the evening with some tasteless takeaway Nepalese momos (just a snack) while we watched the Australian Open Men’s Final on the TV.

So the Hunter Valley & Blue Mountains – areas we’d both missed on our separate trips to Australia in 2003 – were ticked off the list. Both absolutely amazing and we’d say unmissable if visiting Sydney.