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We rented a self-catering cottage in a family vineyard, The Grange on Hermitage What a delight to see Kangaroo's in our yard each morning and at sunset!

The Hunter Valley is one of the most famous wine regions in the world and home to some of our favorite wineries. We toured the area, sampled some wine, found some new vineyards like Piggs Peake and Calais Estate, as well as favorites like McGuigan Cellars.

The weather ranged from a low of 50 to a 100 degrees. We chose not to bring our leathers, afterall, this was supposed to be almost summer, but we are glad we brought our fleece!

The NSW area is in the midst of a six year drought, and it shows. There is water rationing, restrictions on use, etc. There was a lightning strike on our last evening and due to the drought in the area, started a wildfire. You could smell the smoke even thought the fire was in the Blue Mountains, over 50K away. Initially it was a small fire, but soon grew out of control into a fire with over 450 firefighters and thousands of acres burned.

Our home for the next four days..   Our self-catered cottage at Hermatige Grange   BlueTongue Brewery. Yes, our fist stop in this famous wine country was for beer!   Our first Kangaroo pics, just at the edge of our cottage               Kanga's are like deer here, they are everywhere!   You saw them early or at dusk when they came out to drink at the dams   Inside our cottage   Here's the deal. I get a Harley, Jane get's a spa tub. I think I got the better end of the deal!               Looking out towards the valley from our front porch   Sunset. Our cottage was one of a few set in the middle of a working vineyard   Of course, we had to cook on the barbie one night. We had Kransky's, a bizarre sausage   Our front porch               Sunrise in the Hunter from our cottage   Another shot of our view   We visited Hunter Gardens one day   The gardens were only a few years old, and you could see they were still filling out                 C'mon, rub my belly for good luck!   Looking out towards the Tea House   Waterfall at the garden               At the top of the falls   The Hunter is surrounded by Broken Back Ridge   The range covered the entire southern part of the valley   This ain't no pine tree                 The Formal Gardens   Mmm, wine tasting   Most of the vineyards have cellar doors where you can buy vintages only sold on premise and sample some incredible wines               Looking east from Lindeman's towards part of the Broken Back Ridge   Mount Pleasant Winery and their cellar door   Vineyards at Mount Pleasant   The Old Paddock & Old Hill Vineyard planted in 1880 and 1921 respectively               The terrain isn't quite so forbidding as Faugeres where Jane's parents live in France   Looking over the vineyards from Mount Pleasant towards Rosemount Estates   There are over 100 wineries in the Hunter Valley   One of my all-time favorite wineries!               Our tastings were limited. Wonder why?   More vineyards   Broken Back Grill, where you can grill your own steak over open coals   More visiting Kanga's in our yard           Calias Estate Vineyard and Cellar Door, one of our favorite vineyards of the whole trip   Looking down into the hunter from a lookout on top of the Broken Back   Cold out that day, only about 50 degrees! More off roading with the Ultra, see the two-track in the photo? That's how we get back down the mountain

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