Brisbane to Sydney

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Hey Hey! So here's the first installment of our Australian Adventure.

We set off from Brizzy in the Chang-mobile for Byron Bay - only a couple hours down the coast. We found the campsite. It was nice but shocking expensive at $38 a night. We paid it because it was really close into the centre of town. The park, and Byron at large, was crammed with backpackers. It was our first enounter with the rest of our species and we didn't much like it! The weather was also rather showery and generally dismal. Fortunately the sea was warm and the tail end of the cyclone that was bringing the bad weather also brough some good waves for body boarding! And kept the crowds off the beach to boot. We spend a nice couple days in Byron going on the lighthouse walk, swimming and visiting a couple bars. We even went out to dinner to celebrate the start of our second adventure.

Thusly, we moved on to Yamba - another coastal town another fairly short drive away. There were no backpackers in Yamba, it was a total change of scene. The weather was starting to improve and again we found a nice campsite in a good location. This one was right on the water where the sea comes in and becomes a river...what's that? An estuary? I don't know, I did Human Geography. It was pretty and quiet and laid back too. We were only a few metres from the series of fine beaches strung along between rocky headlands.

Onwards down the coast to a place called South West Rocks, via. Nambucca Heads. We were thinking of stopping in Nambucca, which was a lovely place but we were a bit early and felt like pressing on. Instead we bought some fish and chips and ate them at Captain Cook's Lookout (one of hundreds of identically named lookouts along the east coast. Boy, did he like to lookout). South West Rocks was a big favourite with old-diggers and all the pitches were full when we arrived on a Sunday night in low season. It had a fantastic location, right on the small headland between two beaches. We were keen to stay, so we opted for one of the on-site cabins for the bargain price of $50 cash (they did us a bit of a last-minute deal). The cabin was seriously dated but to us it was luxury. We could freeze our ice bricks, keep our food cool in the fridge and watch TV! Brilliant! There was a really weird storm that night - the sky went black but the sun was still shining and lighting things up.

After the night of luxury we moved to a vacant tent pitch which had the most beautiful view. It was right on the edge of the site directly overlooking the long deserted beach. We therefore spent considerable time sitting outside the tent doing nothing atall. We also went swimming in the sheltered sea. Not good for bodyboarding but great for snorkelling! I saw heaps of cool fish. Big ones, just cruising around down there as fish will. For dinner we enjoyed an excellent pizza from Eagle Boys and had one of those desert thingies they have. Peole in Australia: you should try them.

After a couple nights doing very little in the sleepy town of South West Rocks we moved onwards and inwards from the coast to The Hunter Valley - famous winemaking region! We decided to take a self-guided tour of the region. Organised ones were expensive and Mike's not big into wine anyway so he could be the designated driver. Cruising around the beautiful countryside in the Chang-mobile was great, vineyards and wineries open to the public were absolutely everywhere. The climate was a bit cooler and it was different to anything else we'd yet experienced.

First we drove not to a winery but a brewery! This was the Blue Tongue Brewery and Mike enjoyed a 10am $12 beer tasting session. His favourite was the Alcoholic Ginger Beer. After that we cruized to McGuians winery for a spot of tasting and a tour. I found the wine tasting a bit intimidating to be honest! Even though I'm sure it's far more laid back than those in Europe, it still feels awkward standing there asking for various samples of wine off a list and pretending like you know what you're talking about when you clearly don't as the winery person stands there watching you waiting for your verdict. And at this first one I wasn't sure if you had to pay (turns out you don't - free wine!) and what the protocal was, so it was a bit off putting. Nevertheless, I pushed on bravely to the Lindemans Winery for more tasting (after an incredibly dull tour at McGuians - saw some barrels and that was as exciting as it got). Lindemans was more laid back (we got the distinct impression the girl serving didn't give a damn what we liked and if we bought - she just poured the wine) and we partook in some very delectable wines. There was an awesome $40 red we tried, but not $40 worth of awesome so we didn't buy it. In the same building was Rosemount and we had a try of them too, including a $76 one that wasnt even that good! We mumbled some excuses (other than being tight-arses) as to why we would not be purchasing.

We also drove up to the Wyndham Estate which was a bit of a way out, but it was rather flash and there was no one else there and I was too scared to sample so we went back to the campsite where I enjoyed an excellent Lindemans Goon (that's boxed wine to you British folk).

From The Hunter we drove alsong a bendy country road to The Blue Mountains which were stunning. But first of all you want to hear about our accommodation troubles, obviously. The campsite we wanted to stay at in Katoomba, the main town, probably the Windermere of the Blue Mountains, but it was full. There was nothing else around so we looked up something in our bush camping book and headed off for our first bush camp! It took us down 9km of bumpy dirt road before arriving in an empty clearing deep in the forest. The amenities consisted of a long-drop toilet and a place to have a campfire. It was a bit freaky on our own but fortunately some others rocked up later on and came up to talk to us so we could tell they weren't weirdos. That night it was DARK and QUIET. Mike had fun wth the fire though. We packed up the next day and headed back to Katoomba. We ate breakfast at Echo Point lookout south of town which has a seriously amazing view of the tree clad vallys (which do look kind blue when you look into the distance but not so much that you'd really notice if it weren't pointed out to you). It was incredibly expansive - the morning mist was just burning off. The main focal point was 3 rocks sticking up named the Three Sisters (who's who is up for discussion. Check the pictures and decide!).

We headed off to the gorgeous YHA for showers ($2 each! bargain!) and then began our walk from Echo Point, down the valley on The Giant's Stairway along a bit and back up via the steepest single guage railway in the world! Fun walk. It was weird emerging from a quiet walk in the rainforest into 'Scenic World' (no kidding) and an Alton Towers style setup for the railway. I think it did once have a genuine use but it seemed so fake and cheesy and packed with tourists. Not saying it wasn't fun though! It was indeed very steep and very fast. Appropriately we exited through the gift shop at the top.

We bush camped another night in another bush camping spot. This time it was Saturday night and the place, despite being possibly even more remote than the last, was packed out with campers. Mostly families from Sydney by the looks of things. We slept in the car that night for the first time. It was harder than we had hoped. The actual sleeping was fine - very comfortable. Finding a place for all the stuff we normally keep in the back of the car or tent was more taxing. We went for another walk the next day, this time from Wentworth Falls which were also incredibly stunning. The weather was perfect for walking too. Fairly cool but with bright blue sunny skies. Also there were Cockatoos everywhere, it was such a lovely place. It was good for us half-hearted walkers too because the trails were well marked and signposted including an massively over-estimated time the walk should take (which made us feel good about ourselves).

After 2 nights in the bush we headed to a campsite in the Blackheath where we stayed another few nights but didn't do much. Recovering from the walking and the basic accommodation was needed...

Somewhat reluctant to leave we booked a night in a hostel in the big smoke and headed to Sydney, stopping at a lookout on the way where you were supposed to be able to see the city, but actually you couldnt. Damn you Lonely Planet, you had me again.

We successfully navigated our way through Sydney centre to our accommodation and found somewhere to park. Both of which are nothing short of a miracle. The parking was for 1 hour only but we figured the hostel would have some sort of permit. They didn't, and the guy on the desk advised us to throw away any parking tickets we received! Responsible eh? We were a bit cross about that, but we were kinda stuck having booked (they said they had parking on their website). To make things better, the hostel was ferral. The room was plain nasty, the mattress was a serious injury risk and the sheets were dirty. You had about as much chance of getting on the 'free internet' as finding free parking, as it was constantly occupied by vacant looking 18 year olds.

We reluctantly stayed the night, spending minimal time in the hostel. It was in the King's Cross area, which was once very dodgy but has since cleaned up it's act a bit. People watching here was great fun as a good 50% of the people were serious weirdos. And we found a bar which was at once reasonably priced AND not a hell hole. Actually, it was pretty flash looking and they did $10 steaks (which were GREAT) and $3 drinks.

The next day checked out of the grim hostel and checked online for another with parking. This does not exist is seems, so we decided to camp at the nearest campsite 14km out of town (and across the Harbour Bridge). Checking in there was a relief. Camping is heaps nicer than hostelling. We felt like we were almost back in the peace and quiet of the countryside. I say almost because our neighbours were a group of Manchester lads and because the lights from the city made it a bright night. The planes flying over made it a noisy one. There were heaps of cheeky Kookaburras there though, who would knick your dinner when you weren't looking!

We took a train into the city for an afternoon/evening in Sydney. We had a bit of shopping to do, but we could only find really flash shops so we couldn;t get anything we wanted. We figured we should probably go look at the Opera House/Harbour Bridge even though we'd seen them on our 2005 trip and weren't really that bothered to see again. Yeah, they looked the same. Whatever.

So then we hit some pubs in the Rocks. They were a bit skeggy so we went back to Kings Cross for $10 steaks and cheap drinks. At about 9pm we were rather bored of sitting in a bar so took the train home, but the last few stops had stopped running and so had the busses, so we had to get a taxi! Very very annoying, as we were coming home early to avoid just this.

The next day we got the hell out of Sydney, via. Botany Bay, Captain Cook's landing place! Surprised he didn't turn around...it's very industrial. Apparently he only stayed 8 days before returning home. Probably realised his men couldn't live on McDonalds alone.

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Photos

Yamba
Taken from our tent pitch!

South West Rocks
Again, taken from campsite