Wednesday January 7th, 2009 Woolgoolga - Hunter Valley

We were surprised how well we slept without A/C, just with a fan and the windows open, perhaps – more like a summer night at home? Anyway, we were up and out before 7:30 AM, and on our way to Hunter Valley – which is the wine country in Australia. On our touring about yesterday, we saw so many beaches that Barb got a great desire to ‘ride the waves’ with a bit of body surfing. Unfortunately she had not put on her bathing suit to accomplish this, so this morning – the wardrobe of choice was a bathing suit and beach cover. With our coffee, tea and a bunch of Lychee nuts, we headed off, bound and determined to get to at least one more beach before the day was out. After a little less than an hour, we veered off the highway to the Beach Park in Coff’s Harbour. Here Barb giggled and laughed as the waves crashed over her, and she had her suit filled with sand. A great start to the day, then back on the road – wet suit and all.
Our next stop was around 200 KM when we stopped for a solid brunch and a chance for Barb to get the sand out of her suit, which by now was dry enough to be shaken out, and the skin brushed clean.
Our trip, assisted by friendly folk at service stations was completed today in a little town called Pokolbin, and the Pokolbin Resort where we will stay for 2 nights. We have a lovely one bedroom suite with a wonderful pool right outside the door. This was very nice, as the average outside temperature today has been 37 to 38 degrees.
After a brief swim and lay in the sun we had before dinner drinks, then went to the Resort restaurant and had a delightful dinner. Just as we were walking up for dinner the sky opened up with thunder, lightning and a horrendous rain storm which was over in about 15 minutes.
Tomorrow – wine touring!
We have had fun with the different driving terminology:
Yield = Give way
Passing Lane = overtaking lane
We have also noted a few other differences. There is a real focus on ‘taking a break when driving’ and ‘speeding’, drinking and driving and using the right hand (fast lane)