A relaxing touristy time in the Hunter Valley before heading home
Thursday:
Sapphire beach to Lovedale via Kempsey.
Leisurely start as we were due in Kempsey at 10.
We wound through Coffs Harbour, were delayed by an accident and were finally out the other side to reach Kempsey by 10:30 after stopping at the bakery to buy a couple of danish for morning tea.
We headed off around 12 :20 for the Hunter Valley where we were staying for the next two nights. Stopped for a pitstop at McDonald’s at the roadhouse and on towards our destination and stopped at Johns River Road for lunch. Hit peak hour traffic well north of Newcastle. First real traffic for a long time; we’d only seen just a hint of traffic around Coffs Harbour. Still warm weather but a bit cloudy. Still 22C at 4pm. Fuel 193.5! Found our accommodation at Olive Lane which is lovely. A real home away from home. Drive to the Australia Hotel in Cessnock for dinner and had the schnitty special each plus salad. Got fuel at a good price on the way back. A long day but good.
Friday 19th of June 2026. Hunter Valley
Woke up not too early at our accommodation and had a leisurely morning while we worked out what we were going to do today. Our first day of not great weather; bit grey, not too wet and not too cold, so probably not looking for an outdoor venue for the day. We decided to drive to a local winery for a tasting; when we got there we actually diverted to a different winery, the Tatlers winery and had a most enjoyable wine tasting there with a fellow called Stacey. We tasted red, white, bubbly and dessert wines and ended up with quite a lot of wine. It was on special (of course) so we had to get it, right? As we had tasted so many wines we decided to go into the restaurant and have a hot chocolate and mocha before we drove on anywhere else. We had managed to fit the wine that we bought into the car without too much trouble, which was a surprise. We also decided to get a baked brie to eat for our stomachs (Yum) and delayed driving for a little longer. It’s a beautiful location despite the grey weather looking out over onto the vineyard through the deciduous trees, and over a dam. There is a very friendly dog here called Monty a cross between a springer spaniel and a Labrador, very friendly, very soft. We found an art gallery not very far away and decided to go and have a look at that. It turned out to be in Rydges, we parked there amongst all the golf course and caddies and went inside and had a look around. The originals were all around the lobby area. We were able to get the concierge to open up the shop so we can have a look at the smaller ones and other versions. And we actually bought three prints which were not cheap. Loviz art gallery.
After that there was another art gallery that we drove off to see a little bit further away and it has some really spectacular paintings, very large we’ve probably no wall space and probably a bit more than we wanted to spend just at the moment. But they were very attractive paintings. Headed off to a gin tasting place which we rather liked (though it was a bit of a gimmick) and bought a couple of bottles. Next stop was a chocolate factory where we bought some chocolate bullets and drinking chocolate and a gift which turned out to be made in Scotland but were still in a very attractive tin. Then we headed back to our accommodation for a cup of tea and a bit of a rest. Headed out to try a different pub for dinner but there was nowhere to park anywhere nearby so we went back to the same pub as last night; the Australian pub with the Aussie kitchen and pizzeria. Roy had pasta and I had the stir-fried noodles. Home for the night before we head proper home tomorrow morning
