After more than 10 years of taking groups on Hunter Valley wine tours, I thought it might be nice to share a more personal perspective on my experiences. I have learnt a lot and met 1000’s of people from all over the world. It’s really been an amazing decade and I hope it continues for another. I write about not only our Hunter Valley Wine Tours but also various other destinations and experiences. Please feel free to let me know what you think!
Have you ever discovered a vineyard in a wine region who only sell their wines direct to the public? So once you are back home, you won’t see their wines in your local bottle shop or liquor store? The Hunter Valley is full of these smaller vineyards who sell exclusively from their cellar door. How do you access their wine once you have left the valley? By joining a wine club of course!
Have you ever taken part in a social day out? If not, why not? One of the difficulties I found travelling, particularly when I was single, is finding friends to travel with. A lot has to align. Firstly you need to find someone who wants to go to the same place. then they will need to have time off to go when you wish to go. You also need to have a similar budget. And you need to also have similar interests. There’s no point travelling with someone who prefers to relax when you want to be adventurous. Nor with someone who prefers hotels over camping or Michelin star restaurants over hole in the walls.
When I first started offering Hunter Valley wine tours, my initial plan was to visit as many vineyards as possible. One of the reasons why was because when I began approaching local travel agents in the hope that they might sell my tour, there first two questions were ‘How much?’ and ‘How many vineyards do you visit?’. And so it began with a healthy 5! As no other tour was visiting 5 vineyards, so the idea was to try and produce a tour better than what the others were offering.
What a brilliant day we had last Sunday with our Qantas Day Out. It was my wife’s official last day working with Qantas after 21 years. Like many, she was offered and accepted voluntary redundancy. It was a difficult decision and would leave behind an amazing career with a great company. So, along with a few of her Qantas colleagues we experimented with a Qantas tribute/farewell tour and it was so much fun! Perfect way to finish her Qantas chapter.
A few weeks ago, we had a last minute group booking that wanted to experience a day trip to the Hunter Valley and include a gourmet lunch. It was a group of 10 so by this time, every venue I rang in the Hunter Valley was either booked out (for that group size) or had an available time that was either really early or super late. However the group had to eat somewhere! ‘Why don’t you organise a picnic lunch at a vineyard?’ my wife suggested. A great idea!
Kangarrific Tours is very excited to announce our new partnership with the Australian Reptile Park on the Central Coast! We took our first guests there today and they have a fantastic experience so we look forward to bringing many more guests there in the future.The Australian Reptile Park, which you may know from the TV series ‘Bondi Vet‘, has been operating on the Central Coast for over 60 years and has not only 50 different reptiles on display but a huge collection of mammals and birds too. From koala’s, to kangaroos, Tassie devils, emu’s cassowaries and my favourite, the platypus! Oh, and for those wanting to see a quokka…guess what, they have them too! As well as many others.
Kangarrific Tours has always have a wonderful relationship with our local retired community. Over the years we have provided a range of Probus tours. From the Hunter Valley, Blue Mountains, Southern Highlands and even Canberra (yes, a fairly long day!). And as our local tourism market opens despite Covid 19 restrictions, we look forward to more fun days out!
Well we are off to a fresh start and there is plenty of optimism surrounding this new year. Now I’m a pretty optimistic guy but also a realist and a huge turn around does seem unlikely. I think we need another 12 months to get out of this mess. Will this year be a lot better? It certainly couldn’t be any worse than last year! Oh how I miss our trips to the Hunter Valley! It seems we’re now close to an internationally available vaccine, and at least in Australia, our Covid 19 numbers and relatively low.
What a year for us all! In a way it’s a little odd that it is coming to an end. It’s been such a heavy year for many, and to think it will soon be over there can be a mixture of relief and nostalgia. A year certainly all of us will never forget. Goodbye 2020!
