Monday, June 7, 2010

Stanthorpe & Tenterfield


Saturday morning 6th June saw us off and weaving our way over to Tenterfield to finish off what we started last Wed. We arrived at our first port of call at 9am and they weren’t supposed to open until 9.30 but the owner was up and about so after a friendly conversation with him we ventured into Jamworks of Glen Aplin.

 We had lots of tasting of some very different jams, relishes and chutneys. I suppose you have all heard of lemon butter? Well they had that as well as lemon & Lime, passionfruit butters but the most unusual one I thought was banana butter. I think it will go great on my pancake. We enjoyed a lovely half hour or more chatting with the owner and some other visitors from Brisbane then we left for the next place. Felsberg Winery, we had been told boasts 360 degree views of the valley and is located on a granite hillside at an altitude of 875m. They weren’t wrong!


 The most magnificent views could be espied from the Bell Tower Cafe; a photo wouldn’t even do it justice. Bill enjoyed the usual wine tasting, me being a teetotaller watched the scenery. He assured me that the Port was really superb. We meandered our way down the drive between orderly rows of Riesling, Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Sylvaner, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon and then followed a winding rough road up the The Bramble Patch.

 As the name indicates their produce consisted of Berry Coulis (Strawberry, Blueberry, Blackberry, and Raspberry etc), various chutneys and pastes and lots of lovely goodies. Now I have left the best until last. Heavenly Chocolate!!! Yes that’s the name of the place it’s just a little bit further up the New England Highway and you then turn left into Pyramids Road to a quaint little cottage covered in foliage. I couldn’t decide whether to have the white chocolate with hazelnuts hot chocolate or the Cocco Coconut hot chocolate. So what do you think a girl would do?
 Why have both of course and they were so smooth and creamy it was like heaven. We then travelled on towards Tenterfield which is across the border in NSW. At the border at Wallangarra I popped in briefly to a craft shop. I thought I saw patchwork quilts hanging outside but on a closer look they were actually crochet rugs. They were very well done by the local ladies and there were so many different patterns also.

 I would have loved to have visited Tenterfield in April; they say the streets come alive with the beautiful autumn foliage on the trees. It still looked nice even though most of the trees were bare. It is a small world!! Outside the Tourist Bureau we met some other fellow travellers from WA. Namely our ex newsletter editor Fay who was travelling with her Sister & BIL. By this time I was starting to get hungry and we had planned to taste again the lovely apple pie at Suttons in Stanthorpe. It didn’t disappoint as they served it with spiced apple cider ice cream. It was delicious and I was so full that I couldn’t manage tea, but gee it was worth it. On the way back we stopped to take photos of the dressed kangaroos on the side of the road. They looked quite smart in their state of origin gear.

 I believe Warwick has a Jumper Festival in July and I will be sorry to have missed it. Apparently the trees in the main street are adorned with home knitted jumpers to ward of the cold. We are leaving tomorrow for Kilcoy and hopefully it will be a bit warmer there.

Talk again soon
 

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