Kyle's recap: Day 2

Day 2 started out beautifully, after we saw the sunrise at 5:30 (We are still fighting hard to acclimate to the time change) we showered and headed into the town of Cessnock for breakfast.

I must say we were starving due to retiring at 5p. and sleeping through supper the first night. Breakfast was eaten in a quaint café and we shared a heaping plate of sausage, poached eggs, toast, ham, mushrooms, tomatoes, and a hashbrown.

After breakfast we strolled throughout town before heading back to the Hunter Valley. This place is absolutely amazing; there are wineries and farms everywhere.

We started out by visiting several food shops and tasting all the different cheeses that are made locally. After packing that on top of our breakfast, we decided it was time to do some wine tasting.

So we strike out on the left (wrong) side of the road to wineries that a kind lady at the information center highlighted for us. It was an afternoon filled with delicious wine and we received the star treatment at all the wineries.

Everyone immediately picked up on our accents and wanted to hear our story for being in the area. After tasting wines for a couple hours and buying several bottles to bring back to the States, we were beginning to wear out.

A decision was made to head back to the room for a quick nap before supper, however I spotted a brewery and convinced Kim to stop for a beer (much needed). On this side trip we were able to spot a couple of kangaroos relaxing in a vineyard and we stopped to take pictures and shoot video (Kim will post these videos soon).

Back at the room, I read a book and decided on a place for supper while Kim napped. This eventually turned into me falling asleep and not waking until 8:30 (so much for a nice meal). Since we hadn’t eaten anything but breakfast, we decided to just order a pizza and run into town to pick it up.

When we arrived for our pizza, the order had been mixed up and we had to reorder. There is a Domino’s in town, but we decided to go with a local joint called Eagle Boys. After bringing it back to room and devouring that pizza, we watched tv for a bit before calling it quits.

Overall, it was a fascinating day that included good wine, rainy weather, and a better understanding of the Australian way of driving.

Cheers.