Sydneysiders may fight to the death arguing they live in the
best place in Australia, but, when holiday time rolls around, it
pays to watch where they go to relax and unwind.
Not two hours north rests the divine Hunter region, and it makes
a brilliant Sydney road trip. The Hunter region is best known as
Australia's vineyard, but there's loads more you can fool about
in ? old colonial towns, national parks, burning mountains,
horse festivals, and more water sports than your travel
insurance is prepared to cover.
If you don?t have a car of your own, visit websites like www.vroomvroomvroom.com
.au that pool together the specials of all the most popular
car rental companies to get a deal on a Sydney
car rental.
So, from Sydney, head up inland to Wollombi, by taking the
freeway and turning off at Calga. Wollombi is a great little
place for a brief stopover. It has a distinctly ?rustic look? (a
very tired tourism platitude which very much applies to this
little place), and is armed with a national park of the same
name and some nearby wineries. Back in the car, the next stage
of your road trip is to drive up Wollombi road until you hit
Cessnock, which is about 30 kilometres away. This is probably
the best place to set up camp and plan your attack on the area?s
profusion of vineyards, most of which are around nearby
Pokolbin.
To help you choose which wineries you'd like to visit, check out
http://www.winecountry.com.
au/ or visit Cessnock's Wine Country Tourism office for maps
and brochures. But among the wineries in the area you might want
to think about include: Tyrrell?s Vineyard, which is plonked
right in the middle of romantic scenery in the Brokenback
Ranges; Pepper Tree Winery, which is a boutique wine operation
just off Broke road in Pokolbin; and of course, you shouldn?t
really go past Lindemans ? it is one of the biggest names in
wine in Australia. Head to McDonalds road, they?re open daily
for wine tastings.
After you?ve sobered up, get back into your car and make the
short drive north from Cessnock to Maitland, which is a pretty
town full of old colonial architecture and historical ambiance.
You don?t need a long time here though, so get back on the road
and head up to Scone on the New England Highway.
Here, once again, you?ll be bombarded with all the rustic
farmland scenery of before, more wineries yes, but this here is
horse country ? the business of breeding thoroughbreds is
serious ?round here. The day they build a golden horse idol to
worship isn?t far away. They?ve already got the horse festival
in May and a six-week Hunter Horse expo in September. The
Barrington Tops National Park is nearby. And while you?re
gadding about, why not visit the biblical-sounding Burning
Mountain ? which actually is burning, and has been for about a
thousand years, ever since an underground coal seam caught fire.
Turning you?re car around, the last stage of your road trip
involves heading back down the New England Highway, this time
passing Maitland until you get to Newcastle. You?re now on the
doorstep of Lake Macquarie ? Australia's largest salt-water
lake. It?s here you?ll encounter a clear-water paradise with
water sports aplenty. Wend your merry way around the shores,
driving through tiny villages and holiday towns like Belmont,
Swansea and Toronto. Explore the Watagan Mountains, which flank
the western side of the lake, for a sniff of fresh air and a
good view.
All that?s really left is to take your time heading back onto
the freeway towards Sydney, refreshed and ready to take on all
the congested traffic conditions the city can throw at you.
About the author:
Alyssa Betts has been travelling around Europe, the UK,
South-East Asia and Australia. She now works for www.vroomvroomvroom.com
.au
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