What wild weather!!

About a week before we left on this trip- we watched a DVD on the New England Highway. Deciding that there was some quite interesting things in Muswellbrook, we decided to change our intinery, rather than follow the coast to Forster. God always has a hand in our plans, because it turned out to be a wonderful decision weather wise. The trip to Muswellbrook really tested Joe’s driving- but he did a marvelous job and we checked into Pinaroo Leisure Park in no time.

After leaving the van there, we drove to Hunter Belle Cheese, where we were treated to a vast (and delicious!) cheese tasting, as well as learning about and watching some of the cheese making process. We really recommend this place!

Then we headed south a little towards Denman to visit the Pukara Olive Oil plant. Whilst the kids are quite familar with olive trees and picking olives (thanks Mark and Cass), we were able to watch and learn about much of the process required to make olive oil. VERY interesting place also. Zach was able to complete an assignment on processes, which he had to complete for writing (check out his assignment page).

We were quite surprised at how much a mining town this was, as there are several coal mines all over the region.

The next morning, we stopped at an old coal train to take some pics before heading north to Lake Glenbawn State Park. Much to our surprise, we almost hit our first kangaroo! He just jumped right in front of us and kept bounding up the road. Following that, we did see a bit of roadkill- made worse by crows having lunch….ewwww…

No luck fishing for Bass- but we did enjoy a lovely time by the lake. We then heading into Scone- the horse Capital of Australia and had a look at the racetrack. The kids had a play in the park- whilst we enjoyed some scones in Scone!

Next stop was Tamworth, where we will stay for the next 2 nights (and catch up on washing!). Stopping at the Golden Guitar was a must in the Country Music Capital of Australia! We then checked into the Austin Tourist Park, followed by an evening of Masterchef (both making and watching!)