Not a stage kangaroo!!

I know she looks fake, but this ole gal is real! We're in the Hunter Valley this weekend, a beautiful 2.5 hours drive north of Sydney. It's the premium wine region of New South Wales, and is best known for it's Semillon, considered a national treasure among wine enthusiasts. Base camp is charming, a French farmhouse-inspired bed and breakfast with the delightful name of Thistle Hill (24-year old miss kanga reigns over these grounds and is not afraid to let you know who's boss). We arrive on Friday afternoon after a fairly stressless (minus the bridge crossing) drive to 28-acres of beauty. The vineyard and winery belong to Carol and Peter, and they are both oozing with hospitality and pure joie de vivre. They so truly love their life. Carol recommends we try Bistro Molines for dinner this evening, and winks that we won't be disappointed; this is the new restaurant from award-winning Robert Molines and his wife Sally. It's simple, unpretentious, bistro food, but also pure perfection. Well, of course, we book a table, and, wow, this is a meal to remember! The restaurant is decorated with lovable French antique furnishings and a mish-mash of decorative pieces. So warm and inviting. And just so you know, I very rarely remember the particulars of my meals, unless they are absolutely fantastic. Well, this is one for the record books! I will attempt to illustrate. We start with a pot of steaming mussels bathed in in an unbelievably rich shallot butter, so good I want to drink it. Then a Tahitian white fish salad with mango and avocado dressed in a pungent curry sauce - Oh my god, I've never tasted anything like this. Chris tries the lamb with plum sauce and it comes with a little plate of the thickest-cut french fries I've ever seen, cooked to perfection and then sprinkled with pink Himalayan salt flakes (don't worry, I asked about the salt - I'm not Martha Stewart). It is, simply, a perfect meal. The next morning we head out for a 5-winery laugh-a-thon with James' Wine Tours, along with 10 Australians. Such a great time! It's so interesting getting to know true-blue Aussies, hearing their views on politics, culture, the world economy, etc. And with the wine flowing, the opinions really come out! To cap off the day, we pull up to the Smelly Cheese Shop, a jolly Hunter establishment. I load up on some decadent treats to eat this evening and James pours us out at Thistle Hill at around 5:00. It's a perfect time to stroll around the grounds and almost run into a gigantic spider web. What else is new. Afterwards Chris and I relax in our room and sample some of our newly-acquired cheese and sausage, feeling very European. On Sunday, it's back to Sydney, but we hit a traffic jam that stalls our arrival into the city until just before our rental car agency closes. Stressful hour, plus another bridge crossing, but in the end, we pull in at 5:59 p.m. with ONE minute to spare without being charged an extra day. Sigh. Time to get ready for Monday.