The next leg of our trip was the 751 mile journey from Sydney to Brisbane.
We got the bus back to Sydney, picked up a hire car and drove up to our first stop at Cessnock in the Hunter Valley – bit of an interesting trip with detours due to an accident, a lorry fire and bush fires near the town we were staying in!
We took a day to drive around some of the Hunter Valley wineries. There’s a useful map at the Information centre to help plan the route.
Our first stop was Vamp – a cellar door with stunning decoration,
owned by Lisa McGuigan, where we tried a lovely Prosecco and also a Vermentin (a new grape to us). Next, we visited McGuigans (Lisa’s fathers winery) and then, onto Brokenwood (just loved the name as we like Brokenwood Mysteries on TV!!) for a very informative and entertaining tasting. Finally, we went to Ben Ean (used to be the Lindemans winery), where we were introduced to some of their local grapes, including a delicious Verdelho.
We bought a cheese platter from the Hunter Valley Smelly Cheese Company, and last but not least, stopped at Sobar, a dessert bar for one of their delicious taster plates.
With the temperature soaring again, we travelled up the Pacific Highway to Port Macquarie. We stopped for coffee at the pretty town of Karuah and spotted a couple of pelicans on the river.
Then, because we were bored with the Pacific Highway, we took a detour down the Lakes Way, which was a bit more picturesque and even found a deserted spot by one of the lakes for a picnic lunch.
We arrived in Port Macquarie late afternoon in time for a wander along the Riverside, check out the “coloured stones” (the seawall stones were painted in an art competition in 1995 and the custom has expanded – many are now memorials), then had some dinner and completely forgot that sunset is earlier up the coast so only caught the tail end!
The next day was a bit cooler, so we walked over to the Roto House historic site and the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital, which is part of the Koala Conservation Australia Ltd. Here they care for injured, lost, or displaced Koalas (and even a couple of self admitted which amused us – it’s mating season, so they try and visit the Koalas that are permanents here!).
Most are rehabilitated back to their areas, but some aren’t fit enough to cope, so they live in the hospital yards. We had a very informative tour with Jackie, one of the volunteers. The hospital has its own eucalyptus plantations and agreements with various farmers, locals, and local councils as well to harvest leaves for feeding.
Then, on the way back, we walked the Riverside Boardwalk and spotted a pod of 4 dolphins in the river, which was lovely.
We spent the next few days driving up to Brisbane, stopping off at Coffs Harbour and Ocean Shores (outside Byron Bay – very busy and expensive here!). To get off the Pacific Highway (as you don’t get to see much from this road), we followed several of the numbered Tourist Drives (marked by brown signs off the Pacific Highway). These are great drives, taking you through lovely farmland, alongside huge winding rivers and into little towns and even on a chain ferry at one point (Bluff Point)! We stopped off to explore the interesting Trial Bay Gaol at Arakoon
and the nearby Smoky Cape Lighthouse before going onto Urunga and Sawtell.
There are lots of beautiful beaches along this coastline but it was so hot we didn’t stop at them.
After our week long road trip, we returned the car to Brisbane airport and jumped on a flight to Townsville for Christmas.
