Easter 2010

It was the Easter Weekend of April 2010 and J and I had tickets to see Carol King and James Taylor in concert at the Hunter Valley. It seemed to good a chance not to pass up and with seats up close to the stage we set off to Polkolbin on Good Friday.
The weather was perfect and we both enjoyed every minute of the drive there. Our accommodation was at the Villa Province which was very lovely and made me feel like I was experiencing a touch of French provincial Europe.

We visited only three wineries out of the 120 wineries that we could have visited but J and I decided to explore the country side and Cessnock as well. Upon our next visit we will take in a few more wineries then. The three we chose were the lovely Allison Wilkinson winery, McGuigans Winery and Tempus Two Winery.

Now I have always enjoyed Mcguigan’s wines but was delighted to find out that Tempus Two Winery was also owned by McGuigans.

The views all around the Hunter are spectacular and well worth taking your camera along and even the individual vineyards are very beautiful up close and personal.This is the strikingly smart Tempus Two Winery.

The opnly way to describe the Hunter region is to picture rolling hills everywhere. There are views across the vineyards to the Brokenback Ranges in all directions and as the clouds came and went their shadows moved across green terrain with dams and vineyards woven in and out.

Within the wineries themselves we browzed and tasted and listened to talks about grapes and production. There is an amazing amount of science involved in the production of wine and we tasted to our hearts content from the lightest to the heaviest and purchased several bottles to enjoy back at home too.

We also stopped at several cheese shops and a chocolate shop.

Come Saturday night we made our way to the Hope Estate Winery where the big concert was to take place. Our friend Garry and his wife were also attending the concert however with 15000 people present it was like looking for a needle in a haystack lol.

So after dinner we settled back to enjoy the music and the memories of the 70s and what a wonderful treat it was.

Now apparently King and Taylor came together in Las Angeles at a club called the Troubadour and the evening was such a magnificent success that they sat and planned a reunion world tour with James’s original band. Carole King is now 68 years old and James Taylor is 60 years old and a look around the audience said that most of us were over 40 lol. Imagine 15000 people all of a similar age, all gathered together in an air of excitement to celebrate the best songs of two pivotal singer-songwriters. It was a magic al evening

We woke Sunday morning to another beautiful day. At the front of the villas is the loveliest fountain and the birds enjoyed frolicking there. I shot a few more photos before we left to head to Sydney for a few days with the family. It was such a relaxed and peaceful weekend that we did not want to return to the rush and bustle of work.

From our family to yours....we hope that you had a safe and Happy Easter. If your holiday break seemed to fly by much too quickly please do not dispair because the Anzac Weekend is only a few weeks away..