Hunter Valley I

Here are some of the photos I took on my short trip to Hunter Valley with R last month!  Starting with my favourite picture taken from t...

Here are some of the photos I took on my short trip to Hunter Valley with R last month! 
Starting with my favourite picture taken from the trip:

R having tea with Alice and the Mad Hatter.

This was taken halfway through the day when we visited the HV gardens, but more on that later...


We left Sydney quite early, at around 7am and got into the country-side quite quickly. The scenery was beautiful and the weather was a bit too perfect (read: stinking 30+ degree heat before midday).


Stopped by Cessnock (relatively small town) for some breakfast. Above photo is R's dish, I had a gigantic pancake the size of my head that was so fluffy it was kind of sickening. After walking along the main street for half an hour checking out the op shops, we surrendered to the heat and hopped in the car to keep driving to Pokolbin.


If you see weird splotches in some of the pictures, it's because R's windscreen was dirty. After passing more vineyards and wineries than I can count (later learnt there are close to 100 in that area) we finally get to our hotel/'wine resort'.


Here is the glorious view from our hotel!


After checking in, we decided to go and check out the HV gardens.


Looking at you.


There were all sorts of themed gardens which I took a billion photos of (editing them was awful though, fellow photog enthusiasts know how annoying bright sunlight in the middle of the day can be) but my favourite by FAR was the storybook garden, which I've shown a bit of above. It was a little bit weird to wander around life-sized statues and re-enactments from famous fairytales and children's stories (I went to the toilet in Gretel's room in the gingerbread house) but such a cool place to just run around like kids and forget we're meant to be sensible adults. 

At one point I sat down at the table with Alice and friends and chatted with them while having tea from the teapot which I just realised had eyes, before R shouted at me to run over to Humpty Dumpty because he'd found a MASSIVE butterfly which I just had to see.
Weird, I know.


Stopped off for lunch in one of the cafes in the HV garden "village". Turkey and cranberry...
By this time we were pretty much wilting and about to pass out from heat exhaustion so we trudged through the rest of the gardens (the whole place is quite massive ok) and drove back to our hotel room.



Complimentary bottle of bubbly from Tyrell's (nearby winery) on arrival. 

I'm not sure where the rest of the day went since it was only afternoon when we got back...I think we took a nap. Now as you know we stayed at Tuscany Wine Resort where they tried to encapsulate the name...the room was very cosy and I give them effort points for attempting to make everything have a rustic appeal but the real clincher was the bed. It was the most comfortable bed I have laid on in my entire life, I kid you not. Sorry for TMI. But now I know why it was as tall as my waist...


We finished off day one with a massively overpriced dinner from Brokenback bar/restaurant. The above 'dish' had 4 tiny pieces of BBQ pork with dipping sauce for around $25 which was very lovely...not. After that we went back to our room and snuggled up in the bed from heaven and watched movies all night until we fell asleep. My kind of day.

That concludes my detailed recount. Anyhow, I'll finish posting day II of Hunter Valley photos (wine tour!) in next post, but right now I need to prepare myself for a 5am start tomorrow to catch the train back up to Newcastle for a busy week of uni ahead. Stay gold!

You Might Also Like

19 COMMENTS

  1. I am... in absolute LOVE. I had no idea Australia had such green countryside! I definitely have to make a trip out there soon! You took some beautiful photos, the Alice gardens are so awesome.

    x Michelle | thefeatherden.net

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello! What camera/lenses do you use? Your photos are absolutely AMAZING!! and so is your blog! :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jo! I normally use a canon 40d with a tamron 28-75 f/2.8 lens or the canon 50mm f/1.8. I think i only used the tamron in this post, but I love both lenses...hope that helps!

      and thank you :)

      Delete
  3. Omg hunter valley looks lush and gorgeous omg that storybook garden looks so cute! The photos you took are amazing and i love the pic of you on the giant chair <3 haha

    www.candypop-lamour.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Envious! Drooling over each lovely photo! :)

    http://bydetails.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. Envious of this whole post. OMG, the pictures are amazing and so is the place you guys went! The place is a total dream, loved it.
    Take Care!
    http://fourthexpression.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. The alice in wonderland garden is amazing

    ReplyDelete
  7. The HV gardens look so fun!!! Jeez, I really want to go visit Australia now. You show it off well, haha. Actually, my boyfriend randomly decided the other day that he wants to apply to University of Queensland for medical school, so we'll see.

    Cindy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. that's big news! if he does end up coming here you have to visit and i can show you around ;)...even if he doesnt you should come anyway :D

      Delete
  8. I especially love the photo of you on the chair! Haha, good luck in Newcastle Annie! Stay safe and I hope that your uni life/course are good to you :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. aahhh so wonderful pictures! story book garden?! i.. i want to go there too! ♥

    ReplyDelete
  10. This looks like one of the most amazing places ever. Books, fairy tales, green grass AND wine? This is heaven for me. This is place is definitely going on my "list of places to see." Wow.

    ReplyDelete
  11. aaahh this place is SO amaze!! i wanna play there forever!
    ps. thanks for the super sweet comment babe - sure is me in that latest post ;) xx

    ReplyDelete
  12. so jealous of this entire post. FOOD. travel. <3

    following you now! ps, check out my earring giveaway!

    xo jenny
    my blog // my facebook page

    ReplyDelete
  13. What fun photographs. Everything looks just wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  14. wow what a crazy looking garden! i would have gone nuts in that place, and would have spent that entire day there just trippin' out xx

    ReplyDelete
  15. I think this is the longest post I've ever encountered, but the most amazing one!!


    Wida
    Missing Amsie Blog

    ReplyDelete
  16. sounds like so much fun and relaxing! must make a note to do a similar trip here in perth :)
    jessie x
    the weekend project.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I think I dropped my jaw while looking over the photos.

    ReplyDelete

I'm listening!

INSTAGRAM FEED

Flickr Images