Day 6 and 7

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10, 11 and 12 Feb Slept from 5 pm to 3 am and forewent dinner. Writing our blog and listened to the sounds of dawn breaking. After a good breakfast it was farewell to Robyn and off to see the The 12 Apostles (previously known by less salubrious names such as the pig and sucklings), Bay of Islands and London Bridge (which collapsed in 1979 and one of Robyn’s friends was stranded for several hours before being taken off by helicopter. Then it was about turn and a 3 ½ hour drive back to Melbourne for our flight to Sydney. While waiting for the flight we were treated to a brilliant display of juggling and balancing by a very bendy Chinese lady as part of the Changi Airport Year of the Rabbit celebrations.
We arrived half an hour late in Sydney and after collecting our hire car we made for our B and B for the night. The decision to pay for sat nav as an extra turned out to be a wise one as I am sure we would still be driving around Sydney now trying to find Boravia Lodge 22 Boravia Avenue, Burwood Sydney. Mind you maybe we would have been better off not finding it as it was such a disappointment. First she denied any knowledge of our booking and then we were given a “wonderful room” which you could hardly swing a cat in. Breakfast was a variety pack of cornflakes and a carton of long life milk and the extractor fan should have brought the environmental health folk out for exceeding acceptable noise levels. We would definitely not recommend this place on Trip Adviser! We left as early as possible and drove west into the Blue Mountains where our Band B could not have been any different. A friendly welcome and access to an upgraded room at 10.30 in the morning. Beautiful 4 poster bed, large room done out in colonial style – this must have been a kitchen in a previous life as the TV sits on a cast iron wood fired stove, tea and a piece of cake from our host Peter Noble and a lovely environment full of character, style and service. I highly recommend Lurline House ( www.lurlinehouse.com.au )
However, weather was rubbish. The mountains are full of cloud and rain, heavy at times so no views of famous landmarks such as Echo Point, 3 Sisters but we did manage a good 90 minutes walk along the deserted tourist trail to Katoomba Falls before heading back to the warmth of our BandB a quick shower and a sandwich and now just relaxing and unwinding. Took dinner at Monte Belle 8 Katoomba Street Highly recommended Italian restaurant with the quickest moving waitresses (but slow service) I suggest a time and efficiency study.

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Photos

The 12 Apostles
...but where are they when you need them most?

London Bridge
... is falling down in 1979

Echon point
...but all I could see was missed (mist)

Comments

[Peter & Carol]

Trip Advisor
You're going to be busy putting a few places out of business on Trip Advisor when you get home! It's total pot luck isn't it with these B&Bs. Same with the weather by the looks of it! Catching up with the time zones still seems an issue, but the weather will improve along with your energy levels! We enjoyed Singapore too, but the heat made it too uncomfortable to stay outside for too long, hence the great choice of air-conditioned shopping malls. A stopover in these places just makes you want to go back for longer "next time". We have been keeping an eye on the weather in NZ, mixture of fine/cloudy and a few showers, temp high teens to high 20s. Hope it brightens up for you and you can make the most of Oz. We'll keep on reading blog til we leave so keep it flowing, (but try to do it in the evening, not 4am). Pete & Carol

[Pauline & Derek]

The 3 sisters
Got some great pictures of them when you come home