Two Trips

We spent Monday and Tuesday on two very enjoyable trips, one to the Blue Mountains and the other to Hunter Valley. Both were with the same tour company, a small organisation called Activity Tours which uses small 18-seater minibuses rather than coaches.

The driver/guide for the first one was called Brent. He was originally from Wyoming, had moved to Australia in the early 1990s and had dual citizenship. He knew everything! He conducted his tour as a kind of lesson – a succession of questions to which he would only tell you the answers after someone had tried (usually incorrectly) to respond. An American (marketing consultant) from Boston became the butt of all his jokes. He constantly referred to him as “Boston” (Are you awake Boston?) and kept asking him questions that he didn’t know the answers to. Sue and I found the whole thing quite amusing but the Americans on board (most of the bus) found it difficult to take.

On one occasion we stopped at a place called Leura and were encouraged to visit a renowned “Candy Store” which had hundreds of different types of sweets (I bought some sherbert lemons!). Back on the bus our American friend is munching a chocolate bar and Brent sees him in his mirror “Are you eating Boston?” (there was a notice that prohibited eating and drinking). After denying that he is this middle-aged marketing consultant resorts to crouching down behind the seat in front of him to finish his sweets!

Our tour included two cable car rides and a trip down the world’s steepest funicular railway. We saw some spectacular views over Jamison Valley, including the rock pinnacles called The Three Sisters. Did you know that blueness in the mountains is rising moisture from the gum trees?

The second tour was a wine-tasting trip to Hunter Valley (obviously a must for us). Once again, a bunch of mixed nationalities: two Danes, three Canadians, two Singaporeans, four Americans (including “Boston” still complaining about Brent), and a woman from Nottingham. Once again, by the end of the day we were all great friends (apart from Boston’s wife who refused to taste any of the wines!).

Our tour guide was Steve who was very amusing, especially about Aussie place names “There’s some mountains with snow on them, let’s call them The Snowy Mountains”. There’s a big desert and it’s red, how about “The Great Red Desert”?

At the last winery we visited we were introduced to the wines by a small middle aged lady (brought to Australia as a child from Birmingham).

“Any questions?”

Japanese Girl: “On what other occasions can you drink the dessert wine?”
Winery woman: “You can pour it in your belly-button and get someone else to lap it out”

Wine tasting Aussie style!