May 31, 2014

May 31, 2014

Today we headed to the Hunter Valley region, which is wine country. This area is known for its semillion and shiraz. Our first stop was the city of Newcastle. We enjoyed the beautiful beach area and hiked to the fort atop a beachfront hill. The fort was one of the few Austrailian installments that fired shots during WWII. A Japanese submarine appeared in the middle of the night and starting firing on the city. The fort returned fire and chased them off. Connor liked hearing about this story. 

 

Then we were off to an afternoon of wine tasting. We went to four wineries: Brokenwood, Scarborough, Hungerford Hill, and Oakvale. Our favorite by a mile was Scarborough. The wines were great, and the kids met a dog named Rosie that they loved. Carolina didn’t want to leave her when it was time to go. Then she kept asking when we could get a dog like Rosie. The kids are definitely ready for a furry family pet! We also stopped at a chocolate shop for a little treat. 

 

 

 

 

At the last winery, we were in for quite a surprise. We saw kangaroos in the wild!! They were eating grass in the vineyards. It was amazing to watch an animal that we had been hoping so much to see in their natural habitat. Seeing the roos hop throughout the vineyards was fascinating. We loved seeing their jumps that looked like springs. It was also interesting to see how much they use their tail for balance and movement. We were very excited! All the Australians at the winery kind of gave us an amused smirk since seeing a kangaroo doesn’t illicit quite the same reaction from a local. I got to drive the car all around the wine country and all the way back to Sydney, and I must say that I did pretty well! Our 4 year old little trooper fell asleep on the drive back again.