Blue Mountains and the big city...

Well, I think we can safely say we have reached and passed the low point of our trip! Stuart was getting pretty annoyed with himself for straining his back, and I was a bit annoyed with all of the extra work I needed to do as a result of his injuries! Coupled with the seemingly endless rain we had been encountering, we were both feeling pretty down! We soldiered on thinking it couldn’t get any worse and would only get better, only to blow out a tyre on the camper! Rather ironic, considering Stuart was only just getting over his last encounter of changing a tyre! Thankfully, no injuries this time - just a $250 bill for the new tyre!

After being held up a little changing the tyre, we only just made it to the caravan park in Katoomba to check in. Just as we were backing the camper up to our site to set up the rain bucketed down on us! Then as we finished setting up the camper in the rain – it stopped! The only thing left to do was shake our heads and laugh! Thankfully, this has been the last of the rain we have seen for a week or so.

We woke up in the clouds the next day (with Katoomba remaining in them all day!) so we headed down to Penrith to replace the tyre and restock the larder with a big food shop. Thankfully the next day was bright and sunny, and we made the most of it with a big hike down into the valley below Katoomba, and then back up to the top to have a look at the Three Sisters. The country is spectacular, especially walking along the edge of the sandstone cliffs looking down into the Blue Mountain wilderness.

The hike back up the Three Sisters really gave us a work out. There were 900 steps to climb back up, with some sections of steps carved into the rock. We passed a lot of people coming down and heading around to the cable car to get back out - slackers! We did it the hard way! Great exercise for your legs but my calves took days to recover!


Three Sisters sunset


After our hike and given the sunny and warm weather, we decided to have a BBQ lunch. Stuart cooked up some snaggers, eaten with fresh bread, tomato sauce and mustard, and washed down with a cold beer! The rest of the day was spent relaxing and soaking up the fine weather! We actually went back to the Three Sisters at sunset to have a look, but this time it was by car as my calves wouldn't have taken another walk!

From Katoomba, we packed up and headed out to the Newnes campground in the Wollemi National Park. The campground is in a spectacular valley, surrounded by sandstone cliffs. It is actually the site of an old town near a shale oil mine and refinery. Stuart went on a long walk to explore the ruins of the refinery, which have been taken over by the forest again. It’s hard to imagine such an industrial site existing in such a beautiful location. The whole area has large coal deposits, and Stuart found a couple of bits of coal in the river bed next to our camp. It was definitely coal, as he managed to get it burning in the campfire! Some Greenie!

We also encountered our neighbour – a big wombat that came out each night and rummaged around our camp! Along with the possums and kangaroos. We also managed to follow a Satin Bowerbird back to his bower, with it’s collection of blue things! I have wanted to find one of these for ages and was very excited by it. We tried to lure the bird back for a photo by placing Stuart’s blue arm cast on the ground, but to no avail! Stuart later received a shock when he went to retrieve his cast and it was gone!! I had just moved it inside without telling him! He he.

SYDNEY!!!

We paid a visit to our Cubby Trailers birthplace! The Cub Camper Trailer factory! As one of the trailer’s shock absorbers had busted earlier in the trip, Cub replaced both shock absorbers under warranty, while we waited! Stuart was amazed at the difference it made when towing it! It was kind of exciting to see all of the new ones in various stages of construction. We didn’t think our’s was that dirty, well, not until we saw all of the bright, sparkling new ones – our’s looked filthy!

After checking in at the Lane Cove Caravan Park, which is in the Lane Cove National Park only about 10km from Sydney CBD, we headed out to the northern beaches and purchased some Sydney Rock Oysters which we ate whilst sitting on the beach! This was also our first encounter with Sydney parking, as it cost $5 per hour for the small car park at the beach.

The next day was my birthday YAH! I had so many ideas of what I wanted to do, including seeing a show at the Opera House. There weren’t any operas showing and although I was very tempted to buy tickets to Bell Shakespeare’s 12th Night, it was only in one of the smaller theatres in the complex and not the experience I wanted. I would love to return to Sydney in the future and see a performance in the Opera House main concert hall.


Tokonomo sashimi!!!


So my special day was spent with an amazing lunch at Tokonoma Japanese Restaurant in Surry Hills (thanks Brenda for the recommendation!). The food was an unbelievable taste sensation! We discovered Edamame - steamed soy beans with rock salt, sashimi – salmon, king fish and benito with fresh wasabi, sushi rolls, pork belly and roast duck with pickled nasi pear. YUM! Our drink of choice was a beautiful ‘Sake’ (a japanese wine) recommended by the waitress. We were both in gastronomic heaven!

All this was followed by a trip to a Surry Hills day spa for a bit of pampering – facial, collegen eye mask and back massage with exfoliation scrub!

Stuart filled in his time wandering the streets of Surrey Hills while I was in heaven! We finished the day with a cold beer sitting on the rooftop of a pub in the Rocks, looking out over the rooftops at the Opera House. We learnt a bit about the history of the Rocks, which was the first place of settlement in Australia. It was unusual to find such history in Australia – what was left of it anyhow, as much of the Rocks was destroyed in 1901 to protect public health as there was a outbreak of the bubonic plague in the settlement!

We spent the next day wandering around inner Sydney, including a ferry ride to Watsons Bay for fish and chips with views back to the city. The water here was also lovely and clean as it is right near the harbour entrance so is flushed clean with daily tides! I certainly wouldn’t want to wade in the waters of the inner harbour!

We also returned to Surry Hills – we love this place – its full of funky unique fabrics and homewares! I splurged on some beautiful Marimekko fabrics from Finland and Bird Textiles offcut pieces.

Day three in Sydney was to be taken up with xrays and checkups for Stuart’s hand. For some reason they had a few difficulties getting good xrays of his hand, calling him back in for extra xrays which has Stuart really worried that his hand wasn’t healing. Comments from the radiographer didn’t help either! Thankfully, the specialist he saw was happy with the progress. The cast can come off and the only instruction he was given was to go gently, gently and if it hurts to do something... then STOP!

So tomorrow we are off towards Canberra for a few days exploring our capitol city.

I’d just like to say a big thank you so much to everyone who sent me birthday wishes, cards and presents! I felt a little homesick the day before my birthday and missed everyone. But all the contact I had was wonderful and really made my day special! Thank you! I can’t wait to catch up with friends and family in Melbourne at Christmas!

Take care everyone!

Mish and Stu
xo



Port Macquarie & Barrington Tops

Heading into our second half of the holiday, it is also becoming obvious that as we approach Sydney, we are heading into the most densely populated part of the country. Although we always seem to stumble upon some type of wilderness, we must admit we have had some longings for the remoteness of the outback again!


From Urunga, we headed down the coast a little way, as Stuart was keen to explore the ruins of the Trial Bay Gaol near the town of South West Rocks. We found a beautiful little campground set back in the forest behind the beach in Hat Head National Park. A sunny afternoon (yes - it stops raining occasionally!) was spent exploring the rocky headland near our camp. Stuart commented it was a great spot to cast in a line as he is itching to do so, but given he’s still got his cast on, I’d probably have to do the actual fishing bit! As with many other campsites, we were checked out by the local wildlife – a kookaburra trying to steal dinner off the stove, big monitor lizards wandering through camp and a mother and baby possum repeatedly trying to pinch food from the kitchen (until we chased them up a tree!)

The Trail Bay Gaol was really interesting. It was originally built as a prison, specifically to have the prisoners construct a groyne out into the bay to provide a safe haven for shipping between Sydney and Brisbane in the early years of settlement. Hundreds of lives had been lost at sea as a result of shipwrecks during the storms along the coast. The gaol was built out of local rock, quarried onsite. The stonework is really impressive, and given it’s position on the headland, it stands up to the full brunt of all the storms that hit the coast!

The groyne project turned out to be a complete failure, being washed away each year, almost as quickly as it was being built! The gaol was eventually shut down, but was brought back into use during the war years, as an internment camp for German men residing in Australia at the time. The Trail Bay Gaol was set aside for professionals, such as doctors, accountants and academics, and compared to other internment camps, they were actually given quite of bit of freedom to move in and out of the prison, spending time fishing and growing their own vegetables. They even held regular theatre performances and circulated a regular magazine within the prison walls.

Having skipped Coffs Harbour altogether, we made a short stop in Port Macquarie to see the coastline and have the car serviced. The caravan park has it’s own resident koalas, which we heard growling in the trees above us every night, but we couldn’t spot the little buggers anywhere during the day! The groyne at the mouth of the river is also interesting, as the local council allow people and travellers to graffiti the rocks. Some of the graffiti is pretty amazing and quite artistic!

I stumbled across a pamphlet for yoga classes run by a teacher who had trained with yoga masters in the US and taught in Byron Bay for the past 10 years. I jumped at the chance to return to a proper class again! To my delight the class was held in the Flynn Beach Surf Club. I enjoyed a good stretch whilst overlooking a magnificent rugged coastline at sunset with fresh air straight off the ocean filling my lungs! I miss my yoga classes, but I feel renewed with inspiration for my own practice again.

Our next choice of National Park to explore was Barrington Tops, in the northern most part of the Hunter Valley. The park is set in sub-alpine country where it snows each winter – we were actually told it snowed three weeks before we got there during an unexpected cold snap! The Antarctic Beech forests and Snow Gums were so beautiful.

We ended up camped on the edge of a sub-alpine sphagnum bog called Polblue Swamp. It was a great spot to enjoy a nightly campfire! We had checked out a couple of other campsite options, with Stuart having great fun towing the camper down a rough and muddy track. The campsite at the end was beautiful, but given the condition of the track and that more rain was forecast, Stuart decided that we should head out to a more easily accessible campsite – we didn’t want to get rained in and stuck!

At the Polblue campsite Stuart found an echidna buried in the grass only 30m from our campsite. We also saw a HUGE wombat! He was massive, but we weren’t quick enough to get a photograph. It’s always so special to see wild animals in their natural habitat. I luckily got to see a second wombat on a short walk, along with a skulk of foxes. Yes - they are feral pest animals that prey on our native animals and they should be destroyed... but the little ones are so cute, so I’m including a photo anyway!

Unfortunately, Polblue was also the spot Stuart decided to injure himself again! After a day out exploring and 4WDing, we were approached at camp by a man who asked if we could give him a hand changing a staked tyre on his 4WD. He had a few issues with his hands and couldn’t manage it himself. We obviously said yes, but in typical Stuart fashion, he just got stuck in without thinking too much about it and managed to strain a couple of muscles in his back – given he was trying to do it all himself and one-handed (his left hand is still in the cast!). We got the tyre changed and the guy back on the road, but given the cool conditions that night, by the next morning, Stuart could barely move and was in quite a bit of pain!

STUART’S HINT – when you get new tyres fitted, make sure you re-tension the wheel nuts if they have used a rattlegun to put them on! Stuart had to stand and gently bounce on the wheel brace to loosen the wheel nuts on the guy’s 4WD! They were done up so tight!

Once again, we have found a nice little cabin and have holed up for a couple of nights to let Stuart’s back recuperate. He’s spent the last couple of days laying flat on his back, reading and relaxing. Thankfully, his back seems to be sorting itself out! It could have been a lot worse!

Hope everyone is well! Love to all!

Mish & Stu

Halfway!!!

Yes, we are officially half way through our holiday! We celebrated this milestone at a Mexican restaurant in Lennox Head with Tequilas and lots of tasty food!

Its a good time to look back over what we have done and how we are travelling...literally! Here are some other facts from our trip thus far....

Time on the road: 5 months, 3 weeks

Total distance travelled: 20,000 km

Most expensive fuel: $1.97 at the Imitji Store on the Gibb River Road

Most we have paid for a caravan park powered site: $44/n at Port Hedland (Average cost: ~$30-$33/n)

Average fuel consumption: 7km/l (which is around 13-14l/100km and includes all our off road driving and towing a trailer!)

Damage so far: one busted shock absorber on the trailer! Pretty good hey! (and Stuart's hand of course!)

Modifications to the camper: Stuarts favourite is the BBQ on the fridge slide tray (given the fridge is in the back of the ute!) and being able to connect it straight to a mounted gas bottle. This gives us roasts, pizzas, baked yummies and lots more! Others include 12v power, LED reading lights, storage boxes, bike mounts – the list goes on!

Number of nights spent under a proper roof: 4 so far, with the rest all under canvas!
Favourite experience: This is so hard.....Stuart’s might be discovering the beauty of the red centre and MacDonnell Ranges. Mine might be that as well, but I did really love paddling the Whitsundays! Everything really! This country is stunningly beautiful!

One thing I'm amazed with is our tiny fridge - holding only 37 litres - is always stocked with a selection of meat/chicken/seafood for dinner, cheese, milk, juice, eggs, dips, mustard, 2 sodastream bottles of chilled water and cans of cool drink, and most importantly - cold beer! Plus any cut vegetables and left over food that needs chilling. It makes me wonder what the hell we fill our full size fridge/freezer with at home?! We are eating an amazing variety of food and definitely not compromised in any way on our nutrition!

Some of the many dishes we have cooked – paella, risotto, beef/lamb/chicken roasts, pizza, green/red/massaman currys, osso bucco, lamb shanks, fish, bolognaise, soups, scones, muffins and damper!

So what have we been up to most recently?!

Our first four nights in NSW were spent in Lennox Head, just south of Byron Bay. We decided to explore this beautiful region from here as it was quieter and a LOT cheaper than Byron. (We paid $27 for a powered site instead of the $54 Byron bay charges in its off-peak period!).

Our day trips took us mostly inland through the hinterland villages and endless rolling green hillsides. We checked out all the great vintage shops in Lismore, deciding to have lunch in Nimbin for a laugh. We did a quick walk of the main street to be greeted with psychedelic murals and wood carvings, a code of street behaviour painted on the wall of the pub, lots of colourful characters and multiple offers of fresh baked cookies and other local herbs! Visiting Nimbin certainly stimulated some good conversation in the car, but we both agreed we weren’t interested in a return visit.

The rest of the time we explored the quaint little villages of The Channon, Uki and Bangalow, while taking in the spectacular views of Mt Warning as well as Jeruselum and Nightcap National Park which has the 100 metre high Minyon Falls. After all this serenity, we bailed on Byron Bay township itself after only an hour wandering through the crowded shop-lined streets. We did go up to the Cape Byron Lighthouse though. This is the most easterly point of mainland Australia - say cheese for the camera!

The locals having a surf!

With three weeks before we need to be in Sydney for Stuart’s next appointment with a hand specialist, we continued heading south to Yuraygir National Park, spending two nights in a sheltered grassy campsite in the coastal heath, just metres from the beach. There where kangaroos everywhere, we saw an echidna on the way in, whales breaching out at sea and a pod of about 10 dolphins surfing the waves close to shore. The local surfers where there every morning enjoying the near perfect waves! – Jen and Dean – you would have LOVED it!

From here we ducked inland over the Great Dividing Range where we discovered the highland village of Maclean, with a distinct Scottish flair that has hundreds of power poles painted with the tartan of Scottish clans. We spent a couple of nights camping in Gibraltar National Park and explored the network of bushwalking trails. We spotted the flowers of the amazing Waratah plant, NSW’s state floral emblem. It was also here that the weather turned rotten AGAIN, so we packed up in the rain and continued along the Waterfall Way tourist drive determined to find a sheltered camp spot and explore this scenic area despite the rain. However the rain, fog and wind just increased, every campsite we came to were just mudpuddles, so we headed through to the coast, arriving at Urunga at 7pm at night where we parked the car and camper next to our rented cabin (yeah we piked out!) and headed to the pub for a hot meal. Whoo Hoo! After bathing out of a bucket for a week, this little bit of luxury went a long way and had me literally jumping up and down on the spot with excitement!

Hope everyone is still with us and enjoying the blog. Don’t forget to write! You can curse us for being the lucky buggers that we are, but we still want to hear how everyone is getting along! We do miss you all!
Mish and Stu