Travel
The Hunter Valley is located 160 kms north of Sydney. We will organize a bus for travel between Sydney and the vineyards. When registering please indicate whether you will need transportation and your likely arrival information (this will be confirmed closer to the conference).
The conference bus will be departing Sydney International Airport for the Hunter Valley on the 3rd June at 11:00am. For those of you planning to be met at the airport, please meet at the "Meeting Point" (close to Gates A/B in the International arrivals hall between the car hire desks & WHSmith). It would be best if your flights land in Sydney by 9am in order to allow 1-2 hours for customs and quarantine. If you are planning to catch the bus please email your flight information to us (sccsv@csiro.au). After the airport pick-up, the bus will picking up more conference participants in the City at ~11:30 from the Bus Zone behind the Four Seasons Hotel at The Rocks. For the return journey, the bus will departing the conference venue Friday June 8 at 14:00 sharp in order to arrive in the City at ~17:30 and at the airport by 18:00. We advise that you book international flights out of Sydney which depart after 21:00 to minimise the stress through Sydney city during peak hour on a Friday evening.
If you'd like to hire a car the drive from Sydney to Hunter Valley Wine Country the journey takes just over 2 hours.
To drive from Sydney to the Mercure Resort:
- Follow the F3 Freeway from Wahroonga towards Newcastle
- Turn LEFT off the freeway when you see signs for Cessnock (Exit 82) - approximately 1ΒΌ hours from the beginning of the F3, and follow the signs to Cessnock and the Vineyards
- On arrival in Cessnock, turn RIGHT at the traffic lights onto Vincent Street
- Continue on Vincent Street until you reach the traffic lights opposite the Cessnock Hotel, at these lights turn LEFT onto Wollombi Road and keep to the RIGHT
- Almost immediately there is another set of traffic lights, turn RIGHT at these into Wine Country Drive (you should see a McDonalds on your RIGHT)
- Follow the signs for Hunter Valley Gardens. Approximately 10 km's out of Cessnock, past Cessnock Airport and the Tourist Information Centre, turn LEFT onto Broke Road (opposite De Bortoli Wines)
- At the end of Broke Road you will come to a T intersection, turn LEFT and then immediately RIGHT.
- Mercure Resort Hunter Valley Gardens is located on the corner of Broke and McDonalds Road at the first entrance to your left