A weekend in Mudgee

I've spent my complete Friday morning to find an accomodation in Mudgee as most hotels were already booked out. I'm not kidding: Mudgee, the little town in the middle of nowhere, apparently was filled with Sydneysiders.

After many disappointing phone calls I decided to make a list with the final three hotels which I want to call before finally giving up hope. The first one I've talked to (from that final list) was a nice lady at the "@77". It seemed to be almost too easy when she told me that there is space for us, and as if there is something wrong hahaha. In fact, it sounded as if we would be her only guests...

Hesitating to make the final decision if we should really go to Mudgee this or better another weekend (to another hotel), Faris convincingly started to pack his stuff.

And really, it turned out to be the best decision to go this weekend! We really were the only guests in this B&B. However, what we didn't know, was the fact that our accomodation was a whole house with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a big kitchen and dining area as well as a very comfy living area.... which really didn't miss a thing and which we all had for ourselves!! :o)

Of course there was no need for so many rooms for just the 2 of us, but only making breakfast in a spacious kitchen, rather than a tiny one, makes the difference. With all the delicious food we received from our hosts Helen and Bill, we created a wonderful and rich breakfast before heading to the vineries of Mudgee (we already saw three of them the day before on the Sydney side of Mudgee). There were 5 on our list - recommended by Helen - each known for a certain type of wine.

All in all the wine tasting was a wonderful experience with lots of different tastes and things to learn about. Including one learning effect: If you do not go with a guided wine tour, you may most likely end up in the vineries yourself, being the only guest. This way, the owners do not only see your lack of knowledge (and probably laugh off their asses when seeing you tasting the wine and pretending to know something about it), but also make you feel really bad if you come, taste and do not buy anything -obviously-... this would never happen in a big group.

After the 4th vineyard this morning we couldn't see any wine bottles anymore, were fed up with tasting and feeling guitly of not buying anything anymore (we've already bought lots and lots of bottles of red wine, port, sweet white wine, ice wine, olives, etc...) or spitting the wine into the spitting-bowls respectively.

So we headed back to Sydney, taking the longer, but much more scenic drive via the Blue Mountains. In the very famous apple region on top of the mountains we finally purchased some apples (some 6kg) and 2 apple pies as a last purchase on this trip for our spoilt bellies :o)

It was a wonderful weekend!