Australia Day

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DAY 80


Today is Australia day and whilst most Australians spend time with family and friends we again pack the trailer away and depart from Forbes. It takes us ages to actually leave these camp sites as we have usually have made the acquaintance of a few people and when we pull out the windows always have to go down to say farewell and good luck to people.

I have absolutely loved Forbes, another jewel, in our box of memories, the buildings are just so pretty and the pace of life seems nice. There also seems to be a lot of beautiful park lands for the 10,000 residents.

We spoke to Jenny and Russell who own this Big 4 camp site, I honestly think it was the best one we have stayed on, either this trip or the last one in 2007. everything was pristine, no frills just perfectly clean and well kept. Caroline says that she can deal with sites with dated facilities as long as they are clean. We have stayed on some fairly new modern sites and they have not been clean at all.

They have a bird in a cage with a big sign saying come and talk to me, she is a Sulphur Crested cockatoo, called Jo-Jo, the sign also says please do not put your finger in the cage or feed me. You can’t help putting your finger in, as when you get up to her cage she bows her head in anticipation, of a scratch. She was in fantastic condition and when you walked away she always said “Hello”. Apparently the previous owners of the bird called her Jo as they thought he was a male, until one day their were eggs in the cage, so he became she and was then called Jo-Jo. Just in case you are wondering, she is a rescued Cockatoo, they did not capture one deliberately to keep in a cage.

Russell, the owner, came from New Zealand, Invercargill actually where the great Burt Munro came from. Who??? Burt Munro the guy who still holds the lands speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, for a certain class of motorcycle. You must have seen the film the worlds fasted “Indian” so inspirational it is definitely in mine and Caroline’s top 10 ten films of all times.

We head off, Orange is our first stop about 125 K’s away. We get there around lunch time and Caroline’s tummy clock is ringing. We really do try to make sandwiches everyday if possible, but we need to up load yesterdays blog and the photo’s from last night that I think are fantastic, so we need the golden arches. We must spend at least 1 ½ hours in there doing our on line stuff.

We have had a blog message from Sarah and Daryll, we don’t know them yet!!, but they are nearly about to start their dream of having a year and going around Australia, They have been reading our blog which we are pleased about and seem to enjoy it, whilst also cleaning a little information from it, we respond to their e-mail and hope they will contact us directly. They will be travelling around Australia the opposite way to us so at some point our paths may cross.

Today is really baking, yesterday was 42 degree’s in my undercrackers and today must be nearly the same.

We drive on to Bathurst, a vibrant town full of people celebrating Australia day and getting on the beer, the park is heaving with cars and people everywhere.

Next, on to Lithgow predominantly a mining town, with about 35,000 people, Caroline tells me we have been through here before and I ask if she is sure it was me because I can’t remember. I get out to look at an information board then jump back in the truck its sweltering. We drive to the Zig Zag railway that has been recommended by someone we have spoken to. We pull in and park, as a small steam train is just pulling off, it’s the last one of the day so we ask what time they run tomorrow, so we can decide if we have a train journey which lasts and hour and a half, still that’s for tomorrow.

We head up in to the Blue Mountains, towards Katoomba, as we have again been recommended a camp site at Blackheath, we pull in and I park as her ladyship goes in to see about a site. Anyone who knows Caroline will know that she “Never” says anything bad about anyone except me, she came out and said I have just had a conversation with “Jabba the Hut”, that fat thing from Star wars, I creased up.

We went for a full erection again, trailer and awning, really to just shade us from the evening sun. It went up in no time we are getting so good at it by now. (Although it takes no time at all really to put it up, Andy is too much of a perfectionist with it and we seem to spend ages tweaking the poles to the right height, making sure any sag is taken out of the awning and the tension is perfect).

When it was all done we took the patrol out to a look out about 8 kilometres down an unmade road, I thought the patrol would shake to bits, we came to the end of the track at a look out called Perry’s LookDown, the view was stunning. In the same vicinity there was a cave 500 metres away that had been sculpted by the winds, we walked down the track in our thongs (Flips Flops)(Uh! Andy did, I had hiking sandals on!) which is a cardinal sin and so stupid, it was out of sheer laziness that we didn’t put our hiking boots on.

The clouds were now starting to look ominous and rain was on its way, just as we just get back to the trailer it had stared to drizzle but not too much and the evening was getting colder, Caroline went to put her fleece on whilst I did something to eat.

We sit after tea, Caroline finishes her book, on Steve Irwin called “My Steve” by Terry Irwin and I type the blog.

Before we get in to bed we zip our sleeping bags together, usually we just lay them on top of each other as it’s so hot with a light blanket on top of these, and if its gets cooler I usually go under the sleeping bag layer.

As we are so high up in the mountains I think it will be cold, these sleeping bags are made in Denmark and Rated to minus -23 degree’s, but you have to keep the inner air warm to be warm and comfortable, so lets hope the night only falls a couple of degree’s.

Until tomorrow travellers, should we be spared.

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Photos

The Train Leaves
...from Clarence Station, this is the steam train on the Zig Zag Railway.

Perrys Lookdown
Makes a change from Lookout! What a stunning view, our pictures don't do this justice.

Wind Sculptures
Wind Sculpted Caves at Blackheath in the Blue Mountains

Sculpture
Another view of the wind sculptures

Rolling In
The weather was turnin and the black clouds rolled over Perrys Lookdown.

Blue Gum
Perry's Lookdown, looks over the vast range of the Blue Gum Forest

Mr Perry to you
Perrys Lookdown is apparently named after Mr Perry, a surveyor who served under Major Thomas Mitchell in the early 1800's.

Comments

[Gary]

Zig Zag
This may be too late, but the Zig Zag railway is a must. One of the highlights of our trip. If you talk nice to the Engineer or Fireman, Canadian titles BTW, you might get a trip down or up in the cab. Love the blog. Keep up the good work. And ENJOY the adventure of a lifetime.

[Mum and Dad]

Bert Munro
We too love the film of Bert Munro......your photos are stunning and your blog inviting.....keep safe....xx