Being that this is our second to last entry, I thought it would be good to give Allie a break and give all my fans a bon voyage!
We said our goodbyes to Shannon and Nick at the airport in the Sunshine Coast and picked up our badass Toyota Corolla hatchback. Out of all the cars we have rented, this actually turned out to be my favorite. Silently, and often, reminding myself to stay on the left side of the road, we made the 3 hour drive to Byron Bay. Over the next 4 days, we would be making our way down to Sydney stopping at Byron Bay and Hunter Valley.
On our way down to Byron we stopped in the Gold Coast in the Burleigh Heads area for a quick view of the scenery. Another beautiful beach town.
We pulled into Byron Bay and immediately fell in love. Our hostel was a 1 minute walk to the beach and a 15 minute walk to the town.
The town is primarily a backpacker’s destination and has a very hippie vibe. It was pretty much dinner time when we checked in, so we unloaded our bags and made our way into town for dinner. Allie had found a great Italian restaurant for dinner called iL Buco. The entire staff was from the Tuscan region in Italy, and all of the food reminded of us of our 3 weeks in Italy. It was such a nice surprise given that we had not found authentic Italian food since we had left Italy.
The next morning we woke up and cooked breakfast in our hostel before making the long trek out to the beach. The wind had picked up so we were not able to lay on the actual sand, but instead hung out on the grass area leading to the beach. We spent the next few hours reading and relaxing.
We ate lunch then headed over to the local brewery, Stone & Wood. We had been on a number of tours already, so we opted for a sampler of all the beers.
We headed back to the hostel then caught the free shuttle into town. After walking around for a bit, we found a local bar and had a drink before dinner. Byron Bay has a lot of local food and drink spots and it was nice to hang out without much of a schedule. We had dinner at a local restaurant that specialized in seafood called The Balcony. The prawns were amazing and the service was great.
We caught the free shuttle back to the hostel just before the thunderstorm started. We had witnessed a number of thunderstorms in Australia already, but this was by far the largest and most severe. The storm started at 10PM, and went through the next morning until 8AM. Every 30 seconds or so, we could hear the “crack” of lightning outside and all the windows would shake.
We woke up early and made breakfast before heading out for our longest drive of the trip, about 8 hours from Byron to Hunter Valley. Allie and I split the drive up, which helped break up the time. The drive was beautiful and we got to rock out to Allie’s never ending 90’s playlist. I think I n0w know every Shania Twain song by heart… The Hunter Valley is a small wine destination, producing about 3% of Australia’s grapes. We enjoy wine, so we figured we might enjoy Hunter Valley.
We pulled up to our hotel and checked in. After working out, by decree of Allie, we had a quick bite to eat before heading to bed. We had an early morning wine tour booked, so we wanted to be rested.
The next morning we got picked up by Two Fat Blokes Gourmet Tours. The name of our wine tour company seemed very fitting. There were about 10 other people on the tour. We were the only 1/2 day tour as the remaining people had booked full day tours. The 1/2 day was plenty for us as it included 3 wineries and a cheese pairing. The first winery was a small family owned place called Mistletoe Winery. It was nice to be served by the owners daughter and to hear of the different family stories that led to the opening of the winery. Interestingly, the winery had moved to all screw top bottles, as they had a crop of cork that ruined their best vintage wine a few years back.
The second winery including a meat and cheese pairing, which Allie was extremely excited about. We paired 9 wines with 9 different cheeses. Our favorite was the Tempranillo wine and a Manchego cheese, so of course we had to buy one of each before leaving.
The third winery had the best view of the Hunter Valley.
We couldn’t imagine visiting another 2 wineries and brewery, so were happy to head home after the 3rd stop. Also, because of the climate in the valley, the wineries often have to pick their grapes early. This practice leads to some great white wines, but they are not able to successfully grow the grapes needed for the big bold red wines that Allie and I enjoy. As such, we did not find the tour as enjoyable. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out at the hotel and handling some administrative/logistical tasks for our trip home.
The next morning we woke up early, hit the gym, and got ready to make our way down to Sydney for the last part of our trip!
I am sure Allison will share her thoughts about the trip at the end of her last post, and I want to do the same here. We have had an amazing time and have experienced a lot of unique things. I have a lot of wonderful memories as a result of this trip and feel extremely fortunate that we were able to do this for ourselves. As we near the end, I am torn. I am sad that the trip is ending, but happy to return home and see friends and family. Obviously, I am super excited to see Charley. If you ever have the opportunity to take the risk and travel, I highly advise that you do. I have learned a lot about myself, my wife and the world. Thank you to everyone that helped make this possible and thank you to all of you that have read along with our journey. See you soon!
Andrew + Allison Around the World 