Day two in our NSW adventure

Today we woke to a drop in temperature and overcast conditions but this did not deter our spirits and off we went under the ever diligent guidance of the "Sheila" in the car calling out things such as "turn right in 300 meters" or "take the first exit at the round about" or "when possible please do a U turn".

We fueled up on the outskirts of Armidale and then looked for a suitable place to have a truckies breakfast, we were not disappointed when we found the Matilda Servo in a very small country town called Moonbi. I ordered poached eggs after the waitress advised me that the scrambled eggs were microwaved and Dad ordered the Sausages, bacon and eggs, OMFG what came out could have fed a small African country!!

The trip down the New England Highway is actually quite remarkable, there is many changes in the landscape which meant that Dad recited what most of the vegetation was, pines, eucalypts, soft wood, hard wood, where saw mills had been located and logging history from days of yore. As a timber and hardware man for over 60 years of his life I have always treated him as an expert.

We did tousle the idea of turning off at Scone or going down as far as Musclebrook but our lady friend preaching her knowledge from the GPS sent us on a short cut that took us onto dirt road, over winding hills with precipitous fall away edges. Had we not gone this way we would have undoubtedly still debated what way was the quickest but would have missed the two beautiful deer that we met up with on the mountain trek.

Finally we have arrived into Mudgee and spent a few hours with my cousin Brett, had a guided tour of the city and its sprawling urban developments and tried the fine red wines at Botobolar winery. 

 Vintner and good friend of the Nutting clan Kevin showed us some of his best organic  Shiraz, Cab Sav and blends new and aged, and we witnessed some of Brett's amazing carpentry using restoration timber materials which formed many of the tables and chairs at Botobolar. We finished off the afternoon in Mudgee's microbrewery and sampled 4 of their most famous ales and porters.


At last we took the advice of the cabbie and went to a delightful little restaurant called the "Wineglass Bar and Grill"  where we had a glass each of what Mudgee had to offer and some amazing food. Dad plowed through a char-grilled fillet of Kilcoy beef and I had pork belly on a bed of rubarb and cranberry dressing. YUM!!! Hoping to actually do some exercise to work off the calorie loading of the break but it is difficult not to love the time Dad and I are spending together.

Stay tunes to the crazy cousins tomorrow...