Category: Simon

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!)

Like a quick rewind of our journey north into Queensland, the drive south today covered the same distance as we managed in ten days before. Of course this time there were fewer detours and stop offs, save Lennox Heads, who could resist another dip in the tea tree lake? Well, Caroline for one!
Now, we’ve had a bit of rain over the past few days, but none quite as impressive as seeing this storm lurking over the hills as we had a wee stop. With flashes of lightning over the river, the clouds passed over accompanied by fierce winds and a noticeable drop in temperature followed by buckets of rain. As we were driving along there was a flash and the whip crack of a strike about a hundred metres away, now being a good physicist I know a car is the safest place to be, still scary though!

For the second and final Gold Coast theme park for our trip we chose Sea World. We limited ourselves mainly because they’re expensive but also to avoid extreme theme fatigue.
Sea World not only has a marine wildlife conservation side, but also manages to squeeze in rollercoasters and shows! With the Seal Detectives, Water Skiers (who accidentally fell off a few times, which made the show much better), and of course the jumping, splashing, human-transporting dolphins. They try to sell the dolphin show as mankind and dolphins living in harmony, I think it should be sold along the lines of “it’s amazing what a dolphin will do for a fish”.

Tropical cyclone that is though! With concern for the waterproof-ness of the van through the night, we awoke to a stream, or rather white water rapids, beneath the van (good job we’re not in a tent!) Seeking refuge in a multi-storey car park, and the dry cool air of a shopping centre, we rode the storm out before driving on to Surfers Paradise.
I’m sure it was once a surfer’s paradise, but it’s now more of a Blackpool on steroids, or a sleepy Vegas with fewer casinos. It doesn’t do badly though, $2.2bn turnover, 200 high rises, and the tallest residential building in the world. All this learnt from our trip on the amphibious duck bus, which takes a little paddle up the river as part of the tour. They also mentioned that Schoolies week (30,000 17 year olds descend on the place to cause havoc) brings in $60mn, and that’s why they put up with it, doesn’t sound worth it to me!
I’m off to guard my wallet, there’s too many businesses keen to relieve you of cash around here!

Fraser Island isn’t the only sand island in town, just further south, west of Brisbane lies Moreton Island, so our wee treat was a day sail. Incidentally, it was first seen by Captain Cook who thought it was part of the mainland, as he did with Fraser Island – I reckon he must have been going faster than we are!
With a grey start to the day, we weren’t holding out for much, we did get in a good bit of snorkelling around some wrecks, but alas the sand boarding was rained off. So, it was time to try the jet piloting, essentially a inflatable disc towed behind a fast moving vessel (piloted by skipper Joe who doesn’t like going in straight lines, especially if you call him a sissy!) Much fun ensued, as you might be able to make out from Caroline’s expression!
The yacht, “Solo”, was built in 1955, holds the record for winning the most Sydney-Hobart races (from Boxing day, if you’ve been paying attention 😉 ), has been solo circumnavigated around Australia twice, and the world to boot. It was then used as an Antartic research vessel before being the first Whitsundays tourist yacht before moving to Moreton Bay. So we’ve been on a bit of floating Aussie history, still feels like Howard’s Way to me though…

Well, it’s been an adventure packed few days and it’s going to be hard to top it, so we thought “why bother?” and turned our wee van around and headed south.
Well, that’s not strictly true, we’ve had a lot of fun going north, but we’ve saved a few rippers for the journey south so that it’s not all driving down highways to Sydney and the undiscovered territory beyond.
Before we left Mon Repos, we took a walk down the beach, and found this little nipper lying on his back in the sand. On our way to the ranger, she sprang back to life, so she’s in the sea somewhere, at least with a better chance of survival than back on the beach. Fair well wee girl, hopefully you’ll be back on those shores in thirty years time!