About Hunter Valley Wine Tasting Tours

We can offer you the following:

1. Experienced Winery Tour Operators.
2. We provide you with a professional service.
3. Have many years of knowledge of Australia.
4. Employ skilled experienced and competent staff to lead our tours.
5. We operate a small fleet of modern well maintained luxuriously fitted vehicles under the Ministry of Transport Accreditation No 31398.

Who is Hunter Valley Wine Tasting Tours?

In 1990, the owner of the business, Geoffrey Ellis, after 20 years in Real Estate purchased an old country hotel at Culcairn in Southern New South Wales. This landmark hotel boasted that once it was the largest hotel between Melbourne and Sydney being strategically located about halfway between these two capital cities on the main railway line.

In the early days around 1900 it was a major rail junction and travellers would overnight there at the old Hotel, built in 1892, before re-boarding their train for their destination. Initially with over 75 rooms the hotel was reduced to around 40 rooms in the 1970s with much of in a fairly standard condition.

The Ellis family refurbished the hotel in 1991 and commenced holiday tours there for many senior citizens from Sydney and the Central Coast who travelled there by train.

This new business was a great success and soon many of the holiday makers had an appetite for more tours which soon opened to various NSW destinations. The following year these tours extended to other states of Australia including Horse Racing Tours to the Melbourne Cup and Interdominion Harness Racing tours to New Zealand.

In 1996 the hotel was sold and the travel business was relocated in Albury. New tours and destinations were introduced over the next few years with great emphasis on the Outback, Cape York, Northern Territory, Kakadu, Alice Springs, Western Australia, Broome, Kimberleys, and Tasmania

In 1999 the business was located to Crows Nest in Sydney with 4WD tours in remote areas being introduced.

In 2001 the new day tour business was commenced in Sydney with a surplus 4WD vehicle eventually being replaced with a more suitable Toyota Mini Bus. In 2002 the outback touring business, now called Outback Spirit Tours was moved back to Albury.

Over the next few years new day tours were introduced to the Hunter Valley Wineries, Sydney City Sights Tour and a Dolphin Watching Tour to Port Stephens.

Charter Tours were introduced in late 2005 and destinations included Blue Mountains and Jenolan Caves, Blue Mountains Wilderness Tours with emphasis on activities, Hunter Valley tours, Canberra, Sydney City Sights and Cruises, Port Stephens Dolphin Tours and Wineries.