Tuesday February 2, Wednesday February 3, Thursday February 4 – The Hunter Valley and Port Stephens

We have heard a lot about “The Hunter Valley” and chose a short trip out of Sydney to see it plus the northern beach area at Port Stephens that Sue and Jim had spoken so highly of. The Hunter Valley is known for its wine, but it was the horse breeding that attracted me to the area. The Port Stephens area has lovely sandy beaches and a dramatic shoreline. So we rented a little Nissan Pulsar for three days and set off.

The first part of the journey getting out of Sydney was rather precarious given all the various highways, the speed demons, and not having a clue where to go!! But we figured it out slowly…driving on the left side of the road instead of the right, getting used to the numerous roundabouts, and learning not to stop at every junction…..oh yes, and using your left hand to activate the turn signals instead of having the wipers hopping across the screen every change of direction. Ray did an admirable job and I didn’t have an opportunity to drive at all. I found out about an hour into the journey that he hadn’t listed me as a driver. Mmmm, wonder what that means!!! So, we got lost a few times, extended the trip by a few kms and made it safely through the700 plus kms journey.

It took us a couple of hours before we came off the main highway…drawn by the sight of the Hawkesbury River and Mooney Mooney Point. We have a friend called “Mary Mooney”, so we thought this an appropriate spot to stop at!!! It was an interesting historical site in that a ferry operated there between 1844 and 1887 and then I believe there may have been a diesel ferry from 1944 which was  sent off to operate in New Guinea during WWII…..no mention was made of what happened to the gap in services the local people would have had to deal with!!  We wandered along the river for a little exercise and saw an interesting group the “Toukley Kayakers” in their brightly coloured kayaks out on a paddle ….and on the cultural side for reading aficionados Australian novelist Kate Grenville wrote an award winning historical fiction novel The Secret River set on the Hawkesbury. 

We drove the scenic route (Tourist Drive No. 33) and had lunch in The Corrugated Café in Pet’s Ridge. This was set in an eclectic mix of stores: an equestrian store, a Chinese restaurant, a garden equipment shop, and the Corrrugated Café!

The Hunter Valley is known as Australia’s horse breeding capital and in fact is home to one of the top three International Centres of Thoroughbred Breeding Excellence in the world along with Newmarket, UK and Kentucky, USA.  We saw a number of stud farms on the route, but alas, few horses in the extensive paddocks.  We drove past some huge seam coal  gas mining and coal mining areas…..and I mean they stretched as far as you could see. What devastation! It was heart breaking to see the wasteland this has created.  Not only is the countryside a mess, but future development is threatening  water quality, air quality, land quality, and health quality of both people and livestock, as well as the horse breeding and racing industry. Needless to say, the Hunter Thoroughbred Breeders Association are most concerned.  I read an article in ABC Rural  about a breeding farm moving to the State of Victoria and the fears of others following. And I read an article on ABC about the “declining coal market” and reasons why the NSW government should back the horse breeding and wine growing markets as they are long term. Another example of poor land management for the future.

We drove through some beautiful countryside on almost deserted roads, through beautiful valleys of vines, avocado trees, olives and figs and we discovered the ”Convict Walk”. We didn’t have time to walk the route but we could pretty well drive it and see the same things.  The Convict Walk is pretty well The Great North Road which was built by convicts from 1825 to 1836 to link early Sydney with the Hunter Valley. It is about 260 km long. The road is of such cultural significance it was included on the Australian National Heritage List on 1 August 2007 as a nationally significant example of major public infrastructure developed using convict labour^[2] and on the UNESCO World Heritage list as amongst:^[3][4]

" .. the best surviving examples of large-scale convict transportation and the colonial expansion of European powers through the presence and labour of convicts."

Next we came to Wollombie or “the meeting place of the waters. This town was also involved in the building of the Great North Road and is a pretty little town with some fairly historic buildings. Unfortunately most of the buildings were closed but it was quite a lovely piece of history.

Around 6:30 we pulled into Maitland and picked out The Old Maitland Inn to stay in. It was quite acceptable and we were even able to eat dinner in the motel which was great. We had driven a distance of 290 km.

Next morning, Wednesday February 3 we set off from Maitland and shortly came to Morpeth which was recommended by one of the young women in the hotel. It was truly a delight. The town was originally a private town which was built by Lieutenant E.C.Close who developed it as a riverport and it continued to develop until 1879, but the

development of the Great North Road meant that Morpeth became less significant commercially but has remained as a fine example of the period buildings. We thoroughly enjoyed this small town and wandered around talking to shop owners, residents, and visitors.

We headed next to the Port Stephens area and drove up the middle of the peninsula which had settlements and beaches on either side but was a pretty dull ride until we got to Nelson Bay. We stopped in at the Information Centre and booked a fabulous hotel down in the centre of the harbour and had a nice little verandah with a view over the beach. It was called the Nelson Resort. So we unloaded our train load of belongings and went off down the beach to investigate. We made it to a beautiful part of the beach and collapsed in the golden sand.

The water was cool, but you got used to it, however, it was too cold for my ears and I couldn’t keep them in the water to swim. But it was bliss, and I so enjoyed it. I asked about sharks, but it seemed that they had never seen any in there.  We swam and lay on the beach for about 2 hours at the end of the day, then wound our way back to the hotel for a shower before dinner. After searching for a restaurant that was open, then one that had a good revew, we ended up in the hotel beside ours and had the best food. I had a steak and Ray had a fish basket. Delicious.

On the third day we headed out after breakfast to start the journey back to Sydney. We had so much fun. We drove along the coast line to places like the Nelson Light House – which was now the home of the Search and Rescue Operation, Shoal Bay which was a beautiful golden sand beach, Fingal Bay which was a residential development around the most amazing beach – looked like a great place to live! Then it was a long inland drive to Boat Harbour, also beautiful, then the rugged rocks of Fisherman’s Bay, and finally Anna Bay.

This was what we had been waiting for, the start of the dunes and it was amazing. As luck would have it though, as we climbed up on the dunes, dark black clouds rolled in from the ocean and we had to run up to the top of the dunes  and snap the pictures really quickly in order to get back to the car before the rain soaked us and our camera equipment. It didn’t last long and we were soon able to get back outside and savour the immense expanse of dunes…..and an ice-cream!

After Anna Bay we started our trek back to Sydney, but not before we took in the northern beach area of Palm Cove. People live up there and commute to work in Sydney. It is only about 35/40 k, but it would be brutal. It is another peninsula heading out into the ocean with residential areas on either side. Palm Beach is at the top. The homes are magnificent and to live out there would be like living in heaven. However, they are not cheap. We had great fun watching the young kids learning to surf.

Miraculously, we made it safely into Sydney and only had a slight moment of confusion when we crossed the Hunter’s Hill bridge from a different angle than expected and had to make a double sweep at it to get headed in the right direction. It was about 9:00 pm when we returned, but we had eaten a pizza in one of the seaside towns up near Palm Beach so had not need for dinner and crawled into bed dreaming about what we had seen, and looking forward to another day in this beautiful city.