Hunter Valley

I like to drink wine.  I'm not one that does it every night, but I enjoy it.  I know nothing about it - the grapes, fermentation, aging, how to properly "taste" test - all of that just starts sounding like blah blah blah blah blah to me.  Just being honest. 

BUT...like I said, I like drinking it, and I live in a country that likes to produce it.  So, when my friend Shelby came to visit me from Texas, and one of the items on her "to do" wish-list was to visit a winery, it gave me a perfect reason to knock off one of my "50 Before 50" items too. 

PLUS, as a bonus, my friend Stefan (who is South African but he's lived in Australia for 17 years) went to Texas a few months back.  I connected him with Shelby to show him around Austin.  He offered to return the favor and take us around the Hunter Valley, a wine region about an hour or so from Sydney.  He's a member of a few wine clubs, so we happily agreed to put ourselves in his capable hands.

First stop was at Peterson House - makers of all wonderfully bubbly things.  Our complimentary tasting consisted of whites, roses, reds, and sweet wine too...all sparkling.  Some of these, Shelby and I didn't even know you could get in a sparkling wine, and we were a little skeptical, but oh lawdy, were they phenomenal.  She and I both left with multiple bottles.  My purchases included a Semillon Sauvignon Blanc, a Tempranillo, and a dessert wine that I still can't pronounce: Botrytis Semillon.

This greeted us at the entrance of Peterson House.  Fortunately it was 100*F+ temps (40*C), so I was making the assumption that the snakes would be hiding somewhere to keep cool.

Our second stop was at Hungerford Hill Wines, a place that Stef recommended the reds. 

Shelby and I prefer reds, and since we had about 12 wine tastings already and had more stops ahead, we chose to just stick with reds at this stop.  We were not disappointed.

C'mon.  The wine's name is "Heavy Metal" (and y'all know I'm a rocker girl for life), the label is the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and it was a delicious red.  Of course, I bought this one.

Stefan joined their wine club, and Shelby & I bought some bottles.  They were happy to see us visit.

Our next stop was the Lambloch Estate, and we were greeted with this beautiful view.

One of Stefan's wine buddies praises their Shiraz, so, you know, I had to see what all the fuss was about.

Yes, this is a wine region, but other tasty beverages are concocted as well.  I'm a fan of the cider, so this was a pleasant surprise.  I bought a four pack - one of each.

Is that enough wine for you?  Well, we went to the Hunter Distillery too.  Didn't want any alcoholic beverages to feel left out.

This baby right here is a test tube of Caramel Vodka, and it is one of the most amazing libations to ever pass these lips.  Take all my money.

Supposedly, the founder of the distillery looks a lot like Santa.  So, every Christmas they create a raspberry and honeydew melon liqueur packaged these bottles using his likeness.  It was only a few days after Christmas.  Raspberry Santa needed to come home with me.  I like mixing it with Coca Cola and create my own version of a cherry-ish (raspberry) Coke.  This bottle will most likely last me all year.

Many of the wineries has lovely restaurants with exquisite food, but Stefan had learned that Shelby and I are big fans of the cheese platter, so he took us to The Smelly Cheese Shop for some much needed food.

Last stop, a brewery.  Actually, the Hunter Beer Co. located at Potters Hotel Brewery Resort.

I had an Ale Dorado...I know, I know, it's fashioned like an American beer, but I just loved the name, and in the heat, I didn't want anything too heavy.

Stefan tells me that we just scratched the surface of all the places to visit and sample.  He's already got a list for us to visit in the future.  Plus, it is a gorgeous, scenic spot that could make for a great weekend getaway someday.

If you visited Australia, would you be interested in visiting the Hunter Valley?

Does Fort Worth ever cross your mind?

If you recognized George Strait as inspiration for my title of this post, well...you are even more special to me.  Thank you. 

Admittedly, I fall into the category of "you can take the girl outta Texas, but not Texas outta the girl".  I love Texas.  I love that Texas has its own cultures and identity.  Recently, a customer of mine, here in Australia, was planning a road trip across the southeast of the U.S.  She asked if I could give her some input about where to go and what to see in Texas.  I had to share some recommendations from one of my favorite Texas cities...Fort Worth.

The metropolitan area of Dallas/Fort Worth is somewhat massive.  "DFW" is the international airport that is quite efficient, clean, and easy to navigate.  I fly a direct flight Sydney to Dallas almost once a year for the last 7 years.  I've gotten to know this airport.  Internationally, Dallas seems to be the more "well known" city, but personally, I think Fort Worth is the city with all the charm. 

Fort Worth Stock Yards - You want to visit Texas, and you want to see working cowboys, well...look no further.  In the heart of the city is working stock yards, a cowboy AND cowgirl museum, and every Saturday night, you can attend a rodeo.  This district is full of shops, restaurants, and bars as well.

Photo source

I highly recommend the Stockyard Hotel in Fort Worth.  It's located in a heritage listed building, western-themed, kitsch (but not overly silly), great location, reasonable rates, and just lovely.  The hotel's location is in walking distance of the Fort Worth Stockyards, plus restaurants, shopping, and more. 

Speaking of shopping... If you ever thought you'd want to buy good cowboy boots, Fort Worth is your place.  You can find handmade pairs in almost any leather imaginable.  On one particular trip, I bought my young Aussie niece a pair.  I wished I'd bought myself the same pair in adult sizes.

My personal photos

When asked what I miss most about Texas, high on that list is the food!  So, let's talk food...

My #1 recommendation: The Reata.  The food is amazing with an authentic Texas cuisine flair.  Every time I'm visiting home, I stay with my girlfriend that lives in Fort Worth, and we always have dinner here.  Indoor dining or patio dining overlooking downtown Fort Worth, both are superb experiences.  I could eat here just for the jalapeño & cilantro soup plus wedge salad alone.  But, who am I kidding?  It's Texas.  We eat big in Texas. 
You also want to try tenderloin tamales to start plus Reata's chicken fried steak with black pepper gravy.  Or the rib eye.  Or bacon wrapped lamb.  You can't go wrong with any of these sides: jalapeño and cheese grits, bacon wrapped asparagus, bourbon creamed corn, jalapeño and bacon macaroni and cheese.  Oh...and save room for dessert.  They have Texas specialties homemade banana pudding, Texas pecan pie, a chocolate bread pudding tamale, and dessert tacos.

Photo source

Tex Mex (the best food on the planet) can not be missed.  For fantastic fajitas and margaritas, visit Joe T. Garcia's, a Fort Worth institution.  There isn't much choice of the menu, but you don't need it.  What's there is excellent.

My personal photo

Other Tex Mex recommendations:  Mi Cocina at Sundance Square - if you've never had brisket tacos, introduce yourself to them here; and Cantina Laredo which is a little clean and upmarket compared to some Tex Mex dives that I enjoy, but it's still yummy goodness. 

Insider scoop:  Truly unique to Texas cuisine, if chile con queso is on the menu, then I order it.  The first thing that I want to do when I visit home is faceplant into a bowl of it. 

Photo source

Other food & drink recommendations:  Texas BBQ: Shady Oak Barbecue and Grill, Cousin's BBQ, or Riscky's; Fred's Texas Café (a burger & beer dive that also has live music at night) there's also a good restaurant in the Stockyards area called H3 for a relatively inexpensive (and good) steak and attached to the restaurant is Booger Red's Saloon.  Yes...that is the name.  There's another bar that I recommend as well: Filthy McNasty's.  Fort Worth is not shy of drinking establishments with fun names.

personal photos

Also, for another true Texas experience - Billy Bob's (the world's largest honky tonk).  Superb people watching!  If you like beer, try Shiner Bock or Lone Star...they are two Texas brewed beers.  You'll fit right in.  Billy Bob's has country dancing every night and hold special events like concerts and bull-riding.

Have a group?  Then you must book a night with the Cowtown Cycle Party.  A unique way to ride around Fort Worth and get a little exercise too.  Oh, and you can drink. 

personal photo - a birthday celebration for me!

Fort Worth also has a fantastic zoo, a beautiful performance hall, water gardens, a comedy club, Japanese botanic gardens and more.  All of these listed above, I've personally visited, eaten the food, and drank the drink.

Bass Performance Hall - my personal photo

If I haven't shared enough Fort Worth ideas, take a look at the city's website.  Or, you can venture over to Arlington (about a 20 minute drive) and visit Six Flags over Texas, catch a Texas Rangers baseball game at The Ballpark or a Dallas Cowboys game at AT&T Stadium...or venture a little further to Dallas for even more sites, food, and fun.

If there aren't enough recommendations here for you, Texans are typically extremely hospitable people.  Most often, they will be happy to recommend (and show off) what their city and state has to offer.  Do not hesitate to ask.

Have you ever visited Fort Worth?  Have I piqued your interest?

Linking up with the NEW Wanderful Wednesday ladies.  I'd just gotten my act together and started organizing some travel posts.  If you are a regular reader, you know that my blog features a little bit of everything! The Wanderlust Wednesday group is coming to an end, so when Isabel of The Sunny Side of This announced this new link-up, I thought "perfect timing!"  Plus, the hosts are ladies living all over the world.  I predict some super travel sites coming at us.

When your best friend visits you in Australia

I moved to this spectacular world of Sydney, Australia (from Houston, Texas) in December 2008.  I'm not telling a lie ~ Australia is as wonderful and fantastic a place to visit as you imagine...and I've only scratched the surface.

My college roommate, most loyal, generous, brilliant, travel adventurer, favorite friend, Katy (who lives in downtown Fort Worth, Texas) came to visit me in November 2012.  Here are some highlights of that visit...

After the longest commercial flight operating (this is no exaggeration), Katy is ready to stretch her legs and explore.  First stop, the world-famous Taronga Zoo!

November is late Spring in Australia.  Temps were nice, but we had a couple of overcast, threatening-to-rain kind of days in Sydney.  One of those days was the day we conquered climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  We got to the top and acted like fools for a photo.

We took a ferry from Circular Quay (in the heart of Sydney's city centre) to Watson's Bay.  We hiked to The Gap (not the store, but a rock cliff facing the Pacific Ocean), and had lunch at Doyle's on the Beach, a family owned and operated restaurant for 5 generations. 

The top picture is our lunch view...see the city skyline in the distance ~ the bottom picture is us at The Gap

I highly recommend Bonza Bike Tours if this seems like something that interests you.  It was a great way to see the city with a group of people from every corner of the world.  Our guide was fantastic, and I learned (even after living here a few years) a few bits of local trivia that I didn't know.

Fun fact: Bonza Bike Tours is owned by a fellow Texan.

The entire time spent with Katy in Australia was unforgettable.  Truly.  But...how can you beat getting into a tank with sharks to highlight a trip???  After taking another breathtaking ferry ride to Manly, Katy and I visited the Manly Sea Life Sanctuary.  It is a great place to visit on its on with a cute little penguin cove.  We had passes for the Shark Dive Xtreme. We got in our scuba suits, had a quick lesson for diving (because this was a first for both of us), and followed our guides into the aquarium tank. 
These are grey nurse sharks, and apparently, they don't choose humans for lunch.  Also, we were surrounded by various fish, tortoise, and stingrays.  It was a magical experience.  My heart was pumping with adrenaline, then it reached a point of peace and calm that is difficult to explain.  You need to experience it for yourself.

Katy felt that if she was going to come halfway around the world, we might as well explore another part of Australia as well.  We flew from Sydney to Hamilton Island, located in Queensland that is a part of the Whitsunday Islands.  We stayed at The Reef View Hotel, and I recommend it.

Katy splurged for us to have a suite; she approved of the wrap-a-round balcony and the views..

A top a small hill called One Tree Hill there is a small gazebo that serves cocktails at sunset.  Well, duh, we checked that out.  Most visitors get around Hamilton Island in rented golf carts.  There are shuttles provided as well.  We jumped in our golf cart, cruised to One Tree Hill, enjoyed fruity beverages, and appreciated life.  Beautiful. 

As part of our hotel package, breakfast was included.  This was no ordinary breakfast.  We had breakfast every morning with koalas!  They just chill out in the trees, snoozing, as you eat breakfast...and it's as awesome as you think it is.  For an extra fee, you can get your photo with one of the fuzzy residents.  Queensland is the only state in Australia that allows you to actually hold them.

Elvis and Katy become fast friends.

We booked a package that offered a boat tour around the Whitsunday Islands...

...and allowed us to spend several hours at the world famous Whitehaven Beach.  Depending on the list you read, it is often listed as one of the world's most beautiful beaches.

We made our mark in the sand

The next day, we took another tour.  This one took us to the Great Barrier Reef where snorkeling was provided.  For an extra fee, you could take a helicopter tour or go on a small guided scuba dive.  We opted for scuba.

We ended our day with an early dinner at a fantastic pizzeria that overlooked the marina, sipping cocktails, and toasting our friendship and adventures.

One thing I love about a trip like this is depending on who you are with, you can make it romantic, adventuresome, relaxing, and more......but you are definitely going to be making memories that last!  I'm so appreciative that I have a friend like Katy to share this experience.

Linking up with Kerri and the ladies for Wanderlust Wednesdays:

***Apparently, I posted this a week early. Oops. 

Have you visited Australia?  Wanna come???

Girls' Trip to France~Switzerland~Spain: Wanderlust Wednesdays

I have intended to join my sweet Kerri and friends for this link-up for months and months.  Finally, I've remembered to do it! 

Part of my problem with not being prepared for this link-up is this: many of my travel stories that I want to share happened a while ago...like, I mean, pre-camera phones a while ago.  And, I'm not organized enough to have all my travel photos easily accessible.  Need to fix these.

Anywho....let me tell you about one of my European excursions.....

Short story:  2006 - a girl that I was joined at the hip for 10 years in the latter part of college and my early professional life (Shawna) now lived in Paris.  My cousin (Elizabeth) was 20 and got the travel bug.  I'd been to Europe and loved it.  We had a girls' trip, and it was sensational.  It was 10 years ago, so I'm really not even sure I'm going to remember all the details.  But, I'll give it a go.

Fly direct Houston to Paris - take taxi - French driver doesn't understand us - we show him address - he gets us to my friend's apartment - the street has a distant view of the Eiffel Tower.  Very nice!

I was supposed to pick up a key from the concierge of Shawna's apartment while she was at work - concierge not there - can't get key - we sit outside, backpacks in tow - residents who pass tell us "all French concierge take lunch break from at least 12-2" - okay then.

I could stare at stained glass windows for hours

We did all the tourist-y things - Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame, Hotel Invalides - one of the days in Paris was my birthday - drinks with lovelies in Paris is not too shabby a way to spend one's birthday - we went dancing one night at a discoteque.

Elizabeth & I train to Switzerland - we spent a day in Bern - played tourists again - walked the town, went to Albert Einstein museum - admired the beauty of the river running through the city - checked out the bear exhibit. 

Train to Interlaken (my favorite place in the world!) - Guess what - when we arrived at the Funny Farm hostel (a place I've stayed more than once), it was happy hour! - 2 for 1 drinks in the beer garden - we drank with the locals and met some people staying at the same hostel - had fantastic Thai food (who knew there was good Thai in this little Swiss town) - went to a underground dance club at one of the hostels.

Next day canyon jump/swing - I'd done this before and was super excited to do it again - (as I pull the link for this activity, I learn they aren't doing this currently due to "rockfall in the gorge") - Elizabeth chickened out - she's scared of heights - I used to have a video of my jump but have no idea what happened to it.

That's me jumping! And that's Elizabeth looking down the canyon to make sure I survived to tell you about it.

Early wake-up to go canyoning - outdoor adventure guides take you through mountain gorges, natural water holes, part rappelling/part hiking/part jumping/part swimming - we were with an overly athletic group (and the only girls) - I'd done this before but Elizabeth hadn't - she faced two big fears of hers: heights & snakes - yep, there was a tiny snake, the size of a straw, in the water with us - she jumped on top of me, and I almost drowned (not really) until our lovely guide jumped in and scared it away - we treated ourselves to celebratory drinks that night.

That night, we agreed to go with a special group and bungy jump over Lake Stockhorn in the dark for Summer Solstice (only during special events do they go at night) - bbq & beer at the bottom of the lake where Elizabeth hung out - I bungy jumped from a mountain gondola over the lake - adrenaline was pumping because it looked like I was just leaping into darkness - it was amazing!

That is me on the right - you just gotta trust me - I look so close to the moon!

These are smiles & cheers of accomplishment - this was my German bungy jumping buddy - we tried to keep each other calm (in broken English) while waiting in the gondola

Geneva to Barcelona night train - electricity black out caused us to miss our train - no hotels available anywhere in Geneva - I had a smart idea - we trained one town over - found a hotel with a huge bath tub - Elizabeth soaked for an hour - left Shawna a message at hotel that we would be a day late because we didn't travel with mobile phones back then.

Arrive next day to Barcelona - They were celebrating the summer solstice too, but it's called some Saint's Day (don't remember what saint. my bad.) - people were partying on the beach, kids running around throwing firecrackers, live music.

We resumed doing all the tourist-y things - beach, markets, watched street performers, went to a Pablo Picasso museum, checked out the unique architecture of Gaudi.

Treated ourselves to a delicious feast of tapas and Sangria - went dancing at a discoteca.

Rented bikes to explore some more - a fun way to get around the city - we had the best weather this entire trip!

Spent the last day visiting the zoo & the funky & delightful Parc Guell

Took a night train back to Paris - Elizabeth & I were delirious at this point.

I planned everywhere we stayed, everywhere we went, and every site we saw by using Trip Advisor - it is my personal favorite travel site for reviews and suggestions - plus, I'm old school - I like travel books, and I used those too.

I've participated in outdoor adventure activities seven different times in Interlaken, Switzerland - always used Alpinraft for these activities - the experiences are worth every penny, and the guides are fun, knowledgeable, and fantastic!  Plus, one of those guides took this picture using my camera.  It's my all-time favorite travel photo.

I have been fortunate enough to share many travel experiences with many special people.  This one is one for the record books...a time that I shared with two of my favorite people in this entire world.

Have you ever been to any of these places?  Have you ever taken a girls'-only holiday like this?