(written some weeks later)
We woke up and walked down the street a little to the Cafe Rue de Marché, which we’d spotted yesterday, for breakfast. It looked very French, with appropriate decorations and some large framed black and white photos of Paris on the walls. The menu was very French too, and we assumed the owners must have come out from France. I ordered an omelette and M. got the muesli with sliced apples and pears and honey. Mine came with toasted sourdough, baked on the premises, and M. got a side order of toast as well. There were all sorts of jars of pickles and jams and things for sale, as well as jars of honey, and freshly baked bread and muffins. It all seemed beautifully French, until we saw the chef in the kitchen through an open doorway and saw that he was about as ocker as you could get.
 French omelette at Cafe Rue de Marché. |
After a leisurely breakfast, we checked out of the Cobb & Co and then set out in the car. Our first stop was the Mudgee Honey Haven. This place had more different types of honey and honey products than you could shake a stick at, as well as products made from beeswax. We browsed the three dozen or more different types of honey, buying a large jar to take home. We also bought a bottle mead wine, a bottle of mead liqueur, and a bottle of non-alcoholic “sparkling honey”.
 Road between Wollar and Denman. |
From there we drove out of Mudgee, taking the road north-east to Wollar and across the mountains east of there. This was a scenic route via the Hunter Valley, rather than the direct route south-east to Sydney via Lithgow. The road was fairly empty of traffic and made a pleasurable drive through the countryside and then into the mountains. We stopped for a snack and drink break near the top of a mountain pass, with a good view down into the valley below. We emerged on the eastern side of the mountains at Denman, where it was time to stop for lunch.
We found a cafe in the single block of shops that formed the town’s main street. It was actually a house that had been converted into a cafe, and we got a table in a back room, looking out a window to the back yard. M. got a salad sandwich while I had the chicken burger, which came on Turkish bread and was really good.
 Pumpkins for sale, Denman. |
Leaving Denman we drove down a back road, Bureen Road, to the Golden Highway, then down Wallaby South Road to Broke and then Pokolbin. Pokolbin is the heart of the lower Hunter Valley wine region, and we took the familiar road to McLeish Estate Winery, owned by the uncle of a friend of ours. We bought a few bottles of our favourites and tried a couple of new things since we’d been there last.
From the winery, it was a drive along familiar roads all the way back home, completing the loop by arriving in Sydney from the north.
Petrol Consumption
| Place | Kilometres | Litres | cents/L | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney | 0 | – | – | – |
| Dubbo | 477 | 35.95 | 152.9 | $54.97 |
| Cessnock | 928 | 33.53 | 137.9 | $46.23 |
| Sydney | 1081 | 9.99 | 135.9 | $13.58 |
| Total | 1081 | 79.47 | – | $114.78 |
Total distance travelled: 1081 km
Fuel economy: 7.35 L/100km
Average fuel cost: 144.4 cents/L