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We had planned on escaping the city for awhile and going away in our motorhome for a break for couple of days. Not really wanting to go that far away, we thought somewhere within a couple of hours’ drive would suffice, perhaps down the south coast to Kiama or Kangaroo Valley in the southern highlands.
It had been lovely weather for weeks, in fact, only a couple of days previously, we had still been experiencing an Indian summer again this year, with days of 29 deg and 32 deg - temperatures far too high for this time of the year.
We had looked forward to our little adventure for the last couple of weeks – it would be fun to get away in our motorhome again for a few days, as we hadn’t been away in it since our Christmas break with the family when we spent 10 days in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney.
As often happens, circumstances make you have to change your plans at a moment’s notice and, that’s what happened to ours.
The morning arrived for our departure, with gale-force winds and heavy rain and the prospect of firstly, driving in those
conditions in such a large vehicle and then spending the next couple of days being battered by strong winds and torrential rain in some coastal environment, wasn’t at all appealing and could prove somewhat foolhardy. The last thing we wanted to do was to spend a miserable couple of days at the mercy of the elements as the Bureau of Meteorology had already put a severe weather warning in place for Sydney and the east coast of NSW with the coast south of Sydney as well as the Illawarra region, to bear much of the brunt of the extreme weather that was expected.
What were we to do? Besides staying at home, which we really didn’t want to do, as we had been so looking forward to our break away for some time. Several options were explored with a Plan B being quickly decided upon, and the decision to abandon the idea of going away in the van and instead, head away from the coast and go inland to the mountains to some snug cabins that we knew of.
A quick phone call to check availability and make our booking and then get our things packed up and
into the car and away by lunchtime.
It was still raining heavily with strong winds blowing, buffeting the car, as we headed out of the city so had to take care on the roads as they were quite slippery, with a lot of water lying around and it would have been very easy to find the car aquaplaning at a moment's notice.
Avoiding the Great Western Highway with its heavier traffic, multitude of traffic lights and constant changes of varying village speed limits as you wind you way up the mountain, we opted to take the alternative of Bells Line of Road which takes a more rural route with fewer communities to pass through so, a much quicker trip, even in the current weather conditions.
We always enjoy the trip over the mountains and even today in the wet, cold and windy conditions, it was still picturesque as we travelled through the misty countryside and drifts of low cloud scudding across the valleys.
Turning off at the community of Bell on the top of the mountain, we headed across the Darling Causeway to Mt. Victoria, down steep Victoria Pass, turning left onto the Jenolan Caves road.
We continued on until Hampton then decided to turn off here and get to our cabin by coming in from the Oberon end instead of going down and through Jenolan Caves itself, as we really didn’t want to tackle the narrow, steep and winding road with all of its hairpin bends, in the current weather conditions.
By now, it was mid-afternoon and time for a break and a light snack so, the thought of a lovely bowl of hot soup with crusty toast seemed very appealing so, we decided to stop in Oberon which was only about 30 kms from our final destination.
It was as we were arriving into the outskirts of town, that we heard the traffic report over the radio, saying that a tree had come down in the strong winds on the Bells Line of Road, and was blocking traffic in both directions. We must have not long gotten through there before that happened otherwise we could have been delayed for quite some time as authorities were informed and an SES (State Emergency Service) work team was able to get to the isolated area concerned to remove the tree.
Finding a cosy,
local coffee shop, we were soon refuelled and rejuvenated by a warming hot bowl of pea and ham soup, herb toast and a frothy, skinny muggaccino and some convivial conversation with the lovely couple, sitting at the table next to us who had also come in out of the cold, we were once more on our way to our home for the next couple of days – Jenolan Cabins at Porcupine Hill.
Set in the lovely hilly countryside of the Great Dividing Range between Oberon and Jenolan Caves in the Blue Mountains of NSW, the cabins are a lovely retreat away from the rat-race of city life.
Arriving around 4-30pm, upon checking in and chatting to our hosts, we discovered that they had already lit the slow combustion fire in our cabin a couple of hours earlier, so that it would be nice and warm when we arrived. What a lovely gesture for their clients.
We have previously been to the cabins but, it is quite a number of years ago now but, as we hurried in, with all of our gear, out of the rain and the wind and the blustery conditions outside, it was very
welcoming to walk into the warm, cosy familiar surroundings, leaving the cold, wet world outside.
Our cabin consisted of beautifully-high cathedral ceilings with exposed beams, with the main lounge/family room area and eat-in kitchen as you came in the front door. A small hallway led off from here to the bathroom on the left, master bedroom straight ahead with a second bedroom on the right. Large windows in the lounge and master bedroom overlooked the rain-swept valley below us. Orange-coloured flames licked lazily away at the logs in our slow-combustion heater in the corner of the lounge room, complementing the colour and warmth of the pine-panelled walls of our cosy cabin.
We had come in out of the storm and, all was right with our world ….
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Mike Rowley
non-member comment
Road trip
That looks like BC rain. We are currently in a warm period. Very mild winter followed by a gorgeous spring. All my landscapers starte4d work a month and a half early and the weather today is clear, warm, sunny with temps in the high 20's. Thanks for the blog entry. Talk to you soon. Cheers, Mike