Day 274
Friday –
29 September 2017
Cessnock – Dungong – Morpeth – Aberglasslyn
We awoke to a beautiful blue day and Paul complaining about
his throat again. First port of call was going to be a doctor again! After
reading for a short time we were up and getting breakfast. Pau went for a
shower, but I missed out, as the water was turned off. There is a lot of
general maintenance work going on at the ground currently, so lots of workers
and lots of noise.
I organised a DR appointment for Paul and then we went in to
Cesnock for a look around. We parked at the Coles, did a quick shop and then
did a walk of the main streets. Pau was amused by a postie bike mounted on the
roof of a hotel advertising a postie GP and sent a pic to Ballsy.
We completed our lap before returning to the car and back to
the van. Paul’s DR appointment wasn’t until 11.45am, so we had some time to
kill. We spent it reading and hanging in the van.
At 11.20am, we drove to the GP clinic, Paul went through the
motions of filling out new patient forms and we were finally ushered into a
nurse’s office for initial tests before seeing the DR. We didn’t leave until
12.30pm.
We made a stop at the chemist for more antibiotics, then it
was back to the van for lunch and on the road again.
We were heading to a small town, Dungog, about an hour and
fifteen minutes away. The road took us through other various country towns,
some smaller and older than others before we were finally deposited in the main
street of Dungog and at the door of the Tin Shed Brewery.
We made ourselves at home, with Paul talking to the owners,
a young couple before settling in with a tasting paddle. We were given plenty
of tips on where to head to and where to stay and they even rang one of the
brewers to ensure he was around for us to drop in on our way home. It was an ominous sign of the long day to
come.
At 330pm, we began the trip back towards Cessnock with a
detour to Morpeth and the Commercial Hotel, where Morpeth Brewery was set up.
Unfortunately the brewer wasn’t around, so Paul talked to the barmaid and tried
the beers while attempting to phone the Canadian brewer.
It was only a quick stop at the Commercial, before we
continued on to the Dusty Miner Craft Brewery. The Canadian brewer phoned Paul
on the way to Dusty Miner, so he was able to get some more information about
Morpeth Beer for his write up.
A short time later we had entered a housing estate in
Aberglasslyn and we pulled up outside the home of Stuart and Cath. The sign on
the metal gate indicated we had the right place and as we looked down the
driveway, we could see the shed that was the brewery.
The brewery is impressive for someone who has upped his home
brewing hobby in his backyard shed. Lucky for them their home, on one and a
half acres is partially zoned rural and they can run a commercial enterprise on
their land. Oh by did this have Paul’s mind ticking over. Stuart still works on
the mines so this enterprise is still truly a hobby.
Paul felt right at home on Friday afternoon, drinking beers
in a shed with new friends. It was a terrific afternoon that morphed into night
far too easily. Turns out Stuart knew all about us, as he is a member of the We
Love Craft Beer site and had been watching our journey so he was chuffed that
we had made it to his back yard. We were just glad we had been put on to it by
the guys at Tin Shed because you wouldn’t locate it by chance.
7.30pm came around fast and it was time to say farewell with
the promise to catch them at the beer festival next weekend further down the
coast. Paul left with some beers and a new hat, so he was stoked and just a
little pissed.
I drove us back to Cessnock, stopped at a local Thai
restaurant for a couple of items and then it was back to the van to eat
finally. The dinner didn’t last long, as we gleefully inhaled the meal and then
it was off to bed.
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