Dec 2006

had a fab time at the hunter valley. the drive from sydney was breathtaking-we passed fieldd upon field of vineyards and beautiful rivers and mountains. afetr morning tea, we arrived at our first winery. here the tour guide demontsrated teh correct way to taste wine. u are first supposed to twirl the wine in your glass, then smell the wine-get your nose right in it! and take in all the aromas. then taste it taking time to swirl it around the pallet of yr mouth. never realised it was such a science!!! anyhow the HUnter valley produced some of the best wines in the world. we visted the most famous in the region called the drayton family winery. the guide explained theer what the difference was between wine in oak, and tin casets and the differencve in the wine making between the green and the red grape. so now i am ofically an expert!!! was quite tipsey by the end of the day -so all the extra knowledge I had aquired quickly disappeared!!! got me in the modd for fruitpicking after xmas tho- i mean hey it is goin to be hard, 6 days a week, hot lots of spiders, cockroches but a glass of wine watching the sun go down in the mountains-that sounds like a far trade!!!

am really scared but have booked to go to surf camp the weekend!!! bascially i am goin to a beach just east of sydney and am goin to be given 4 lessons of surfing!! get to stay in a cabin in a forest with 40 other people! and no the sea is not shark infested so i should be fine! but me, surfing?!!! what if i cant get up on the board? what if the all laugh! but to come to aus and say u didnt surf would be unforgiveable!!! but tahts the whole point isnt it? doin things that u would never ever do at home! so wish me luck!
also goin on a wine tour to the hunter valley tomorrow! very civilised i get to sample 43 differnt types of wines. cheese, wine, choclate, wine...... yum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!