SWING THROUGH Hunter COUNTRY

The Hunter Valley Area is one of this country’s premier wine-growing regions and certainly the most geared for visitors keen to explore its many and varied leisure options.

Driving north from Sydney on the F3, take the Peats Ridge turn-off and follow the pleasant drive through the countryside to Wollombi and the less hurried gateway to the Hunter. You might also consider a stop at Laguna, another picturesque part of this region.

If you’d like to start your tour on a top note, a 10 minute scenic tour of the Hunter Valley by helicopter is very affordable. If the occasion deserves a bit more of a splash, how about a 30 minute flight over the Hunter followed by a lunch at a famous estate and a bottle of fine wine from their range. If you’re a romantic, how about a chopper flight to your own private picnic spot?

Luxury accommodation & cottages in Hunter Valley Area to Barrington Tops Area, NSW

Another great way to experience the Hunter is by hot-air balloon, though you’ll need to get up before dawn to do it. Rest assured, it’s worth it.

Tour the vineyards in style by horse and cart – it’s also a terrific way to get married! If wine-tasting is high on your agenda, let someone else do the driving and hire a limousine or similar special vehicle for the day.

There are several new championship golf courses at Pokolbin, and it’s worthwhile stopping in at the Rothbury Estate, which was established by the recently deceased Len Evans, the “godfather” of the modern Australian wine industry. The estate has long been renowned for the quality of its semillon and shiraz.

Now something of a backwater, Morpeth lies some 40 kilometres west of Newcastle and is one of the unspoilt gems of the pioneering days. Its main street has barely changed from the days from the 1830s, when it was a busy inland port on the Hunter River and where all the trade with Sydney was passed. Prosperity in the area can be traced back to the arrival in 1831 of the first paddle-steamer. The town is very much geared to tourism these days, with plenty of shops and cafes providing all the products and services visitors are looking for. There are several mansions in the area from the settler days, including the grand Closebourne House and Morpeth House. Fig Tree Hill is a good spot to take photographs, while there are a number of buildings of stone hewn by convicts close by.

Nearby, East Maitland is well worth a visit, with its fine Victorian buildings beautifully maintained. There are some excellent antique stores in this area, and information on self-guided walks is available at the visitor information centre. One of the places where grim fascination abounds is the 150-year-old Maitland Gaol, long viewed as one of Australia’s toughest penitentiaries.

Another area well worth visiting is the Dungog Shire, which is the gateway to the Barrington Tops World Heritage National Park. It’s a timeless land with colourful birds flitting about, ancient trees and the restful mutterings of dairy herds. It’s a pleasant change from the neat and tidy Hunter Valley visitor “industry”.

The significant towns in the region are Gloucester, Dungog, Clarence Town and Paterson, whose modern history go back to the earliest years of the European settlers. The Indigenous Gringal people had been there for millennia.

Dungog has its origins as a military post to rid the area of bushrangers like Captain Thunderbolt, then developed through timber and agriculture. Like Gloucester, Dungog presents many attributes of a classic country town – railway station, showground, timber-truss bridge over the river, CWA Hall and the hotel with its wide verandah.