Sacrificing banana muffins, hunting down the Brokenwood Graveyard and our hotel in the fog!

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15/12/06 - 18/12/06

A quick stop at Surfers Paradise, to say we’d been there and then up a winding mountain road, reminiscent of Northern Thailand or Bhutan up to O’Reillys plateau. O’Reillys guesthouse is set in an amazing location with fantastic views. It is primarily a bird watching retreat with lyrebirds and their symbol the black and gold bower bird. Crimson rosellas and king parrots landed on our balcony, table and Jeanette’s shoulder enjoying my banana muffin -  Sacrificing the only food that we had to tempt them with.

We stopped off for a couple of days at the infamous Byron Bay (named by cook after the Poet) and managed to avoid the Crystal Castle and any appointments on offer for ‘Tantric God pleasuring’ and ‘cranial accoustic healing with the power of angelic love’ etc etc…

My Byron Bay karma must have been bad though, cause I managed to smash the plant pot in the car park of the Arcadia guesthouse, whilst swinging the car round.

Keeping up with our travel checklist of highest point in country X, or most historic site in country Y or highest waterfall in country Z, we had to nip out on Cape Byron to the most Eastern point of mainland Australia (I guess that Lord Howe island takes it for Australian soil), and snapped a shot for proof for the album. Plenty of cool cafes and some jewelry shopping later we headed on down to Port Macquarie. The town had a very relaxed feel with plenty of green space and rock harbour walls. The rocks of the walls have been colourfuly painted by residents and travelers, a bit of legal graffiti generally for those wanting to declare their undying love for their other half, for the disinterested residents of the town to stroll their dogs past.

We arrived in the Hunter Valley just after lunch and headed straight for the Brokenwood Winery. After tasting their selection, we snapped up a bottle of their Graveyard Shiraz and also their very easy drinking Semillon. The McWilliams Mount Pleasant Estate had a fantastic deal on their magnums of blended Patrons Reserve, so we snapped one of those up to!

After the wineries, it was off to the ‘cheesery’ for more tastings. Armed with a black wax cheddar, runny brie, stinky little blue number, pot of olives and packet of water biscuits we had the perfect recipe for a pic-ic on the patio of our guesthouse - add a pinch of warm summer evening weather and a dash of views over the estate vineyards with bounding kangaroos in the distance. As the wine goes down, so does the sun and it’s one more day till Sydney.

Using the Wotif website, we booked a hot deal for a night at Lilianfels resort and spa in the Blue Mountains at a third of the normal price. We were advised to head for Katoomba and then follow the signs for Echo Point. This last step proved to be quite difficult as the fog was so dense that we could barely see the front of our own car. We eventually found our way in and headed for the spa and pool. The indoor pool was being used for aqua aerobics and so we wandered the grounds in our white fluffy robes and slippers, looking for the heated outdoor pool, in the fog! (Looking like a right couple of clowns!)

Fortunately, the next morning the fog had cleared sufficiently for us to see some of the spectacular view, including the Three Sisters rock formation from Echo Point.

Our hire car had to be returned by 11 am the next day so we headed off into town, joining the morning commuter traffic. After a number of ‘One Way’s’ and ‘No Right Turns’ we finally managed to find the sneaky little lane that is the only physical way to get to the Budget car depot and by then we were more than happy to be handing over the car. Instead of the 2600 km direct route between Cairns and Sydney, with our side trips we had notched up just over 4000.

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Photos

The Far East
...of mainland Australia

Jen's new friends
The Crimson Rosellas on our balcony

Pademelon
feeding at dusk at O'Reillys plateau

The Three Sisters
...when they could be seen!

Comments

[Matt Lightbourn]

Surfers Paradise
You wait until you get to Piha (north Island New zealand) it'll knock your block off - the best bit of ater you'll ever get to have a fight with. Matt, you and I went in the sea in Bournemouth when we were kids when there was a RED flag out and we thought it would be a dare or at least slightly dangerous - well, this is like having forty of those flags out it don't matter if it's cold, you wouldn't feel it anyway - it's the only sea to make you feel really small and insignificant! Also, from the picutre I have seen of Surfers paradise, another thing you'll look forward to in NZ on the beaches are NO MASSIVE HOTELS SHADOWING THE BEACH - they don't and will not exist. It is El Natural - and I think you'll find it fantastic! glad Auz treating you well though - keep up the good work of an already splendid journal you mott!

[Jan]

Colours!
Granted your photography is spectacular..but I miss seeing everything in colour now. Remember in this foul country we see almost everything in black and white due to a lack of rays here! More colours please!!!!