Blogs from Katoomba, New South Wales, Australia, Oceania - page 6

Wow, what a temperature change! At last we are feeling the benefit of carting walking boots, fleeces, thermals etc all around South East Asia where it was averaging 35 degrees. It's now averaging 15 degrees! We arrived in Sydney after an all night flight from Bangkok and decided to stay awake the whole day to get our body clocks into Oz time - we did very well and were looking forwards to feeling the benefit the next morning, had we not been rudely awakened by a bunch of gap year kids partying away till 3 am - the joys of backpacker living a bit lost on us! The following morning we met up with a friend of ours who lives in Sydney - Phoebe. She drove us around all day and showed us the highlights - ... read more

“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty,charm and adventure.There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open”.Jawaharial Nehru.A long time ago when the earth’s land masses were being formed and oceans shaped,a mighty force must have looked down at a spot on Australia’s east coast and pondered on what to do with the craggy,cliff faced coastline.Succumbing to temptation,a mighty hand must have stretched down and prized open an entry to the land lying beyond.Then a few deft finger strokes would have formed numerous inlets which absorbed the ocean’s water rushing into this incision.Centuries of geological engineering would have then played out adding sandy beaches to many tiny hidden bays transforming the erstwhile land mass into a remarkably beautiful inland waterway protected at ... read more

We made a last minute decision to do the Blue Mountains first instead of heading straight to Sydney and it turned out to be amazing! We didn't realize we would have to take a cable ferry to get accross a river along the way and as we pulled up we were worried because we didn't have much cash on us. I was particularly pleased when we discovered it was free. We stopped for a picnic lunch just after the ferry and saw some maple trees. They really stood out because there aren't really many trees that change colour around here. We didn't get into Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains, until about 4:30 thanks to slow roads initially and then nasty traffic as we got close enough to Sydney to battle with commuters. We found the caravan ... read more

First stop on our epic trip though Australia! Left Sydney this afternoon after being busy busy picking up the campervan, organising the rest of the trip and packing up. Driving again for the first time this year was a little stressful and doing it in the center of Sydney possibly wasn't the best place to do it but it went pretty well!! Slightly panicing about spending 2 months in the van but it's pretty nice, it's 2007 reg so not to old and does go at some speed occassionally so we're not crawling around. It's relativley ok to drive except it brakes a lot slower than my car at home so having to remind myself of that or there might be a nasty accident soon! There's a giant picture of a boxing donkey on the side ... read more

Geo: -33.6535, 150.287I miss the Blue Mountains!!The people, The sights, The sounds, The experiences.I must say i was sad to leave, but knowing that i will be back soon has me looking forward to returning.I last reported on my amazing first 24hrs in the Blueys, so now i can report on the week that was. Well as you know i arrived on the Friday and Mountain biked on the Saturday. In short i stayed at the Katoomba YHA for 6 nights when originally i booked 3 nights, this was due to my work being around Lithgow area, and seeing it was only a 40 min drive away, i thought I'd extend the stay.After the mountain biking i found myself in a state of immobility, at the time, needless to say i pulled up fine the next ... read more