Hunter Valley and Port Macquarie

On Tuesday morning we got up, grabbed the now clean clothes, said good-bye to our cockroach friend and headed out of Sydney (to return later).

Heading north, we negotiated or little red Corrolla, a.k.a. Tori (short for Victoria, the red thunder from down under) out of Sydney and on to Hwy 1 towards Port Macquarie. We had decided on PM through the advice of Cat and a quick perusal of the Lonely Planet(s) that we have to hand. We learned that PM was the third settlement in Australia - an ex-penal colony with plenty of beach, relaxed attitudes and, for Kjersti, potential skydiving - it was perfect!

Needless to say, exiting Sydney was just as difficult and stressful as arriving in Sydney and when we saw the exits for the Hunter Valley wine region, we decided a quick detour was necessary. We found the Visitor's Information Center (plentiful and friendly in Oz) and got ourselves a map and planned a route. Three wineries later and we had some great bottles of wine, a bellyful of yummy tapas, and even our first kangaroo spotting!

Hunter Valley was so good that we promised ourselves we would hit it again on the return trip. I promise we kept and I now have 5 bottles of wine to either drink or carry home...one guess on which option we are choosing to exercise!!

We arrived in PM later on Tuesday afternoon and after a quick walking tour of central areas (with another free tourist map) found our home for the next 2 days, The El Paso Motor Inn.

Judge not my friends. Judge not.

We quickly renamed the Old El Paso as the El Dorado and it was clean, quiet, and spitting distance from the river and park. We could easily walk to the beach, had a nice shared patio and found the people to be friendly and accomodating. It wasn't the fanciest of places but it suited our needs just fine. Tori even got her own parking spot free of charge. As if a sign that we were truly in the right spot, we ended our first night in PM sitting on our balcony, overlooking the people walking along the river, sipping our winery wine and listening to a small ragtime band that just happened to be playing to entertain just us.

Although I think other people may have enjoyed it too.

In the morning when we headed to the beach, we were greeted by a praying mantis who had taken up residence on our front door. (Apparently, the wildlife just loves us. It's like being the Snow White of the bug world, I swear.) After negotiating our way out the front door around him (do Praying Mantis bite? Who knows?) we obviously had to name him and there are only so many appropriate names for a praying mantis who lives on your door at the El Dorado.

I miss Manuel already.

We spent the rest of the day in full beach mode and I have the irregular sunburn today to prove it. I seriously was not paying attention with the SPF - you should see the red v white streaks on my legs and back. Our trip to PM finished with a picnic in the park, watching the pelicans(HUGE) and the locals and feasting on some of the BEST calamari and fish and chips I have ever had. It was fresh fresh fresh, made to order and melted in your mouth.

All in all a great little stop.

Today, we are back in Sydney (and I have the white knuckles to prove it)! Tomorrow we bid farewell to little Tori and set about to more beach time and city exploration.

More soon!