From the Valley to the Hills

What to do with two free days in Australia?  Trying to minimize travel and maximize the seeing potential, it seemed best to limit travel to about 2 hours outside of Sydney.  Virginia had only one more day in Australia, so we decided that Saturday would be spent exploring some of the wine country in New South Wales:  Hunter Valley.  Now...how best to do this?  Wanting to enjoy our day and not have to worry about choosing the wineries or driving after the tastings, we booked with a company specializing in bringing people to the boutique wineries of the area...no Lindemans or Wyndham for us!  

So bright and early (0810), we were picked up and heading towards the Hunter Valley.  First stop:  Iron Gate winery, which both grows and produces the wine onsite.  They only sell to a handful of restaurants in the area, so the only way to bring this home was to buy at the winery.  The tasting was private, with our group of 10 people have our own presenter, and amoung the offerings, we tasted the Hunter Valley staples of Semillon and Shiraz, and an "up and coming" varietal: Verdelho.  The Verdelho was a very pleasant surprise for me.  This Portuguese grape was introduced to Australia in the 1800's, and has become more popular in the last 15 years.  After the tasting, there was a quick tour, and then we were off to the next venue.  Kelman Vineyards is set up as a co-op, with the residents of the neighborhood all invested in the vineyard.  In addition to the still wines, we tasted a semillon sparkling, and some specialty dipping oils. 

We had a bit of "free" time for lunch, so Virginia and I continued our tasting, but this time at the Hunter Valley Cheese shop.  Now that's what I call a good lunch!  Our final tasting of the day was at Ernest Hill Winery.  A special treat awaited us here, as a mob of grey kangaroos joined us amoung the vines for a great photo-op!  As the sun set, we headed back to Sydney, a few bottles of wine in hand.

Sunday I was on my own, so I headed west toward the Great Dividing Range and caught a train to Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains.  The Mountains are named for the color of the light reflecting off the oils emitted by the eucalyptus leaves.  As the train approached our destination, the clouds came charging in, and we arrived in the midst of a small hail and wind storm with the temperature about 20 degrees cooler than in Sydney.  Not exactly what the weather channel had predicted!  I quickly ducked into a sporting goods shop to add to my "southern hemisphere wardrobe".  Lucky for me, it was end of season, so this so-called impulse buy did not cause too much damage. 

Warm and cozy, I strolled 2km towards Echo Point, an amazing look-out over the Jamison Valley and the Three Sisters rock formation.   Aboriginal legend is that 3 beautiful maidens were transformed into the formations by their witch doctor, helping them escape the unwanted advances of some suitors.  The witch doctor died before he could change them back, and they have been trapped in the stone ever since.

Echo Point is the tourist spot of this town, so there were throngs of tourists who bused the short distance to take pictures and move on.  In search of some peace and solitude, I found the Prince Henry Cliff Walk, which winds it way down along the cliffs, into the Jamison Valley via the Great Staircase and onto the Katoomba Falls.  The unpredictable weather and numerous rough steps kept most people away, and began to take in the beauty of the mountains.   The walk was challenging enough to keep most casual tourists at bay and to give a good workout, but not overly strenuous.  As I approached a break in the trees, I looked back across the valley, to see a rainbow stemming from the Three Sisters.  It was a perfect moment.   Continuing my trek, I came to the Katoomba Cascades, a precursor to the Katoomba Falls which lay ahead. 

I began the long decent down the Furber Stairs, a 1.5 km staircase constructed in the early 1900's that lead down the Katoomba Falls, giving spectacular views of the Three Sisters, the Falls, and the Jamison Valley.  The stairs are narrow, dark and damp, as they wind through a cool climate rainforest, and once at the bottom, I decided not to make the climb back up, as the end of daylight was catching up with me once again.  From the bottom, I walked the boardwalk through eucalyptus groves and past abandoned coal mines to the Skyway Cable Car, which offers a "cheater" way in and out of the valley.  Having taken the legitimate way down, I enjoyed the views as the glass chamber swayed us back to the top of the gorge.  With some awesome pictures and very tired legs, I made my way back up to the train station, and napped on my trip back to Sydney.