Birthday Celebrations!

Dave turned 31 on Friday so we celebrated by going to the Hunter Valley - wine country. But this area is not known for commercial wines that you can find anywhere. These vineyards and wineries are called boutiques. Meaning they are pretty small and most of the time, family owned. We actually got to meet 2 of the owners! We booked a tour that picked us up at 7:45 AM and brought us 2 hours north or west (I'm not sure) to the Hunter. We visited three vineyards, toured one and tasted probably 20 different wines. We also went to a very nice lunch (swordfish) in the area. It was a fantastic day! We didn't just taste the wine, but we learned about it and could see the passion that the winemakers have for their craft. It was really neat. Here are some pictures:

This is Dave and I at the Audrey Wilkinson vineyard - one of the oldest in the Hunter, and I believe, Australia. Audrey was a man that never drank!


The grapes were getting close to be ready to harvest.


Here is a group shot of all that went (my dad had to work). Look at the view! Where we were, we had a 360 degree view of the entire valley. It was breathtaking.


That night Mike, Jes, Dave and I went out for pizza, dessert and then played cards until about midnight! It was a great birthday! On Saturday, the four of us went shopping so that Mike and Jes could pick up some last minute gifts for their families because it was their last day in Australia. That night all of us went to this restaurant down at Darling Harbor called Ice Cube for dinner. I had a wonderful steak, Dave had the surf and turf and we, our course, had some wine and after dinner drinks. Then we went home for cake and a magic show performed by my dad. He's pretty good!

Here is Dave and Mike with their after dinner drinks. The women were going to retire to the palor, but we decided against it. :)


Here's the group waiting for the bus:


On Sunday after sleeping in a bit and having a big breakfast, we said good bye to Jes and Mike. WE MISS YOU!