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1 The vineyards
Two hours north of Sydney, the Hunter Valley is one of Australia's top winemaking areas, so any trip there must include a tour of the vineyards, tasting their offerings at the cellar door. Some, such as McGuigan Cellars and Hermitage Road Winery, offer tours so you can learn how the grape makes its way to the bottle. Lunch can be an event in itself, with many award-winning restaurants, or you can make a picnic of it after tasting the handmade gourmet cheeses at the Cheese Factory. Depending on when you visit, there are annual events such as Jazz in the Vines and Opera in the Vineyards, both in October, and concerts by bands such as INXS (www.winecountry.com.au).
2 Hot-air ballooning
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Out of bed before dawn, jumping into a car and trundling along the back-roads of the Pokolbin area in the dark, you wonder whether you've gone mad. But as day breaks and the hot-air balloon rises into the cool morning air, another world unfolds with vineyards, golf courses and hills drifting by. Judy Lynne of Balloon Aloft quotes her mentor veteran pilot Peter Vizzard's explanation of why it's all so still: 'You've become the wind, you're travelling at the same speed.' Several balloon companies operate in the Hunter Valley.
3 Hunter Valley Gardens
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The 25 hectares of the Hunter Valley Gardens (www.hvg.com.au) allow you to wander the world as you pass the Italian Grotto's statue of Saint Francis of Assisi, the Japanese Garden with its pagoda, red footbridge and lotus-filled streams, and enter the Chinese Garden through a moon gate guarded by bronze temple dogs. The Sunken Garden features a soothing waterfall and a rose garden with 8,000 varieties. The Storybook Garden is home to figures of nursery rhyme characters, including Humpty Dumpty, Jack and Jill and Alice in Wonderland at the Mad Hatter's tea party.
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