At 7am, I looked out of the bedroom window and thought it had fogged up on the inside of the glass, but alas, the entire town of Mudgee was fogged up! We could barely see 20 feet in front of us, so I messaged Phil, our driver, and suggested that we take his car instead. He had told me it was available if the weather turned bad and I think he was expecting my text. I also think he was relieved because he told me that he feels the cold these days.
Prior to meeting Phil and heading off on our winery tour, BGWLBH and I drove into town and had a delicious breakfast in a lovely cafe. I had grilled atlantic salmon with green salad, which was just divine, but way too big for me to finish and BGWLBH had the standard bacon and eggs on toast.
I noticed on the blackboard that they also serve kombucha (fermented tea), as well as duck eggs, so we are going back tomorrow and I'll have both of those items. I have never eaten duck egg and I didn't want to risk a reaction to them while touring with Phil, so I avoided them this morning.
We even had time to fit some shopping in, after breakfast and before we had to be back at the caravan park, for Phil to pick us up.
I had never met Phil and our communications since I booked the drive a couple of weeks ago, have only been via email and text messages, so I had no idea what to expect.
He was a lovely older gentleman with white hair and a friendly smile. His right arm was immobile so his driving was all left handed, and I wondered how he managed to manoeuvre a big motorised trike with only one arm. Obviously he was quite capable and I guess if I can ride around town on my trike with a cup of coffee in one hand without any difficulty, then he must be competent enough too.
We had three hours with him and he took us to four different wineries in that time. Not long after our tour began, the fog completely lifted and it turned into a glorious day (of course!).
I bought 13 bottles of white wine and a bottle of white port. I'm not a port drinker generally, but the first words that came out of my mouth when I tasted it were "OH YUM!". BGWLBH bought a couple of bottles of red.
The last winery that we visited was an organic winery and I bought a bottle of Riesling there. I'm also not usually a fan of Riesling!! But it was too nice to pass up.
My favourite thing about the last winery was the number of Superb Fairy Wrens that were flitting all over the place. I spent a lot of time with my camera aimed at the birds.
I've decided that I like Mudgee very much and if I had to live inland again, it would be on my list of top 5 places to live. It's a pretty town with beautiful countryside surrounding it. The people are happy and friendly, the cafes and restaurants are very good quality with healthful and delicious food, the shopping is great and the clubs are welcoming and modern. It's much bigger than I expected with a population of around 9000.
After our winery tour, we came back to the cabin, did some washing, rested up and then headed off to the Soldier's Club for dinner. An inspection of their menu left us preferring the menu at the Golf Club, so after a short visit, we headed back there for dinner instead. I had the same meal as the night before but it must have been a different chef because it was prepared very differently to last nights. It was still delicious, but not as good as Tuesday night.
We will be heading north tomorrow. That's all I know.
I was able to play with a couple of photos tonight ...
It's very chilly tonight and the minimum will go as low as -2C tomorrow morning. We had planned on going to the wetlands very early in the morning to get some misty water and possible bird shots, but tonight we decided that only fools would go out in those kinds of temperatures, so we will stay inside where it's warmer until it's time to leave town.
Meanwhile, I will enjoy sleeping in the double bed tonight. It's likely, that for the rest of the trip I will be in single beds. Since BGWLBH is the driver, it's only fair that she gets a good nights sleep on a decent bed every night.
It's 11pm so ...
Nite all.
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