Australia - Hunter Valley and the Blue Mountains

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We got a cab from the Formula 1 hotel and said goodbye to our prime location in between Macdonalds and KFC!! We picked up our rental Hyundai Getz from the domestic terminal, set off for Manly (where we were meeting Greg and Janet) with our rented sat nav, because we had sent the cables home from Zo’s one and off we went. We were taken a long way round and ended up going through the tunnel instead of over the Harbour Bridge, which was disappointing. We met up with G&J at their friends place and all set off to get some supplies. After we were stocked up with food and drink, and a new airbed for Zo and I, we got on our way to Cessnock. Cessnock is a old small mining town which is now more famous for it’s central location in the Hunter Valley wine region. It took us about 3 hours to get near Cessnock and the Getz was worse than the Toyoto in NZ!! It had no power at all and we really struggled on hills……..flat, corners, downhill, overtaking, headwinds etc. We stopped off at a small winery on the way to our campsite where Zo got pressured into buying a bottle of Semillon which she didn’t want. We set up camp at the big 4 tourist park, had some beers, a swim in the pool and got good use out of the wind up radio for the first time!! Cooked a good dinner on a small gas camping stove and booked our wine tour trip for the next day.

The bus turned up at 9.25am with our driver Brian. We were in our first winery by 10am - that’s how we roll. Our first winery was Robyn Drayton - the daughter of the Drayton family. They are known as the Kennedy’s of the Hunter Valley because they own most of it and have had a lot of tragedy! We were mainly going to sample Semillon, Verdelho and Shiraz as that is what they are famous for. We were told that throughout the day we would probably get through about 2 bottles each. The next stop was ‘party drinks’ as Brian liked to call it. They were mainly shots which finished in a Chilli shot - very hot!! From there we went to an olive producer and got to sample pickles etc. The best was the Ring of Fire, which was the hottest chilli paste I have ever tried. You could have no more than ¼ teaspoon!! We decided to buy a jar of that and I can assure you that is deserves it’s name of Ring of Fire!! From there we went to a couple more wineries, cheese shop, chocolate shop and a brewery. Overall it was a really good day with a lot of wine and we even got to see Kangaroos in the wild. We got back early eve and had to walk to the shops for some dinner. When we got back we went for a nice relaxing swim and had dinner with the chilli sauce.

Woke up and the ring of fire had done it stuff. Packed up and set off for the Goldenfield National Park. The tarmac road turned to bumpy mud roads and our little car was lucky to get there. This was in the heart of the bush and proper camping. There was no phone signal, showers or lights. All there was a old stinky long drop and another couple of campers. We set up our tent and collected some firewood, for light and to warn off any unwanted animals like snakes. It had been a baking hot day, so we chilled. We managed to see a what Greg told us was a blue tongues lizard climbing up a tree, turns out it was far too big to be a blue tongue. We got our fire going, thanks to my fire techniques, learned in the wild bush of Oxfordshire and cooked some dinner (on a stove)!! As dinner was cooking, Greg saw a family of kangaroos’ going down to the creek to drink. It was an amazing sight to see them in their natural habitat! After dinner Janet had a bit of a fright when she went for a wee, because it was next to an owl and a Roo!! When we got in our tent it was so so so hot that neither of us could breathe. We had to take the fly net off and let the airbed down because we were so claustrophobic. We reckon the fire had taken all the oxygen out of the tent. The noise of the animals was so loud and you could hear all sorts of things walking around our tents. We had the worst night sleep we have ever had!!

Got up early because we couldn’t breath and the weather was another baking hot day!! Packed up our gear and decided to get out before we fried!! The journey out was more eventful than the journey in because a lot of it was uphill on dirt tracks. Off went the aircon and we made it out in 1st gear. We made a de tour for some petrol before driving to a small town called Lithgow, which is right on the edge of the Blue Mountains National Park. We stayed at a nice camp site next to Lake Lylle, and it had some showers!!! We set up camp in the shadiest place we could find, got some food for dinner and had a walk around town. It was a tiny town. Australia is the now the most obese country in the world, which we found hard to believe. Speaking to Greg he says it is probably true because all the kids eat now is fast food and get driven everywhere. Lithgow summed up the problem - it had ever type of fast food joint you could possibly think of. This is in a town that is tiny!! We got back and went to have a swim in the lake. There were speed boats pulling kids all over the place in rubber rings so we didn’t have a swim. Also, Greg saw a guy holding up his kid so he could, lets say, ‘drop the cosby kids off at the swimming pool.’ It was foul and you wouldn’t get that in NZ - generally they don’t look after the environment any where near as good as NZ! We went and had a well deserved shower and sat up drinking and playing games. We had some glow sticks left over from New Year so we made a cool psychogenic video and played a game of pictionay with them. It was a really good night.

Up early again because the sun was on our tent - so much for putting it in the shade!! We took a drive out through the Blue mountains and to Scenic World. The first attraction in scenic world was a cable car across a gorge, from there we took a walk to a look out of the 3 sisters rock formation. Back across on the cable car and down the worlds steepest railway. It was awesome and pretty darn steep. They had the Indiana Jones music playing as we went down through the cave. From there we had a walk around the forest and to see the old mining sights. On a different cable car back to the top. The views were amazing and it was a beautiful place. The reason why they are called the Blue Mountains is because there is a blue haze above them. This is from the oils coming out of the eucalyptus trees. After Scenic world we took a drive to Echo Point lookout in Katoomba. It was a stunning view of the National park and I would very much recommend it - the only problem was that I dropped my camera and broke it, so we are now down to 1 camera! From there we drove back to Lithgow to get some lunch and back to camp for a relaxing afternoon. Had a few drinks with dinner and generally chilled out.

Up and out of the Blue Mountains and we were heading to a small town just SW of Sydney. When we got there it was so hot, about 38, we decided we needed to get to the coast and try and get some breeze. We got back in the cars and headed to Wollongong, on the coast south of Sydney. It was nice to be by the sea and get some breeze. We went to the info centre and found a place to stay at Bulli Beach, just north of Wollongong. It is the height of the kids summer holidays and the campsite are heaving. We got given this tiny little sight, wedged in between these huge tents. They bring small tent houses with them, fully equipped with TV, fridge, microwave……. In a tent!!!! We put both out tents up on this overprices small patch and headed down to the beach - 3 min walk! Sat on the beach for a couple of hours and watched all the lifesavers doing their training. Was really interesting to see. Had a good swim in the crashing waves and was good to cool down. Back to camp for some dinner on the camping stove and some cold beers. It had been wanting to storm all day, due to the heat, and at about 11pm we walked back down to the beach to watch the most amazing electrical storm out at sea. It went on for miles and was a real sight. So hard to capture on camera, but we sat there and watched it for about an hour. Back to camp and bed.

Up at 7am and in the sea by 7.15 - what a life and what a way to start your day. The water was so cold and refreshing and the beach was empty. We were heading our separate ways today because we had to go back to Sydney, while Greg and Janet were going further south. It was a really good week with them and at last we got to do so some proper camping. We left them at the campsite and we headed back to Sydney to sort out our next plans. Back to the trusty Formula 1 hotel for some well earned R&R. We drove into town to book our tickets on the Greyhound and get some food for dinner. Early night and it was nice to be in a bed!!

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Photos

Janet, Tom and Gregg
at a winery

At Camp
A view through Tom's eyes

From thr other side
looking over the Blue Mountains

Playing with horses
at scenic world

under the canopy
of the rainforest at scenic world

Crazy glow stick dancing
with no music!

Comments

[Chris]

Broken Camera!!!
Tommy, you've broken your camera?? Does that mean no more photos taken through trees??? Nooo....

[Aunty Kathy]

Yes, what a life indeed!
Well, sounds like you had a fantastic Christmas and New Year (and a great birthday Zo). Fancy spending Christmas in Croydon! It must have been great seeing Baz again. Seems like you're enjoying getting back on the road again after all those festivities. If you ever get fed up with all that heat, spare a thought for us here. It's really cold at the moment (we had some snow again this morning). In fact it's been a bloody cold Winter and we've still got half of it to go. Message from Uncle Len - did you hear that Crystal Palace has gone into administration, has been docked 10 points, and are now only just above relegation? Well, that must have brought you back to the real world! Have fun. Lots of love Aunty Kathy and Uncle Lennie xxxx