We stop for a coffee and had a walk around town finding a good art supply shop into the bargain. The lady at the art shop told us about the small historic church at Ebenezer. One of the oldest continuously operating churches in Australia...
Good to see the Union Jack gracing the walls above the altar alongside the Aussie Flag...
A country church with it's own church yard. It brings back memories of travels in country England...
The tree under which the first school class were taught before the church and school were built. The tree struggles on 200 old year later...just...
Ebenezer is on the banks of the Hawkesbury and it was from the banks that the sandstone for the church was quarried...
We walked down to the old Landing on the northern bank of the River.
Not much has changed...
Except the speed of the boats...
We drove from Ebenezer up the Putty Road; a road that runs from Windsor up into the western end of the Hunter Valley. There is a folk song we hear sometimes on "Australia All Over with Maca" called up the "Putty Road". Unfortunately the song is way more interesting and shorter than the actual road. The only real thing to recommend the drive is the immersion into total wilderness just a hour out of the Sydney CBD.
We are staying in a cottage, a three bedroom cottage, on the Madigan Vineyard...
So much space and just $99 per night. There are two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs; we don't even bother going up...
Mid January and the vines are heavy with fruit. In a month time it will be all hands on deck to pick. The wine industry here is much more about tourism. Some of the vineyard/resorts are immense and very upmarket...
We send all day Saturday and Sunday morning doing the rounds of vineyards. We are more interested in the art and food than than tasting the wines. Places like the Hunter Valley Cheese Co at McGuigans Wine Complex (here Jenelle does prevail to buy a couple of bottles of wine). Our other foodie destinations include The Hunter Valley Chocolate Factory, Lovedale Smokehouse at Major Lanes Wines and a return visit for strawberries dip in chocolate at Peterson Champagne House. On the art scene we drop and have a very long chat (interrogation more like) with Peter Sesselman in his art studio/shed. Peter was a absolute weatlh of information and advice. We bought three of his prints for reference material. His technique imbues his work with fluidity and colour. After we left Peter we headed over to the Mistletoe Estate to check out their Sculpture Garden. Stunning...
From any small rise you can get a great panorama of the Hunter Valley. Always in the panorama are the essence of the region; grape vines, coal mines and tipsy tourists...
After checking out of our cottage mid-morning on Sunday we crisscrossed the Valley picking up the places we missed yesterday and getting a better of idea of the geography. The back roads system is all higgledy-piggledy. Finally we head west towards the village of Broke and discovered the Pickled & Pitted Gourmet Product store at the River Flats Estate. At the back of the store is a store/studio called Bare which makes a range of handmade skincare products and olive oil soaps. Here Jenelle is re-introduced to here favourite fragrance of the 70s; Patchouli.
From Broke we head south towards Sydney along the Wollombi Road. The road is marginally more interesting than the Putty Road. In one district there is an outdoor sculpture display in the fields along the road side. This one get our first prize for originality...
Before returning home to Meadowbank we turn east to have a look at the North Beaches. We drive right to the very end of the narrow peninsula than end at the Barrenjoey Point. The lighthouse at Barrenjoey guards the southern side of the entrance into The Pitwater and the Hawkesbury River. We stop off on our way back down the coast at the Bilgowla Lookout. We adore the Sydney coastal landscape with it's rugged sandstone cliffs and picturesque sandy bays. These photos from the Bilgola Lookout are classic...
