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The fact that I am writing this blog means that the ‘block of flats’ was towed safely through Sydney traffic thanks to Wes’s expert driving, to settle for a week in Narrabeen on the northern beaches of Sydney. Yes, I hear you all moan - another beach. The theme for the last few weeks has been beaches because after Sydney we head inland and don’t hit the ocean again until we get to the Gulf which is approx. 3500kms.

We visited the usual tourist sights whilst in Sydney, and so for my fellow Aussies reading the blog, please bear with us while we cover off these ubiquitous Sydney tourist sites for our overseas rellies and friends.

Our first outing was a drive to Bobbin Head and Wisemans Ferry - some of my childhood haunts. A great day out - we even caught the car-ferry across the Hawksbury River at Wisemans Ferry. Got back to camp just in time for ‘cocktail hour’. The next day was Mother’s Day and a very emotional day for me because not only was it my first Mother’s Day without Mum, I wasn’t with my very lovable kids either. We kept busy by visiting my Greek family for brunch (thank you Vicky, Alexander, Thea and Louis) and then went to the stage show, Billy Elliot. I can highly recommend this show to anyone who has an opportunity to see it. Wes loved it too.

The next day we caught the Manly Ferry to the city, a bus to Bondi and then walked the clifftop walk between Bondi and Bronte beaches, which was spectacular. The weather while we were in Sydney was gob-smackingly gorgeous considering it was late Autumn - every day was perfect with temps of 21-23 degrees. We stopped in a Bondi café and watched the unwashed Bondi masses (mostly backpackers and surfers) pass by for an hour or two.

We were starting to settle into the café lunch lifestyle and so engorged ourselves on a lunch at the Newport Arms Hotel the next day enroute to Palm Beach (for our UK rellies this is the Home and Away beach). We were more interested in the beautiful beachside homes. Lleyton and Bec have a house here. Then we caught up with great friends Wayne and Mel for Japanese at Neutral Bay. A serious sleep in was required the next day - as we didn’t get back to camp until 11.00pm!!

Blah, blah for the next few days….washing, gym, fish and chips. And Wes was in demand at the caravan park fixing fridges in fellow travellers vans.

Our final sightseeing day in Sydney was a bus ride to Manly, a ferry across to the city, lunch with Vicky, a cursory glance at the ‘Diana’ exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum, a walk around Darling Harbour and a ferry ride to a few harbour stops back to Manly. Then dinner with some more great friends, Dom and Deb, at Dee Why.

We packed up and left Sydney without having covered off some of the To Do items but because we will be coming back this way - things like the Bridge Climb will have to wait.

Off we went to base ourselves at Bathurst for a few days. Although Bathurst is only 245 kms from Narrabeen, it took us the best part of the day due to Sydney traffic and Blue Mountains weekend traffic. Of course there was a café lunch spot stop at Blackheath (best burger and hand cut chips ever) which didn’t help.
Once over the range the beautiful weather turned its toes up and things got nasty. One of our Bathurst outings was a drive to Orange and nearby Mt Canobolos where there was still snow on the ground from the night before and the daily high was 6º !!! Poor Wes was ‘made’ sit in the car for 2 hours while I waited for it to snow some more - but alas to no avail. On our way back we stopped off at Spring Hill where for a time my paternal grandparents managed a pub and where apparently I was bathed on the bar as a baby.

Another was a drive through Lithgow to Jenolan Caves, where we did a cave tour. These caves are truly the most spectacular in Australia - and I have been to quite a few. On the way back to camp we diverted to Kanangra Walls lookout which was another spectacular vista, although not easily captured on camera as it was late in the afternoon and the shadows made the contrasts very challenging.

After leaving Bathurst we headed towards Mudgee with a stop at Sofala where we unhooked the ‘block of flats’ and left it by the river (much to the curiosity of the townsfolk) and went off-road to visit historic Hill End gold mining town.

When we returned we hooked up and headed to Mudgee…..

P.S - Getting into the blog swing now - will become weekly with better photos as of next week.

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