Hunter gatherer

The Hunter Valley boasts some of Australia's best wines and foods. GRAHAM HEPBURN finds it also has scenery and activities to match.

Roll the words Hunter Valley around your mouth and, like the region's wines, they conjure up a taste of the good life. The valley boasts more than 100 wineries and they're right on your doorstep. Well, almost, now that Freedom Air is running a twice-weekly direct service from Auckland to Newcastle Airport.

The Hunter is a wine district with an established reputation and it is booming. Wineries, vineyards, restaurants and lodges are springing up all over the show in this part of New South Wales. There's even a Greg Norman-designed golf course being built in the heart of the area.

The premier grape varieties here are semillon, shiraz and chardonnay, but growers continue to experiment with grape varieties that suit the climate.

The range of wineries in the Hunter is staggering, from impressive establishments such as McGuigans, which has a huge, barrel-lined tasting area and incorporates the Hunter Valley Cheese Factory, to places such as Pokolbin Estate Vineyard, a small homestead with a private tasting room.

For an overview of the valley and the wine country, you can't beat a hot-air balloon ride. Drifting along as the sun comes up gives you a different perspective of this fertile area. It's a strange sensation being so high up with only a wicker basket between you and the ground and just the occasional blast of the burners to break the silence.

Our pilot, Peter Vizzard, shows off his skills by rattling through a couple of treetops to give us a thrill and swooping perilously close to a barbed-wire fence before bringing us bouncing down into a cow paddock not far from base.

We receive a "balloonist's blessing" and a glass of champagne to celebrate our reunion with terra firma. But man cannot live on hot air and wine alone so a visit to Bimbadgen Estate is in order and, more particularly, lunch at its award-winning restaurant Esca Bimbadgen.

Esca Bimbadgen translates loosely as "eat with a beautiful view" and I don't mind if I do.

The food and the wine here are top-notch and with their professional staff it's easy to see why they won "Best Winery Restaurant, Hunter Region 2001". Also worth a visit is Robert's at Pepper Tree, especially for dinner.

Entry to the restaurant is through the original Pepper Tree Cottage, with its tiny rooms, quaint furnishings and low-slung ceilings, before you emerge into the large, formal dining room. Chef Robert Molines is a culinary legend in the Hunter and turns out rich French-styled food, with emphasis on game dishes.

If, for some strange reason, wining and dining your days and nights away is not your idea of bliss, there's plenty to see and do if you're prepared to venture further afield.

You can take a short drive and a step back in time to the historic village of Morpeth, on the Hunter River. The former river port has some beautifully restored buildings and down its cobbled paths are all the quaint arts and crafts shops that you could point a lovingly crafted hickory walking stick at.

It has places such as Miss Lilly's Lollies which is so packed with jars of brightly coloured sweets that it makes you suspect Miss Lilly comes from a family of dentists.

The absolute mecca here, though, is Campbell's Store Craft Centre, which seems to have an endless number of rooms full of a mind-boggling array of preserves, sweets, clothing, ornaments, paintings, pottery and knick-knacks.

And don't forget the tearooms and gallery. My mum would love to spend a day getting lost in this place but I'm looking for one of those genuine handcrafted signs that says "exit".

Nearby, the city of Maitland also trades on its past, although one of its newest tourist attractions has a somewhat chequered history. The Maitland Gaol, opened in 1848 and decommissioned 150 years later, is open for visitors - but without a strip-search these days.

For a nation colonised by convicts (apologies to South Australia) it's an appropriate tourist attraction. And, surprisingly enough, it works. Former inmates of the jail conduct tours and give you a fascinating insight into what went on behind its blank, forbidding sandstone walls and in the grim little cells. But if you struggle with this sort of confinement then Port Stephens, at the eastern end of the valley, is a great escape, with its open spaces and outdoor activities. The fact that Port Stephens has resident dolphin pods, coupled with the water clarity, means a jaunt on this expanse of water offers prime viewing, especially if the vessel you're on picks up speed and the dolphins begin cavorting in the bow wave.

One of Port Stephens' other great attractions is Stockton Beach, a stretch of beach so long that it fades into the distance in a haze of sea spray. It also has a vast sand dune system behind it.

Bushmobile Tours offers a variety of trips through the dunes in its six-wheel-drive bus, including a chance to go sand-sledding down the towering sand hills. The sled itself is low-tech but effective: a bit of plywood threaded with a rope to hang on to, wax the bottom and away you go. It's a smooth but exciting ride going down but slogging back to the top is another matter.

The thrill of sand-sledding is nothing compared to when we get back on the Bushmobile and Dieter, the ever-mischievous driver, rolls it towards the same slope. "He's just kidding," you think. "He'll turn away any moment," you say as, with a demented cackle and a blast of the horn, he sails the bus down the dune. If the pace of life is a little too slow around Port Stephens, then Newcastle, a little further down the coast, offers city comforts but still has glorious beaches.

Once primarily an industrial city, Newcastle is reinventing itself as a tourist destination and is reclaiming its waterfront and old industrial land for the public. As the capital of the Hunter Region, it is proud of its heritage buildings and is a determinedly low-rise city.

Merewether Beach is one of Newcastle's gems and it's tempting to linger there, enjoying breakfast on a beautifully still morning while the locals have a dip or a surf before going to work. It's especially tempting because I'm supposed to be going horse riding in the Watagan Mountains and I have the equestrian skills of Mr Bean.

A drive around Lake Macquarie takes us out to the Waylin-Jackie Station. My protestations about never having ridden a horse fall on the deaf ears of the horse riding centre's owner, Wayne Hegarty. His laconic reply: "That's all right. She's never been ridden either." Accompanying us is Wayne Peters, of Coastal Ecotours, who organises bushwalks on the NSW central coast, and is an expert on Aboriginal history, bush food and bush medicine.

My mount seems agreeably lethargic but is so used to being ridden in formation that when the other horses gallop, it does too. This is terrifying. I'm sure Peters' running commentary about bark, berries and yams is intriguing but it is lost on me as all my concentration is directed at self-preservation.

We haul back into the station for a cuppa and I've never been so glad to get my feet back on the ground, even if my behind seems to have gone missing in action.

Leaving the station, we stop for lunch at the Blackbutt Reserve - apt considering the pounding my rear end has just taken. We check out the wildlife in the 180ha of bushland and tickle the chins of sleepy koalas while feeding them slices of apple.

Now, this is my idea of a wilderness experience. The only danger around here is to one of the park's rangers, when he gets into the wombat enclosure and is pursued around the cage by an angry male who has fallen out with his mate.

Heading back into Newcastle at the end of a long day, I'm as desperate for a bite as an irate wombat. The perfect remedy is Butlers Restaurant, one of many fine eateries in the city producing innovative cuisine. As I'm too exhausted to mull over the wine list, the staff are more than happy to wine-match all the courses. How about something from the Hunter Valley? I hear they make quite a good drop.

* Graham Hepburn travelled courtesy of Freedom Air and was hosted by Hunter Regional Tourism.

Hunter Tourism

Hunter Valley Wine Country

Getting there

Freedom Air flies twice a week to Newcastle, from $443 one-way or $493 return, ph 0800 600 500.

Things to do

Maitland Gaol: Guided tours and self-guided tours (open seven days) adults $9, children/concession $6; torchlight tours (Friday and Saturday nights) $15, children/concession $12.

Hot-air ballooning with Balloon Aloft, Hunter Valley: Adults $225 (weekdays) or $250 (weekends/public holidays), children $150, ph (00612) 4938 1955.

Pokolbin Horse Coaches: Take a leisurely horse-and-carriage ride around the Hunter Valley vineyards. Half and full-day tours (adults $35 and $59 respectively, children $15 and $25), ph (00612) 4998 7305.

Nelson Bay Scenic Trike Rides: For something different, take a guided tour on a motorcycle that takes two passengers. From $25 for 20 mins to $75 for 90 mins for each adult, children half price, ph Ken Grant (00612) 4984 36766.

Dolphin watching with Moonshadow Cruises: Adults $18, concession $15, children $9.50, ph (00612) 4984 9388.

Take to the dunes of Stockton Beach with Bushmobile Tours: Adults $20 (1 1/2-hour tour) to $30 (3 hours), children $15 and $20, ph (0061) 0500 550066.

Horse-riding at Waylin-Jackie Station: $22 an hour each person or $120 a night riding and camping, ph (00612) 4977 2245, e-mail horseriding@bigpond.com.

Guided bushwalks with Coastal Ecotours. From $60 each person for a three-hour tour, ph (00612) 4344 3392.