Blue Mountain Diary

Tuesday 29th July 2008

We are in the Blue Mountains

The weather in Sydney still seemed fairly bleak when we woke up this morning - but by the time we were up and packed it had cleared up and was quite pleasant. We got a taxi into somewhere in Sydney and collected our hire car. It was a fair squeeze getting all the bags in (only 3 of the 4 went in the boot!!) but we managed without too much shoving!) We did have a little detour through downtown Sydney which we didn't actually intend to do - but - we eventually managed to find our way onto the motorway and up into the Blue Mountains - about 2 hours drive I guess.

The cottage we are staying at - Hedgehog Cottage is really cosy and nice and relaxing after the hotels we have been at. It is a traditional Clapper Board House with a gorgeous garden - and the snowdrops, daffodils and tulips are just coming out (which apparantly is early here !) It is colder but has been lovely and sunny and now dark it is a completely starry sky. (it feels as though there could be a frost bu I guess it was about 5 degrees or so)

We have been to the supermarket for supplies (we thought it was much more expensive for food than at home (although petrol is only about 70-75p a litre!!) and we went to see the famous Three Sisters in the mountains near Katoomba. It was towards dusk and geting quite chilly - but it was nice an quiet at that time as all the coach tours etc had left! This evening has been spent at the house - in the rather lovely deep spa bath - and doing my first batch of washing!!

Wednesday 30th July 2008

We have been Bush Walking

We woke up to clear blue skies and a light frost this morning! Perfect weather! Quite cold - but once out in the sun it was like a warm spring day. We set off to explore the mountains today - and we managed a fair few different sites and waterfalls. Now I know it is a mountainous area (clue's in the name!) but they seem to have a real thing for steps! Everywhere we went we were going up and down steps (I swear far more ups than down!) and after the final walk of the day (15 minutes the sign said) resulted in 1188 steps it just wasn't funny anymore!! We did discover that back in the early 1900's some guy spent 16 years putting steps down the mountains - 4800 of them - completely mad! We did consider paying his steps a visit (fleetingly!) but thought better of it!

Anyway - despite the steps it truly is a stunning area. The waterfalls are fairly feeble - incredibly tall but not huge amounts of water going over - but the views are just incredible. It is high - and I still hate heights and I still can't believe I have stood on some of the craggy bits of rock - but I have (usually with Sam holding my hand along the way!) been quite brave and been rewarded with some amazing views. We have heard lots of Kookaburras but not yet seen one - and we have seen lovely parrots, and heard frogs and lots of nice birdsong. Sitting in the house now we have just heard a banging and scampering which we have been told is possums on the roof! We are driving back to Sydney tomorrow to fly to Adelaide and then drive down and catch the ferry over to Kangaroo Island - so tonight we have packed up again and relaxed in the spa bath and are quite chilled!

Round the world home, Dillo home, eek home

Beijing, Sydney, Blue Mountains, Kangaroo Island, Ayers Rock , Daintree ,New Zealand,Fiji, Los Angeles