Bathurst/Blue Mountain/Canberra

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At Bathurst today Pete was grinning like a Cheshire cat as he hooned around the Mount Panorama circuit. Slight exaggeration there, seeing as the speed limit is 60 kms per hour and we were a motorhome and not a super V8 car. Nevertheless it was still very interesting and even I enjoyed the ride, so much so that we went around twice! Pete then visited the adjacent car museum but I chose to stay with the RV and write this blog! (Must be a bloke thing).

We are in the Blue Mountains now and enjoying some great hiking. There aren’t any free camping spots around here so instead of staying in the local camping ground we again asked the local publican if we could park in his carpark for the night and in return we would buy meals and a drink at his place. He wins and so do we as we actually spend our money on food and drink rather than a shower only at the campground, something we don’t need as we have one on board. The main thing is that we are in a safe spot where we will not be woken up in the middle of the night and told to move on.

The weather has been windy and cold and we have exchanged our T-shirt and shorts for thermals and long pants unfortunately. Visited the Janolan caves which were absolutely amazing and especially the natural arch that we had to drive through to get to the car park as it was so narrow. Definitely worth visiting. Spent that night in the Jenolan state forest with another couple in their RV and as it was so cold we invited them in to share a drink as it was far too cold to relax outside! There are so many many interesting people out on the roads. On the way out of the forest we had to travel through a high wind area and came across a car that had totally had its caravan lifted off the trailer base and was on the side of the road with lots of dents and rips in it. Not a nice sight but at least no one was hurt. Our van hardly moved so we are glad that we have over 4 ton of weight to hold us down.

We enjoyed our first day hiking in the Blue Mountains so much that we stayed for another day and spent the night in the pub car park in exchange for purchasing another meal. Added bonus today as it was their Thursday special being two meals for the price of one!

After stopping at a one horse town on the way to Canberra and enquiring if we could stay somewhere safe there in our RV a friendly local offered us the use of his paddock as long as we locked the gate because we would be sharing it with a lock of sheep. Didn’t worry us!

Now in Canberra and exploring the many sites and attractions the city has to offer. Today we did a guided tour of the war museum which was very interesting but very sad. Next was parliament and another guided tour and again it was fascinating. We biked the 8 kms into the city and back again so think we will sleep soundly tonight. Next day we took the RV into town in order to try and attempt to fit more things in. First was a drive up Black Mountain and a ride up the Telstra Tower to view the 360 degree panorama of Canberra, then the Botanical gardens with our own personal guide (seeing as there was no-one else waiting), followed by the National Museum and finally the National Portrait Gallery where we viewed some wonderful artwork of famous Australians from all walks of life from David Campese to Bob Hawke and even Princess Mary of Denmark.

We called into the Australian Mint to take a guided tour on how they make all their coins before heading onwards easterly to the coast and Bateman’s Bay. Pete asked the guide if we would be receiving a sample of the money at the end of the tour seeing as at the end of a chocolate tour one usually receives some chocolate. His answer was no but he quietly came over to us before we left and gave us a packet of mints!

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