Weeks 50 & 51 Blue Mountains, Bondi Beach & Sydney - OZ

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My last 2 weeks in Australia have been a real mixture of highs and lows with fabulous scenery, great food and wine and a wide variety of accommodation. I have gone from below zero temperatures with frost, sleet and snow to the hottest first Spring day Sydney has seen since 1865 with a lovely 26 degrees Celsius. The down side has been a nasty chest infection, an expensive medical bill and some enforced time indoors. Anyhow, here is the tale of the final 14 days in the magnificent country of Australia.

After an overnight stay at a hostel in the centre of Sydney I caught an early morning train for the scenic 2 hour trip north-west to the Blue Mountains where I was staying in the central town of Katoomba. I felt a bit under the weather but thought I was just tired - little did I know that this was the beginning of several days of feeling a bit crook as the Aussies say, or dreadful and near death as we say in England. The first hour of the journey was fairly boring but the final portion was beautiful and gave some tantalising views of the mountains and the thick forests of eucalyptus trees as we climbed higher. The train carriage was heated and the sun was pouring through the windows so it was a real shock when we got off as the temperature had plummeted from a balmy 22 in the city to a perishing 9 degrees and the wind cut right through you. If that wasn’t bad enough, on the walk to the YHA hostel it started to sleet.

However the YHA hostel was a lovely surprise - huge, warm and welcoming with a nice private room where I immediately had a long hot shower and unpacked any clothes in my case that looked vaguely warm, long sleeved or layerable - some garments came out that hadn’t seen the light of day for months. I managed to cobble together a couple of outfits that would have suited any homeless baglady fighting to stay warm on the streets, then ventured out for a quick walk along the main road to get some food and wine supplies. I decided this was the best possible time to buy a replacement lightweight polar fleece and to say goodbye to my hoodie, so trawled the handful of clothing shops servicing the climbing and mountaineering fraternity and found exactly what I needed. You can definitely spot the locals at this time of the year - they are the ones that have hats, scarves, gloves and warm jackets on and are not wearing layers of inappropriate cotton clothing in sufficient quantities to make them look like the Michelin Man.

Back at the hostel I realised that I was not 100 percent well, so settled in for the evening in the quiet reading room where I curled up in a big armchair in front of the fire and sipped hot port. The hostel had very high ceilinged rooms decorated in art deco style with columns and pillars, separate rooms for TV, internet and chilling plus an enormous main lounge with another big fire and a well equipped kitchen. It was one of the nicest hostels I have been to and it was like the Tardis as you kept stumbling across more large rooms, including a massive one behind Reception that once had been a formal dining room when the building had been a posh hotel.

The following day was still chilly and I felt pretty rough with a niggley chesty cough but the weather looked perfect with clear blue skies and only a light breeze so I decided to make the most of it and set of early to catch the first hop on/off tram of the day. I bought a one week ticket as it was only a couple of bucks more than the day ticket and the tram route covered the whole area around Katoomba and its cute neighbouring village Leura. I stayed on board for half of the circuit listening to the commentary and admiring the wonderful views. After we reached the stop for Leura Cascades almost everyone else got off, so the driver kindly stopped for a couple of minutes at the next two lookout points for a Spanish couple and myself to nip out to take photos. I would have happily got off at some of these points for 10-15 minutes, but the buses only ran this part of the route once an hour and there was not enough to keep you amused unless you did one of the long hikes or had a picnic break. So having grabbed kodak moments at the Kiah and Honeymoon Lookouts I eventually hopped off at Echo Point.

The views over the Jamieson Valley were amazing and because of the sleet the day before that had cleared the air and encouraged the eucalyptus trees to produce more oil, the trademark blue haze was really evident over the endless swathes of forest stretching as far as you could see. Echo Point is a good place to view the famous Three Sisters rocks and once you had battled your way through hundreds of other tourists (mostly on day trips from Sydney), you could get some good photos. There was a cool Aboriginal bloke there playing didgeridoo dressed up for the tourist shots but with his head down and hair over his face, so I snapped a few pictures of him then threw some coins in his tip tin - he nodded his thanks and then raised his heavy didgeridoo, lifted his head and looked straight into my camera for a great final shot.

My next stop was at Scenic World where there is a selection of 3 different transport rides you can take either over the valley (Skyway) or up and down it (Railway or Cable car). There is also a boardwalk spiralling its way from the top edge down to the base of the valley if you want an interesting and fairly easy bushwalk. I stopped at the cafe for a tuna salad lunch and contemplated the options as there are about a dozen different tickets you can buy that perm two or more of the options for various (quite expensive) prices but decided to wait and do a ride on another day when I felt better - as it happens I never did get around to it.

By mid afternoon I felt dreadful so made my way back to town and had an early supper at a lovely little cafe/bistro that enticed me in with a tempting mulled wine on their menu, which was just what I needed as the temperature had dropped with the sun and a frost was forecast. The hot wine was full of plump juicy raisins that had been marinated in spiced brandy and rum, so I munched the yummy fruit after my dinner as a flavour-filled dessert. I spent another peaceful evening in the reading room away from the main lounge that was filled with a huge noisy party of German teenagers. I wont bore you with the details but for the next few days I was sick with what turned out to be a nasty chest infection. I eventually spent a fortune seeing a doctor and getting antibiotics. She said I had bronchitis which meant that I couldn’t drink for 7 days which was probably good for me but two weeks later I am still suffering with shortness of breath and a wheezing chest - never mind at least I can drink again.

The Blue Mountains are not traditional pointy mountains but is a massive sandstone plateau one third of the size of Belgium with a series of ridges, the highest areas being about 1,300 metres. There are lots of caves, waterfalls and lakes around but the outstanding feature is the endless eucalyptus forests - apparently there are 91 species of eucalypt here. Katoomba town sits on a wide wedge-shaped plateau which means that if you walk just a couple of kilometres in 3 out of 4 directions you end up at the edge of a precipice overlooking great views. In addition to the strenuous hikes there were lots of other things on offer that I didn’t do, from highly energetic sports (rock climbing, abseiling, kayaking, caving, canyoning, etc) to the more sedate wandering around public gardens or viewing the World’s largest teapot collection. There are plenty of well preserved heritage homes around and it looks as if new-builds are strictly controlled to be in architectural styles that are sympathetic, which helps keep the villages looking quaint and attractive. Some of the big old houses built for the Edwardian gentry have now been turned into upmarket hotels, retreats and spas, many of which have award winning restaurants attached and High Tea seems to be on offer everywhere.

One advantage of the higher altitude, clear skies and uninterrupted horizon was that you could see millions of stars. I got wrapped up one night and braved the cold to stand for 15 minutes admiring the stars and planets, trying to work out which was the Southern Cross, which was Saturn and which was just a passing aircraft. I spent a great deal of time by the fire reading, playing board games with fellow hostellers and even doing the odd giant jigsaw that was more fun that I should be admitting to in public. I made myself venture out in the spells of bright sunshine and managed to check out both Katoomba and Leura extensively. One highlight was a stop at a chocolate shop where they were handing out tokens for a free mini truffle, so I went back a couple of times .... several times.... loads of times.

Towards the end of the time in Katoomba I moved for one night to a guest house at the other end of town that was attached to a posh restaurant where I had a costly but pleasant dinner. They had a strange set up for breakfast where they left you everything you needed and you prepared it yourself either in your room or on the sweet first floor enclosed verandah with a stunning view. I didn’t mind this at all but some of my fellow guests were most put out about having to put their eggs into the mini egg boiler or toasting their own bread. After hostel living I thought it was luxurious, but they were outraged.

The guest house was situated on the edge of a panoramic view over the mountains and a deep valley boasting several bushwalks that started within a few hundred yards of the front door. I decided that fresh air would do me good and set out for the shortest trail that was meant to be 2km but must have taken a wrong turning somewhere deep in the eucalypt forest as I eventually found myself on a completely different trail that emerged miles form where I was supposed to be. It didn’t matter as it was all beautiful and interesting with lots of wildlife, but I did find the steep hills and steps a strain on my fluid filled lungs and I was the slowest hiker ever.

I had a few more days back at the YHA where I started to feel better and then caught the train from Katoomba back to Sydney, where I gradually peeled off layers of clothes as we went from frost to 26 degree heat as we descended down to the coast. I chased the bargains on rooms as the prices in the city were steep for accommodation. This meant that during my last few days in Sydney I moved 5 times. Firstly a couple of days back at the Railway Square YHA that is attached to the Central railway station which was noisy with a group of 40+ teenagers who thought it was grand fun jumping off the top bunks for hours on end, then a hotel in Darling Harbour situated under a flyover, then back to the YHA for a couple more nights minus the noisy youngsters, followed by one night in a posh city centre hotel and finally 2 nights in a posh hotel in Bondi Beach. The hotels were all secret room deals from the web and were much the same price as the hostel. It was nice moving about as I got to see a lot of the city and travel is easy on the good public transport system.

One of the places I stayed promoted their green policies and proudly advertised that they turned off all of the electrical points at the switch. This is all very commendable and I am totally in favour of saving energy and reducing my carbon footprint, BUT when your guest has to crawl under tables to start power to the clock, move heavy and awkward furniture including the king size bed and its two side tables just to get the bedside lamps to work and finally to climb on a chair to reach the power point to the TV, I don’t think you have got it quite right. Your room maids probably hate you too.

I managed to catch up with quite a few people I know who live in Sydney, including having two nice lunches with ex-workmates and a reunion with Mel who I travelled with in S.E. Asia. I did some shopping for a few new clothes and as I was about to fly with a no-arguments weight limit, I finally threw away many of my much loved old favourites. I did lots of walking and saw all the main iconic sights on the couple of good weather days we had, but much of the week in the city was wet and windy.

I moved to Bondi for my last couple of days and braved the strong winds to walk between the headlands either side of the bay. I managed to find a seat that was sheltered with fabulous views of the beach and water and sat there for 3 hours watching the surfers battling the wind and tide to get out to the serious surf and also a film crew who were shooting on the beach. The lifeguard boat went out a couple of times towards the surfers but I am not sure if it was to help people in difficulties or if they were involved in the filming. I am not sure if it was TV or a movie being made, but I am pretty sure that if it included any panoramic sweeps of Bondi Beach I will be a dot on the horizon. To any casting directors out there, I am available for walk-on or extras work and I do a rather memorable portrayal of middle-aged woman on a bench or out-of-breath lady on hillside. It was a good day, topped off by a wonderful meal in the evening where I had my favourite lamb chops at a great steakhouse on the promenade.

Its sad to leave Australia as I love this country and its people, but its time to move on and the next destination is not too shabby. I am on my way to Hawaii where I plan to visit at least a couple of those exotic islands.

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