Mystie's b'day at Hunter Valley!

For Mystie's b'day, her hubby booked us a 2 bedroom bungalow at the centrally located Leisure Inn. There was quite a bit of space between the bungalows; that, and the expansive lawn, lake and mountain view all made me really happy. The rooms themselves were also really good, and there were two bathrooms with spa!

Grapemobile, where we got our bikes, opened at 10 am. It was $25 for a full day's hire, and we were each given a bottle of water. I've never changed gears before but it was quite easy to pick up. First stop was Little's Estate just next door, also open at 10 am, and I got a cuvee. Then we visited Waverly Estate, home of aged wines, and here we splashed out big time; bowled over by the vintage port, we banded together and got two cases...I picked a 1996 cabernet sauvigon and the port...that's my x'mas and new year wines sorted!

At Moorebank, we tasted the intriguing Ginseng Moscato, and promptly bought one each. I'm not a ginseng lover at all, but the ginseng flavour wasn't overwhelming, and balanced out the sweetness. Not sure what people who are not used to Asian herbs and medicines would think of it...

It was overcast the entire day, and we were very lucky to get to First Creek just before a downpour. Can't say I liked the wines there though.

Lunch was on the terrace of the Verandah Restaurant; food was served tapas style, and quite nice, but I was left with the impression I formed after my own b'day celebration, that tapas just don't work for a large group. Somehow, there's just too much waiting, and distraction as each dish arrived. We had a great time though. It was nice to have a celebration in beautiful surrounds, and I must say the chocolate souffle with fillings of our choice was very scrumptious :)

We drank quite a few bottles of our morning purchases (though the corkage was $9/bottle, it's still cheaper than getting their wine). At one stage I had 4 glasses of wine before me...lol. The first fall of the day occurred to the b'day girl before we'd even left the restaurant's estate! It was so scary watching her bike slip on the gravel and slide from under her! Much more strange was YY's fall. She was mesmerised by Mystie's fall and 'realised i had to paddle to keep going' a bit too late...lol. Luckily Alan had a first aid kit and patched up the grazes on Mystie's arm.

Totally drunk, it was all we could do to get ourselves back to Grapemobile. Only 50 m from the building, YY had a 'microsleep' and did a face plant, bruising her chin and cheek. We would have laughed if she didn't look so bad (ok, we still laughed, inside). So you have been warned about the hazards of drink-riding!

I'm so unfit i had problems riding up some of the hills, haha, but all of us passed out for a couple of hours before dinner. Got thai takeaway at a restaurant at Tempus Two, and waited for an hour for it...yep. It was good, but next time, I'll bring some food to cook in the kitchen.

Easy-living continued on Sunday morning, with a cheese platter and coffee for brunch at the Cheese Room at Tempus Two before heading back to Sydney. It was a wonderful getaway, we're just so lucky to live in this country! :)