A wee Scottish toon and the road to Sydney!!

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It was time to hit the road to Sydney but not before we came across a tiny wee Scottish toon called MacLean!! Any feelings of home-sickness we had was soon cured when we drove in and noticed that all the lamp-posts were wrapped in tartan with banners advertising highland games! Putting on our heaviest Scot’s accents – and just incase anyone didn’t notice them Paul made sure people knew where we were from by proudly marching the streets in his Scotland top! Sure enough the local butcher noticed, but even better he was able to sell us some Lorne sausage and haggis – lunch and dinner sorted!!! It felt just like home, but warmer ;-)

From Maclean to Sydney was a hefty drive so we stopped off on the way and sampled some of the great Aussie beaches. The best we seen was probably South West Rocks, but in Oz your spoilt for your choice and there are beaches round almost every corner! Once we reached Nelson’s Bay after an all day-drive we were in need of some ‘entertainment’ and eventually found ourselves in the local bowling club for some bingo – we know how to live it up!! Tina was in her element that she finally managed to drag Paul into a bingo hall – even if it was across the other side of the world. Turned out to be a funny night and to top it all off Tina won a card which got us a much needed $20 voucher for a supermarket, every penny counts! The next day we visited the windy One Mile Beach and then drove on to Newcastle, once we were within touching distance of Sydney we camped up for the night in one more glamorous lay-by!

Sydney is one of the places we have been most excited about visiting, so when we woke up on the morning ready to see the famous city with blue skies we weren’t too chuffed to find a massive downpour that ended up lasting the entire day! We had arranged to stay with Jo and Mark (Aussie friends of Paul’s who he used to work with) and after a thousand wrong turns in the Sydney traffic we finally found their house. We headed out with Jo for some Saturday night drinks in the plush Paddington area of the city, catching up with Jo was brilliant and some dance floor domination was had!

On Sunday Jo and Mark took us on a tour of the sights of Sydney – firstly to Watson’s Bay where we indulged ourselves in the perfect hangover cure of fish n’ chips, along the way getting attacked by seagulls trying to steal our chips, the flaming galares!! We also visited the famous Bondi Beach but it was far too cold that day to take a dip in the surf.

The next day we were both excited about heading in to the city centre in search of the iconic Harbour Bridge and Opera House. When we first seen the bridge we both gave out a wow! We took a walk along the Harbour Bridge which had fantastic views to the Opera House below. As the sun was setting we sat ourselves down at the Opera bar which is outside and really cool and looks out to the bridge. We ordered a couple of drinks and pretty much sat in awe as we watched the bridge light up as it got darker – it was a stunning view and one of the moments when we knew we were in Australia!

After staying 4 nights in Jo and Mark’s great company we reluctantly left Sydney to head inland to see the spectacular Blue Mountains. The mountains were absolutely enormous but the highlight was definitely the 3 sisters which was a picturesque outcrop of 3 jagged mountains in front of a massive valley below. We were also amazed to find that the mountains actually do have a tint of blue mist that hangs around them, pretty spooky! The only drawback to our trip was that this was definitely the coldest part of Australia we have been to – Sheila didn’t offer much warmth for our chilly night’s sleep up in the mountains!!

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Comments

[Betty]

Great Update!
Love the photos. Glad you're taking this trip so I can see the world through your photos.