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Published: November 2nd 2006
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Three Sisters
Blue Mountains and the famous "Three Sisters" Wednesday 10/25/06 - Last full day in Sydney... ....by the time I had finished my last blog in the internet cafe, the sun had reappeared and I was off to meet Neets...who had decided to bag work and hang out with me 😊 Before long we were in her sexy little red Miata (Australians call them MX5s) with the wind in our hair as we headed west to the Blue Mountains.
The Blue Mountains are over an hour west of Syndey, and the blue haze surrounding these mountains is due to oil vapor from the thousands of Eucalyptus Trees (Gum Trees) here. The views are breaktaking and the air here has you feeling refreshed and relaxed. We stopped off in the quaint little town of Leura for some coffee and cake before heading on a cliff drive around the moutains up to Katoomba. Limited time prohibited any hiking (bushwalking) to see the waterfalls down inside the mountains but I was just happy that I didn't miss this natural wonder while in Sydney...a big cuddle goes out to Neets for this treat! ("cuddles" to Neets means a big hug!)
Come nightfall, we were at the grocery store picking up
Neets and Peter
Anita (looking at the wrong camera!) and Lisa's dad Peter. T-bones so Peter (Lisa's dad) could do his magic on the barbie (bbq). (Lisa was my aussie travel partner in Indonesia, who lives in Signapore) We ate and drank wine till our pants were going burst!
Come morning, I had to say goodbye to these lovely Aussies...I got on the train to the airport as I headed for the State of South Australia.
Thursday - Oct 27 - Arrived in Adelaide Mary retreived me from the airport, and before long we were sipping beers and chatting the night away back at her place in Adelaide. Friday afternoon Mary and I hit the markets in preparation for our camping trip. And needless to say, after 10 minutes I had to bust out "the list" (mom has taught me well)...without this list, we might have been eating flies on day 2!
Later that evening, we headed to a BBQ where I enjoyed my first ever kangeroo burger and of course more wine. I met a bunch of cool and a few rather unique people...and later at the bar, we met a drunk aussie pretending to have a french accent...whom became the source of many laughs over the next
BBQ in Adelaide
Mary and I sippin some vino! four days!
Saturday - Oct 29 - Heading North to the Flinder Ranges The Flinder Ranges are glowing red majestic mountains that rise from the Northern end of the Spencer Gulf and run at least 400km north into the arid outback. (approx 6 hours from Adelaide) In the far north, the ranges are quite barren compared to the southern ranges where there is more lush vegetation. We explored both the northern and southern ranges, and Mary did a brillant job planning our daily itineraries...that is, after Ryan insisted that we needed a plan!
We took off Saturday morning and stopped off in Clare Valley which is one of Adelaide's famous wine towns...Adelaide is known for hundreds of great wineries, but they are an hour or so at least outside of town. I was thrilled that Mary included a winery in our Flinders route. Ryan took a power nap, while Mary and I got a buzz on at the Paulett Winery.
We ventured north through the yellow rolling hills of Clare Valley to the unfenced stock grazing of the Southern Flinders and arrived at our first stop in Parachilna before sunset.
The town consists of...well almost
Fargher Lager at Sunset
Parachilna's home brewed beer and our first stop on our Flinders adventure. nothing but a hotel...however the Prairie Hotel had lots of charm, and a fantastic local beer called "Fargher Lager". We sipped some brewskis, watched the sunset, and feasted on the local fare of kangeroo, camel and emu (and some goat...cheese). Soo I know you are wondering....Kangeroo...it's alright, the meat is good but it's necessary that it's cooked correctly...Camel...umm not so good, but nothing horrible (it didn't taste like sweat as Ryan had imagined) thus I can check it off my "done that" list and never have to eat it again...but Emu was quite tasty...if we had Emu running around our back country at home, I'd eat it all the time! Yet, even though Emus are birds, they have meat more like beef.
Sunday morning we continued North...our first stop was Aroona dam where Ryan got a foot full of mud and Mary and I went rock hunting for my next arts and crafts project....and then onto Balcanoona Creek, Gammon Ranges and then to our campsite in Arkaroola.
After we set up and had a late lunch we explored the area of Arkaroola where we did a walk around the Pinnacles and stopped by the Bolla Bollana Creek. Now
Clare Valley
Rolling yellow hills with grape vines everywhere! don't get confused...creeks, gorges etc did not have water in them, I assume at times they have some...but Arkaroola especially was a very very dry and dusty place. The flies were supposedly not so bad this time of year, however, this meant 20 on your face vs. 100. Ryan was "with one with the flies"...Mary and I were happy to see most of them go at nightfall. We had no bears or lions to worry about...but you never roll out your sleeping bag until you go to sleep in case there are deadly snakes looking for a warm place to hide...and a snorting Roo in the bushes close by did make me nervous for a moment.
Monday morning we headed south to the town of Blinman (founded by a one legged peg man shepard), and to Stokes Hill Lookout. As we drove back into the Southern Ranges, the roads got better, the land got greener, and we actually saw a creek that had water in it!! We set up camp at the famous Wilpena's Pound in the middle of the Flinder Ranges National Park, which this was luxury in comparison to Arkaroola, we had bathrooms and an eating area
Pinnacles
Can you see Mary and Ryan... only steps away, not to mention a lot less dust and flies.
Tuesday morning, Mary and I took the 2 hour Wangarra Lookout Hike while Ryan remained at camp and fought off an angry Kangeroo who was looking for some breakfast. Ryan recently had knee surgery so he can't hike, but he can cook up a mean brekky! (that's Australian for breakfast)
After brunch, we headed south...back to Adelaide...along the way, we stopped at several towns, including...Port Germein which has the longest wooden jetty in all of australia (but nothing else)...and the hidden secret of Soloman Town Beach in Port Pirie. (which isn't really hiding anything)!
We arrived back in Adelaide, but before heading home Ryan and Mary took me on a little tour of Adelaide's coastal towns...this included the beaches of Semaphore, West Lakes (really nice suburb on a lake), Henley Beach, Glenelg Beach, Brighton Beach and finally to Seacliff beach where we had a few beers and watched an amazing sunset at the Seacliff Hotel. (first time in Oz that I had water to my west - which is where the sun sets remember) All these beaches are small, and close together along the Gulf
Aroona Dam
Amazing rocks here... St. Vincent waters just outside the city of Adelaide.
Over the past four days, we had traveled on everything from paved roads to gravel roads to dirt roads...we saw tons of kangeroos, wallabys, emus, sheep, goats, cows, cockatoos, and a huge array of gorgeous trees and cool bush fauna. Our trip was full of adventure and good times were had by all...we even got the car home in one piece!
I have a few days left to chill in Adelaide before heading to Melbourne. My plans have somewhat changed since I can't find a tour heading from Adelaide to Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road. But on a positive note, my overnight bus ticket to Melbourne is cheap and saves me a night of accomodation, and there are tons of tour options for the Great Ocean Road that start and end in Melbourne....so no harm done....although I did have to spend a whole day tracking down cheap accomodation in Melbourne for the weekend. Next Tuesday (11/7/06) is the "Melbourne Cup", it's a state holiday and a big excuse for almost every Australian to get pissed (drunk) and have a day off of work. Unfortunately I am flying to
Tasmania on the 7th so I will miss the actual race (and might explain my super cheap flight to Tassie), but I am sure this coming weekend will be a blast as the town prepares...
Well homies....time to go...I'll send one final blog about Australia before I head off to NZ. I haven't seen any photos of your costumes yet...Australia isn't big on Halloween...I need some spooky stories 😊
much love,
Kristen
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Rasika
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Wow
Finally had a chance to catch up! You sound like you are having such an amazing adventure. Miss you loads girl...stay safe, keep in touch. xo