Month: February 2008

Our mosey on down the coast from Kiama had us sample the delights of a McCafe (McDonalds coffee shop, not as bad as it sounds!), and sit on the rocks at Jervis Bay as the tide came in, watching the little beasties in the rock pools await the water. We also saw clear bottomed kayaks taking to the water, so there must be a fair bit of life out there.
Jervis Bay is actually part of the Capital Territory (for some reason they reckoned it should have a naval port..), so that’s another state ticked off, not that we saw any sign that we’d changed state.
There were also some huge grey kangaroos nearby, about 2 metres tall, which are probably the males – easy to see why the zoos only keep the smaller, gentler female of the species!

The national parks here are ridiculous sizes, Morton National park where we are is a mere 190,000 hectares. Enough space to find somewhere else to walk and avoid the leeches of yesterday!
So after a 3km walk around the escarpment (that’s a cliff to the uninitiated like myself), passing waterfalls at every corner, we started the descent to the coast. As you’ve probably guessed by now, Aussies don’t do things by halves, and after a few kilometres of steep descent the van started emitting a funny smell, probably just the brakes on fire!
The bottom of the hill was Kiama, site of two blowholes, where the rock allows waves underneath and up through a hole. The larger blowhole looks like the Sarlacc (sand beast) from Return of the Jedi, and every so often a big whoosh is followed by a jet of water squirting up. The smaller blowhole is only about a foot square, but the water squirts higher and the whoosh is louder – it’s also easier to hear without everyone oohing and aahing in the background!

Like a poorly made B-movie, the leeches are back when you least expect them!
The drive to Bundanoon across the tablelands was like something out of a British summer – rolling green hills with pine trees – only with the roads a little quieter, and the views stretching that little bit further. The sleepy hamlet of Bundanoon claims Scottish heritage, but not being a scratch on Maclean further up the coast, we made for Morton National Park and a quick walk into the forest.
Taking the longer walk, and the path less trodden, we reached the Fairy Bower falls, and whilst clambering over rocks to photographise, I slipped and got a foot soaking. Now it was whilst looking at my one sodden foot that I noticed the waving tentacles of three or four leeches! Now you may think I go on a bit about leeches, but they have one task in mind – having a suck on your blood. Also, unlike mozzies, they are fearless and aren’t scared off by a wave of your hand or even a flick of a stick, just continue up your shoe relentlessly. They just hold on at one end and wave around until the find something to grab on to. To top it off, you can’t even tell which end bites! So, the walk back up was fast, with frequent stops to check for leeches and tuck trousers into shoes. I’m sure at least fifteen of the critters made their attempts, but not a single one got to skin, woohoo!
The day was rounded off with a trip to Glow Worm Glen at night, with trousers firmly tucked in red leech spotting socks, we walked a kilometre down to see the little green glowing worms in their natural habitat, made even more fun by torch failure on the way back!

A decidedly chilly morning, and lack of big fluffy duvet had me up early to see clouds drifting over the campsite, nearly close enough to touch. Wandering down to one of the viewing platforms showed the sun peaking over the 3 sisters, and clouds drifting out of the valley, forming as the air rose over the cliff edge. An impressive sight, but even with the balloon ride fresh in my mind, I’m not convinced of such early starts, best to keep it for special occasions!
With our own transport this time, it was easier to visit the different viewing platforms and walks of the Blue Mountains, and after a few hours of walking and viewing we moved on to the Jenolan Caves, foolishly expecting the Jenolan Campsite to be in the vicinity. A steep winding road dropped us down into the gorge containing the caves, but with no campsite in sight. A check of the map showed the campsite 30km away back at the top of the hill. Nothing else for it but to stay in the hotel, with heater and a TV, ah such luxury!

Today we’ve learnt two valuable lessons: a huge bag of oranges can be had for $3, and just because ground looks hard, it doesn’t mean you can drive over it safely. After seeing quite a few farm carts on the side of the road as we zoomed past, we managed to stop at one and buy a whole load of fruit for the cheapest prices ever, I think we’ve now got enough oranges to keep us going for a couple of weeks. We’ve also discovered quick mud, by driving over what looked to be hard, but slightly damp ground had the van ominously slump down. With a bit of nifty reversing we were out, albeit with a very dirty van!
The winding hilly road took us back to Katoomba, which we visited back in October, although the accommodation this time was noticeably down-market in comparison. (Yes, Caroline did pine as we walked past Lilianfels) The views this time were still impressive despite having seen them before, and it was still cold too, so no hanging around to see the sunset this time!

The Hunter Valley is synonymous with fine wine and horses, so what better way to mark our arrival by buying some wine and going for a horse ride!
The valley is covered with vineyards, some with household names (Rosemount, Lindemans) and nearly everyone gives you the chance to sample and buy their wares, although with our limited knowledge of wine, we simply tried a couple, thought they were nice and bought them. No swilling the wine around to savour the bouquets for us!
To get us out into the country air, we jumped on the back of a couple of horses and rode off, well sort of. Caroline’s horse decided he’d rather chew on the fine grass we were walking him past, and mine knew the ride inside out, when to walk and stop, and played little heed to where I may have wanted him to go. We did get to see a few Kangaroos, and it’s surprisingly tiring given that we were essentially sitting down for a couple of hours. Sure do think it’s going to be hurting tomorrow though!

You’d think with a name like Burning Mountain, and the fact that the mountain is actually on fire, that it would be a major tourist attraction. We for one have detoured a good few hundred kilometres to see it, and nearly missed the itty bitty blue sign pointing to said mountain. The hour long walk up the mountain takes you past dips in the ground where the fire has burned the coal seam, and finally to the viewing platform. Our resolve to see the top was tested by a very large, and probably very poisonous snake across the path, but thankfully it moved on. The summit has a distinct sulphoury smell to it, and the heat haze and smoke wisps rise up from a fire deep within. Ok, so it’s not huge flames, but it’s still impressive in my book, especially considering it’s been going for around 5000 years, and that the recent downpours haven’t extinguished it!

Well there certainly was a lot of gold in the stream where we were panning, except it was all gold dust, and not a sign of any nuggets for us to retire on.
We’re inland again, in Tamworth on the New England plateau and amazed by the variety Australia has to offer: waterfalls, rich green lands, red soil hinting at the red centre that lies beyond, glorious sunsets and thunderstorms at night that were so far off they couldn’t be heard (thankfully!)