Australia Hotel Cessnock

... is over 150 here now so lots to choose from. At our first winery stop we had a drink at was Lakes Folly and prepare to be shocked we found a really nice C******nay but it was $60 a bottle (30 quid). I asked for a spitoon but all the guy said to me was 'this is Australia mate no-one spits alcohol out!' which is fare enough I guess! Next stop a smelly cheese shop which didn't just sell cheese but was like a deli where nic saw ...

... for 9 bucks we have been drinking from liquorland to most of the whites (not that that stopped me drinking them of course!), but that I do really really like very expensive ports and dessert wines and soft reds. This wasn't really news but I still needed to check this quite thoroughly to be on the safe side. We learnt lots of history and saw lots of vines against a backdrop of beautiful mountains from our air-conditioned coach. At one ...

... a patch of grass. The YHA only wanted $30 for the same so we stayed there. Most people went to the pub or the concert in the ecvening so the YHA was quiet and the bar shut. However, I was woken at 2.30 by drunken people shouting and playing loud music, the bar had reopened. I felt like complaining, then I felt old for wanting to complain, put my earplugs in and slept soundly.

when we arrived back in brisbane it was still raining, we found out brisbane had had the wost storm for years, devistation to many buildings through the town, many houses were still without electricty, there had been 1,1116 striks of lighting all together & millions of pounds worth of damage, we found a camp site & met up with johyn & jacqulin for a meal in town as this was their last night before leaving for n.z.we had ...

So once again the minibus from the Wine Rover people picked us up about 9.30am, and after a couple more folks got on at different hotels we were on our way back into the Hunter. First stop was to be Kevin Sobels, a winery that both Rach and I were very partial to last time we came, not only for the great wines and ports they had on offer, but also the beautiful St Bernard who lived there (coincidently the original dog belonging to Kevin Sobels, who had just died on our last visit ...

... the period of 1805 - 1820, convict blacksmiths, coopers and carpenters operated a lumber yard and manufactured tools and other articles. On the way out of the city we passed the huge coal refinery, still a major business in Newcastle. Graham drove out to Port Stephens, a beautiful natural harbor that covers an area more than four times that of Sydney Harbor, where we went on a dolphin-watching cruise. The water was a bit choppy, and after about ...

... with Jay, a proper northern guy from Burnley Tash had met in Thailand and spent a couple of days hanging out and watching pelicans! Last stop before Sydney was to Wyong to visit our lovely friend Cindy who we had met up in Byron. We had a great time seeing her again and meeting her lovely friends Ryan, the 2 Lukes and Vinnie. They all took us under their wing and we had a fantastic time. We are ...

Alex is back in Newy after visiting henni and steve while abigail is still up north. Got confirmation of our week in seahouses, looks awesome should be a blast. 13 sleeps to go! just to remind myself more than anything i want to try and get to the bolton game at home on the 15th of oct. like i will forget

... I had a conversation about the meanings of a couple of words, since he's actually studying english at the Uni. After he passes his two year program in English, he'll be doing his Masters in Computer Science, so he and I were very much alike. Also, we ended up comparing currency, as I happened to have some American currency on me (left over from the airport in LAX). We ended up trading money too, since he had some Ree-aals ...

... the surf club was closed but we still got photos to prove we were there!! dean was gutted not to see Alsa's Diner or Alf driving around in his range rover. Apart from the beach there was nothing to do at palm beach so we decided to go back to manly to grab some dinner. even though it took 2 hours to get there and back it was nice to see summer bay and it was actually a gorgeous beach. tomorrow were going to the blue mountains so will update then.