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!
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| 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.
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| 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
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