Hunter Valley Wine & Food Month - June

If you're coming up to the Hunter Valley this weekend, keep in mind that June is Hunter Valley Wine & Food Month, a month long celebration of Hunter Valley wines and fresh local produce.

From the HVWF website:

Throughout the month of June, our Fireside Series, will have guests cosying up by the fire for supreme indulgences while our Winemaker’s Table Series will allow dining up close and personal with iconic Hunter winemakers and chefs. The Edible Experience will have guests creating their own magic in the kitchen and interacting with some of the best gastronomic names using delicious local produce.

Our new Diverse Region Experience is perfect for the explorers amongst us who want to learn about the diverse areas within the Hunter Valley and what each unique region has to offer. And of course, no trip to the Hunter Valley would be complete without a visit to a local winery and sampling a few of the world-class wines from Australia's most historic family wine region.

This is only a taste of the many unique events that guests will be able to enjoy throughout the month... which will make staying for the weekend or longer in the Hunter Valley even more irresistible.

Scone Horse Festival

Every year, the Upper Hunter Valley town of Scone, Australia's Horse Capital, hosts the Scone & Upper Hunter Horse Festival, we are yet to attend the Festival, however have it on our ever extending 'To Do List'!

Official Programme of the Scone Horse Festival - photo by Katrina Partridge

The Festival has entered it's 3rd decade of celebrating the horse, in an area of Australia where Horses and Horse Industry play a part in the lives of many.

This year the festival runs from Thursday 28 April - Sunday 15 May, the main events of the Festival are:

• Festival Cocktail Party
• King of the Ranges
• Horse Training & Campdraft Clinic
• Scone Equine Hospital  Festival Parade
• Grammar School Fete
• Busking Competition
• Charity Rodeo
• Horse Sports
• Calcutta
• Gala Day
• Scone Cup
• B & S Ball
• Picnic By The Lake

For more information visit the Festival website - http://www.horsecapital.com.au/festival/  or download the Festival booklet (PDF).

We're hoping to get along to some of the festivities, at the very least, we will be attending the Scone Races on 14 May.

Action Aerobatics - for the thrill seeker

For the thrill seekers out there who find the wineries and other attractions a bit slow paced, here’s something for you.

My (Cam) father is an aircraft nut. He has flown radio controlled aircraft his whole life and last year came up and stayed with us when we went to the Williamstown air show.

He’s been up in a Tiger Moth joy flight with the Red Barron that use to fly around Sydney, he’s flown Tandem Gliders and dreams of a Spitfire joy flight but they are a bit out of the budget at the moment.

Mel was glancing through those special offer emails you receive every day when she spotted a special deal for Action Aerobatics (www.aerobatics.com.au), who are based at Rutherford Airport at Maitland.

They were offering discount acrobatic flights in there Pitts Specials. I knew this was right up dads ally so we forwarded the email on to him and we received a reply five minutes later that he had signed up for a flight.

Pitts Special - Action Aerobatics

The day arrives and it’s a perfect clear day with just a bit of breeze but that doesn’t worry these pocket rockets.  The pilot runs dad through the options for the flight from a cruisy scenic tour over the vineyards to the full blown acrobatic flight involving loops, rolls, stall turns plus a few other tricks. Dad turns 69 shortly and there was no way he was doing anything but the full blown acrobatics.  So they get him kitted up for the flight with his biggles pilots helmet on, they run him through all the drills on what they will go through on the flight and they are off.

About to taxi for take off

They go on a quick cruise over some of the wineries then come back close to the airport and start the thrill seeker part of the flight. The way these guys throw these little rockets around the sky is amazing, he seemed to spend as much time upside down as he did upright. 

The fifteen minute flight seemed to go on for a lot longer than that as we waited for them to land and taxi back to the hanger.

You should have seen the grin on dads face when he squeezed himself out of the cockpit. He told us it was everything he expected and then some and was ready to go right back up and do it all again.

Happy flyer post flight

So for those of you who need a bit more action in your weekends away give these guys a ring. My dad didn’t stop buzzing about it for the whole weekend.

Cam's father was a paying customer at Action Aerobatics

Action Aerobatics
Rutherford Aerodome

New England Highway, Rutherford NSW

Tel: +61 (0) 408 474 307

Kid friendly - Aqua Golf @ HV Gardens

Anyone looking for something to do to entertain the kids for a couple of hours should give the Aqua Golf at Hunter Valley Gardens a go. 

Aqua Golf at Hunter Valley Gardens

The thing that sets Aqua Golf apart from most golf driving ranges is that the balls are driven into a lake instead of a fairway. What kid (or big kid!) doesn’t like throwing or hitting something into a lake.

Teeing off at Aqua Golf

We took my family (Cam) there when they last all came up for a Hunter weekend. My then 8 yr old nephew and 3 yr old niece had a ball driving and sometimes throwing the balls into the water. Even the youngest nephew who was only crawling at the time had a ball scooting around chasing the balls rolling around on the ground.

The good thing about the Aqua Golf is that it is something the whole family can have a go at. My Dad is a keen golfer and he showed most of us up driving it right to the other side of the lake, and those of us who aren’t golfers all stepped up and had a few goes with mixed results.

Another feature of Aqua Golf is the floating targets that are scattered all over the lake which contain different prizes from food vouchers to entry tickets for the gardens. Luck as much as talent is needed to hit these targets so everyone has a chance to hit the jackpot.

Hit a target, get a prize!

For those who aren’t interested in the driving range there is an 18 hole Putt Putt course right beside the lake. The kids will have a ball and we see just as many adults playing putt putt as we do kids.

Putt Putt is another option at Aqua Golf

All this is set in the park at Hunter Valley Gardens which is perfect for a family picnic with tables, BBQ’s and a children’s playground along with all the café’s and shops of the Hunter Valley Gardens Village right next door.

BBQ Area looking out to playground & village

It seems a lot of people think the Hunter Valley is not a place for family weekends but there is more to do up here than just visit the amazing wineries.


At the time we visited Aqua Golf the cost was $7 per person including a bucket of 40 balls.

Aqua Golf

Aqua Golf

Cam & Mel of Hunter Valley Grapevine were paying attendees at Aqua Golf @ Hunter Valley Gardens

Aqua Golf
Hunter Valley Gardens

Broke Road, Pokolbin NSW

Tel: +61 (02) 4998 7896