Chard!!! Champ!!! Camp!!!

Join your hosts and the sexy serving boys on their next adventure. You and your bus load of new friends (well by the end of the day they will be) load up and head to the Hunter. Playing funky tunes and games it will all make for a fabulous camp road trip you will never forget.

Package includes;

- Coach Transfers to and from Sydney

- Campagne Brunch Served on the coach

- Tastings at 3 wineries

- Gourmet lunch and winery tour

- An abundance of white and sparkling wine,
  water and softdrink served on the way home.

- Mystery stop on the way back to Sydney

- Wines bought on the day will be available
  to store at the Flinders Hotel for you to pick
  up before the following Saturday.

ITINERARY

8am Meet at The Flinders Hotel

1st Wine Tasting Stop - Tullochs

Lunch and 2nd Tasting Stop - Robyn Drayton

3rd Tasting Stop - Hungerford Hill

Mystery Stop

Arrive back in Sydney approx 8pm

Price:      $150 [BUY NOW]

For those of you who missed the wine tour this year, you missed out on another awesome day. There were countless stories of shinannigans and that stop in a country pub...well I think that explains itself.

This is truly a well-planned event that last approximately 12 hours but how can you do the Hunter Valley in less time. So the time is not an issue.

As with the Gay Armada, Chard Champ Camp starts at 9am when we head off on coaches. Breakfast is already waiting for you on-board, which is a godsend, especially if you have had a ‘heavy’ night before.

Once we cross the Hawkesbury River the Chard Champ of the name is broken out. This is due to licensing regulations otherwise we would have had the opportunity to start drinking from the get go. As in all other years there are two coaches. In 2006 the organisers decided that each coach would start at a different winery, meet for lunch at the next, and see a different one as their final stop.

In 2006 the coach I was on started the day at Audrey Wilkinson Vineyard
(http://www.audreywilkinson.com.au/) this is not one that we had been to before and that is the point of the exercise. Gay4Play have a couple of wineries that are on the always do list (I will get to that later) but they will always chose a different boutique winery. The wine tasting at Audrey Wilkinson was informative and different from all the other. Our wine hostess was a load of fun which made the morning interesting rather than ‘clinical’.

Next stop for us was Tulloch Winery (http://www.tulloch.com.au/) which was also to be our lunch stop. Lunch consisted of five courses with a different wine for each dish. We had the luck of having the grandmother and grand-daughter of the Tulloch family in attendance and they spoke well about each of the wine. The grad daughter made sure that she visited each of the tables to chat, which was something that we all appreciated.

The meals provided for lunch were the best I personally have ever had. The caterers that Gay4Play had organised for the day certainly knew what they were about and there is nothing that you could complain about in the selection of meals, and Tullochs matched the wine perfectly.

Our final stop was McGuigans (http://www.mcguiganwines.com.au/home.php) having been here before it was no surprise. I find the ‘hosts’ at McGuigans very clinical but that does not detract from the event. Wine tasting is wine tasting so the ‘clinical’ talk is nor really what one is there for. Both events are a must attend events.

Do not think that this is all that Gay4Play does. At the conclusion of each event they hold a ‘reunion’ fund-raising events. At these events we all gather to discuss what a great time we all had, look at all the photos taken by us all, which Gay4Play compile in to a CD and give to all attendees. At the same time Gay4Play is raising money for a designated local charity.

So, if you are looking for something different to do which is away from the Oxford Street scene then attend a Gay4Play event. I can tell you that you will not be disappointed one bit.

Gary Wright JP