Australia's oldest wine region, an hour west.

The Hunter Valley has been making wine since the 1820s, which makes it the oldest wine region in the country. There are more than 150 cellar doors clustered around Pokolbin, and the region is best known for Semillon — a white that ages far better than it has any right to — and Shiraz.

Why do it as a day trip

Accommodation inside the wine country carries a wine-country price. An hour's drive each way means you can spend the day out there and still come home to a room at Belmont rates, with the lake across the road and the beach five minutes away for the next morning.

Getting there

West via the M1 and the Hunter Expressway. It is a straightforward run, mostly dual carriageway, roughly an hour from our door to the first cellar doors.

Please do not drive and taste

This matters more than anything else on this page. Book a tour with a driver, arrange a hire car with a designated driver, or use one of the many operators who will collect you from the valley's accommodation and deliver you back. It is a long drive home on a highway.

Beyond the wine

There are distilleries, breweries, cheese and chocolate makers, gardens, and a lot of very good restaurants. If wine is not your thing there is still a day in it.

Official information: winecountry.com.au. Opening hours and conditions change — check with them before you build a day around it.