Wednesday, 20 September, 2017.
Sam Watson loves spring time in Mudgee. It means the Mudgee Wine and Food Festival is on, and the town comes to life after a cold and sleepy winter.
Sam is the Branch and Lending Manager at the Newcastle Permanent in Mudgee. He’s a relative ‘newbie’ to town but, he said, he had fallen in love with the region since moving there seven years ago.
"My wife is from Mudgee and when we had a couple of kids in Sydney we decided we wanted to get out, so we packed up the family and moved to Mudgee," he said. "Happy wife, happy life.
"It was a bit challenging, initially. I grew up in Adelaide and then lived in Sydney for 9 or 10 years, so I was used to city life. So it was a big change moving to the country. But I love it now. There are no traffic lights in town."
Not only are there no traffic lights; Mudgee is home to fine wines and food produce, and natural beauty.
"The wine festival runs for a month (from the 9th September to 2nd October), and there are a lot of different events," he said. "Pretty much, each winery has its own food and wine events. But the big one is the Flavours of Mudgee. They close of the main street and wine and food producers all have stalls and the place has a real atmosphere. It’s a good event."
It’s the sense of community that Sam said he really loved about his adopted home town. It comes to life at showcase events like the Wine and Food Festival, but Sam said he had also come to feel the community spirit of Mudgee through the branch he’s managed in since it opened in April 2014.