We'd forgotten all about coal by the time we were having dinner at Il Cacciatore , a northern Italian restaurant that is part of Hermitage Lodge (boutique accommodation, vineyard, conference facilities). My chicken fettuccine with a local Margan red was thoroughly enjoyable, although my friend was less impressed with his lamb. I have to mention the state of Broke Road, however. This purports to be a main road, but the corrugated, pitted and potholed surface has to be felt to be believed. This must be a wealth-generating area: what a pity the New South Wales Road Traffic Authority does not see fit to maintain the roads properly for the Hunter's residents and its visitors. A dirt road would have been more comfortable. We came across bad roads everywhere we went in the state*.

Wine country is a peculiarly unique landscape. It's far from unattractive even though it's unnatural.

Pokolbin doesn't have a centre as such. In fact, it's hard to grasp where the place actually is, because some if not all of the services for the community are provided by the wineries: accommodation; cafes or classy restaurants; bars; delicatessens; conference rooms; entertainment venues. I've noticed this phenomenon before but never so markedly as in the Hunter Valley. The next day I said I wanted to go into Pokolbin , but whether or not I achieved this aim remains a mystery. The most normal thing seemed to be the polling station set up in the Community Hall – it was state election day. But we had difficulty finding a sandwich lunch anywhere... except in the Hunter Valley Wine Country Visitor Information Centre cafe.

The next morning we moved on from Pokolbin, with last glimpses of the Hunter's vines, but with lesser-known parts of the Region beckoning. This would not be the only time during our New South Wales trip that we felt we needed an extra day.

Next up was Barrington Tops National Park, a couple of hours to the north. This is a World Heritage wilderness on the Barrington Plateau, which rises to almost 1,600 metres. There is rainforest with huge strangler figs and Antarctic Beech and what is known as sclerophyll wood- or heathland. This is characterised by hard-leafed plants that are more resistant to seasonal drought and soil deficiencies, so thrive in the Australian Bush. Once you cross the New England Highway – we took the Gresford Road from Branxton – you're soon into middle-of-nowhere land. The roads are deserted, there are cute wooden bridges over creeks, and gently rolling, velvety green uplands and valleys.

We climbed towards Dungog, looking back over endless ridges.

We turned on to the Chichester Dam Road just before Dungog. Once again, we had difficulty with one of the 20 Great Hunter Region Walks. The Jerusalem Creek Track was not signposted off the road and neither was it 'easily accessible'. I asked a man in a car park and fortunately he knew where it was and kindly led us there. But in missing the turning we had a delightful wildlife moment in the Chichester Dam picnic area where we stopped for coffee. A gang of seven kookaburras was hanging around and one of them sat right above us, hoping for brownie remnants perhaps. In the trees close by were some Bell Miners. These birds make one of the most extraordinary sounds – and there are many contenders among Australia's bird population. Our bird book** describes 'an abrupt, clear, penetrating "peep", which in the distance becomes a "tink"; the calls of the hundreds of birds in a large colony make a continual tinkling.' I don't know how many of these birds there were, but the sound was magical, mesmeric and relaxing. We've heard them before – when climbing towards Cunningham's Gap, for example: they seem to be located at a specific altitude, but forest type determines their distribution – wet eucalypt forest.