An indulgent weekend...!

What beautiful weather for a weekend in the Hunter Valley! Which is exactly how we spent it. We arrived in Morpeth late in the afternoon on Saturday, after an obligatory McDonald's stop along the freeway - David and Mel rode with us, and the boys certainly scoffed themselves silly with burgers and nuggets and sundaes...

We stayed in a little B&B just down the road from where we were having dinner that night - the original Arnott's Bakery! Now it's converted into a restaurant with a beautiful atmosphere and delicious food! Predictably (disturbingly?) David and I ordered the exact same meal - homemade prawn tortellini to start with, followed by steak with potato gratin - yum! And for dessert? Pear and rhubarb crumble. *sighs* It was a feast.

The Arnott's Bakery restaurant - so pretty!

Steak and potato!

Jo and I at dinner

After dinner, it was off to the Maitland Gaol for our nighttime history/ghost tour - which was not as scary as we thought it would be, but very interesting all the same - i never thought I'd be the type to feel sorry for prisoners, but after seeing that place? I actually did. It only closed in the mid-nineties, and the conditions in that place were pretty bad. For a while, it was NSW's only maximum security prison.

Until 1984, the prison had no running water or flush toilets - can you believe that! I was pretty shocked. The cells were hideous - i guess i should have expected that, but still, when you actually saw them, i was still taken aback. Inmates spent 22 hours a day in those things - one hour of exercises in the morning and one in the evening.

Chris (mid-seizure?), Leah and I in one of the 'nicer' cells

Me, Leah and David in the area of the prison where Ivan Milat was held.

David washing his hair (cue laughter) in the shower block

Leah, Chris, me, Mel and David in the shower block!

Some of the writing in one of the cells - many prisoners came in sane and were driven to insanity on the inside.

All in all a good tour - definitely an insight into a different world. Back to the B&B for bed, and then up bright and early on Sunday morning for our cooked breakfast, which was yummy too. Bacon, eggs, toast and jam, mushrooms, tomato's... good thing we started the day heartily, cause we had plenty of wine tasting to do that day!

We headed into Pokolbin, which is one of the main areas for wineries in the Hunter Valley, and started the day at my favourite place - Peterson's Champagne House! DELICIOUS is all i can say. Leah and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves tasting all sorts of champers (perhaps a bit too much at that time of the morning...), and both came away with a bottle (ready to crack one open on Saturday night Leah?) It's a neat little place, that has a bubble machine making bubbles fly through the air every few minutes!

Bubbles!

Champagne purchased? Check!

Looking less tipsy than we actually were...

Right next door to Peterson's is the Hunter Valley chocolate shop, so we stopped in for chocolate dipped strawberries - as you can see, David was in heaven. At least i think it was because of the strawberries. Otherwise i don't wanna know.

Leah beelines to the rude section of the chocolate shop - jelly boobies anyone?

After another stop at a winery that resembled something NASA would build (and where, i regret to inform you, Leah and I tried nearly everyone on their tasting menu, which led to some unfortunate 'ET phone home' photos that I've chosen not to post here...), we travelled on to Audrey Wilkinson winery, which had some beautiful views, as you can see!

Vineyards, vineyards and vineyards oh my!

Hey look - some more vineyards

By this stage, it was well and truly time for lunch, before we all fell down - but not before Chris was yellow-carded at the bar for smooching Leah. Hello? No public displays of affection while wine tasting. Everyone knows that dude.

So it was off to Tempus Two, one of the biggest and well known wineries in the area - not just for their wine, but for their food! The Smelly Cheese Shop was where i was headed baby - not to be missed by true cheese lovers like myself. And yes, it really was smelly. For our late lunch we shared some cheese platters and pizzas, before heading in to taste the good stuff.

Say cheeeeeeese! Get it? Say cheese? Cause we ate so much cheese? Didya?

At Tempus Two

We indulged in some gelato and coffee to top off the afternoon, before stumbling back to the car to head home. It was nice to get out of the city for a weekend, and the weather was so amazing! Is this winter? I don't want to curse our luck, but it's been so beautiful.




Other news - well, there isn't really any. I've finished season 7 of SVU and loved it - best season so far that i've watched! Loved the last 4 episodes. We've also taken to watching Absolutely Fabulous on weeknights - I'd forgotten how hysterical that show is. Sweetie darling! But Patsy's such a hoot. Righto, better get to bed - work tomorrow, followed by more work on Wednesday, and then another two days of work after that. *sighs* I was meant to be born rich, i just know i was, but somehow it all went horribly wrong...