Mountains to Valley Sunday 3/2/08

It isn’t as pretty today as perfect yesterday. Pretty overcast and not as crisp and cool. Peter whips up our Sunday morning brekkie and we are packed and ready to roll a little after 10:00. Our B&B is a very nice older property, perfectly located, just what you would expect in a B&B, but it is managed very tightly and you don’t get a real sense of warmth from the owners. We know she is a Brit and he may be as well, and when we leave we get very proper handshakes and "thank you very much, have a lovely trip." Certainly not unpleasant, but there is no personal connection. Maybe it's us. Ta Ta.

There is a community market in Leura so we check it out before we leave the area. It is mostly a flea market with some tube socks, cd’s and a few crafty things. The second town up the road, Blackheath, also has a Sunday market so we decide to check that out instead. Leura is the bigger of the two. We decide to get on with our travel with about four hours on the road ahead of us. We got a "secret" route from some guy on a website and Peter has confirmed that we won't be accosted by highwaymen along the way. The road travels through the mountains as we head a little north and mostly east. We have been advised to fill the gas tank in Windsor with about 150 km of the no-people, northbound "Putty Road" in front of us. The road is so named because the town of Putty is the only stop along the way, and even it is a few km back off the road to the west.

We make a couple lucky turns as we gradually slide down into the Hunter Valley and we get our first view of the vineyards of this area. The "Hunter" is another of the huge wine producing regions of Oz and our destination for the night. It is only 3:00 so we go in search of an Info center to see about a tour for tomorrow. We see more of the valley than we intend and our streak of lucky turns has ended, but eventually we get to where we need to be. We grab some maps and get a little info from the info person about tours and think that our best bet is to get a recommendation from our hosts for the evening. When we get to our destination there is a note on the wall telling us that our keys are in our cottage and have a nice stay. So much for getting a recommendation and since there is no phone in the cottage, so much for getting this done easily. We, however, are experienced international travelers so we can figure this out.

Our next move is to drive 12 miles to Singleton where we find a Woolies (Woolworths, a supermarket here) and a pay phone. John becomes a regular at the service counter for change as it takes us multiple phone calls to find a tour that will take us tomorrow. We have come to realize that we should have purchased a local pre-paid cell phone as soon as we got off the plane in Auckland two months ago but now we think it is too late. With our tour booked and mission partially accomplished we hit the produce and deli departments for our next two days of meals. It is now 6:00 by the time we settle into our cottage and we can take a deep breath and relax. This property is 25 acres with 6 cottages so we each have our own 4 acres to ourselves in prime Kangaroo country. We have a cocktail on our patio as we keep a keen eye peeled for the elusive 'Roo. No luck with the 'roos tonight but we have a good Woolies rotisserie chicken with salad and a billion stars to send us off to bed.

Today's local headline: Prepare for pain ahead The Australian (Prime Minister's inflation warning)