The Three Sisters (and Dave)

The next morning we set out to explore the Blue Mountains. We were all set to walk down the 1000 steps to the rainforest below us, honest, but were sad to realise that there had been a landslide and that route was closed, so we opted for the scenic skyway easy peasy option, of taking the train and the cable car up and down the valley, perfect!




Firstly, we floated through the air on the skyway, which had a glass floor, so you can see the rainforest below you, with The Three Sisters one be side, and the Katoomba Falls - the name means 'shiny tumbling waters' - to the other, spectacular!








Legend has it that the three sisters, named Meenhi, Wimlah and Gunnedoo were turned into stone with a magic bone by their father Tyawan, who was a witch doctor. He turned them to stone to protect them from the evil Bunyip. Then he turned himself into a lyrebird, when he too became trapped by the Bunyip (they are beautiful, I have seen one, but I don't know if it was Tyawan or not). Soon everyone was safe, but Tyawan lost his magic bone, so could not turn himself or his daughters back to themselves again. Apparently he is still searching for the bone, and they are still waiting for their father to return - what a sad and poignant story.

It doesn't explain one thing though. Who is the little one? I think he is the brother, I think his name is Dave.

Then a walk to the waterfall, which is the pretty impressive, at 244m high (we were in the middle somewhere).












No churches this time, but still a lot of steps!

Then a ride on the steepest railway in the world, at 52 degrees, it is pretty steep (it is in the Guinness Book of Records), you zoom through a cave on the way down too, the kids and I all wanted to do it again!





Another bush walk at the bottom and then another cable car back up.









The Scenic World infrastructure is incredible (there is also a roller coaster but we didn't get to go on that, they spent four years building it and then due to building codes changing, they were never able to open it, so there it stands going rusty, never ever used) and with a family pass costing $70, I thought it was excellent value too, what a fab day!

Love
Est xxx

Glitch Switch

I have just checked my latest blog post and realised that some strange error has occurred on Picassa which has jumbled some of my photos up on the last few posts, so if there is a photo of Fanny in my bathroom blog, or a photo of Sharon where there should be a mountain, I apologise to you, and also to Fanny and Sharon and the mountain. Please be assured that this is not a simple user error, that is not a possibility of course, this is a computer glitch, which I do hope they sort out before I get up in the morning.

Night night.

Love
Est xxx

The Blue Mountains

On Monday we set off for the Blue Mountains, but before we went we stopped off at a Sydney Harbour lookout that Fanny told us about, just to take some snaps to prove to the children later on in life, that this weekend, they had actually been to Sydney, Australia!















Seeing the Sydney Harbour Bridge always reminds me of the time I walked across it, before Naomi and Benny were even born. I went by myself, as Alex doesn't really like heights. I was on the 2.15pm Bridge Climb, I remember it well. The 1.45pm group of about twenty walkers left, all decked out in their grey overalls with their safety clips and harnesses, then the 2pm group lined up. The anticipation was building, it was nearly my turn. At 2.15pm, our group was called. I stood up, and on the other side of the room, a very small Japanese man stood up. I looked around, but no, that was it. Our 'group' consisted of two people. The lady taking us said, 'oh, this is a very small group' but decided to crack on anyway. On the climb we had to keep stopping and talking all the way, just to stop ourselves from joining the group in front, she must have told us everything she knew about Sydney, never mind just the Bridge and the Opera House, but there wasn't much chatting from our little friend, as it turned out that he spoke no English. I was working for HP at the time and the only real information we managed to get from him was that he worked for our rivals, IBM!

When I returned to Alex I proudly showed him my official 'I climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge' photograph. 'Why is there a very small Japanese man in your photograph?' said Alex. 'Ah', I explained, 'it cost $20 for the individual photograph, but the group photo was free:)!!!'

Back to the story. Our first stop in the Blue Mountains was a little walk to the Wentworth Falls.










The 'Orphan Rock', I think that's his name;)




Then to a lovely little town called Leura. Fanny had said, 'you HAVE to go to Leura, it is lovely'. And it was lovely. But Fanny went with her mum, and I went with Alex, so it probably wasn't quite the same. I walked around beautiful shops like these (and dreamed of all the things I would buy if Alex wasn't there)...








And, Alex sat outside waiting patiently...




Then, we parked up at the campsite for the night, and finally got our first glimpse of 'The Three Sisters', which is what we were really here to see!




Love
Est xxx

Sydney with the Syd'newbies!

On Saturday Fanny and Bruce and Frank popped into the campsite to see our luxury lodgings and enjoy the heated (well, maybe to 16 degrees) pool (the kids that is, not us, of course!).








Then to their new house in Chatswood (they only just moved here from Wellington last year) which is a suburb of Sydney which is just like a city in itself. Fanny says she has a huge shopping problem, and it is that she is surrounded by malls and she just cannot stop herself, she is out of control! Sounded wonderful to me, so after a lovely late BBQ lunch with a few wines, we headed out to explore.

Fanny invited Benny and Naomi to sleep over. Of course they didn't need asking twice, they leapt at the chance to stay with Frank, create Lego for hours, make dens from the bunk beds, use the mattresses to slide down the stairs and stay awake 'til 10pm;)

Fanny also encouraged Alex and I to go out and hit Chatswood, so, after a bit of arm twisting, we indulgently treated ourselves to 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' at the movies. I knew it would be good as Alex's mum had recommended it, and we have the same taste in movies, so I chose that and just hoped that Alex would like it too. He did. It definitely deserved it's 7.5 rating on IMDB, and hey, I think I would be so bold as to rate it as high as a 7.8. The British film industry does growing old so well, they certainly couldn't make that film in Hollywood.

The next morning, which was very quiet in the campervan (not sure if I liked it or not!) we headed back to Chatswood for a romantic and peaceful brunch and then to relieve Fanny from her duties, and headed to the playground in the afternoon.











Thanks Fanny for helping to make our Sydney weekend so relaxing and fun for all of us, we really miss having you and Bruce and Frank and Sebastian (not in this picture, Seb is now fourteen and was just too tall to fit) just around the corner. Fanny, looking forward to seeing you on our next girl's weekend!!!

Love
Est xxx

Getting Mixed Signals

Ok, it's official, we have broken something on (or rather off) the campervan.

After two weeks of not once using the TV, or DVD player, yesterday Ben wound up the TV aerial on the roof to play his new 'Man vs Wild' DVD that we bought in Sydney on the weekend (I know, you don't have to put up the aerial to play a DVD, but poor Benny didn't know that).

We had driven only 50 metres before Alex said, 'Benjamin, did you close the TV aerial down?'

Blimmin' eck, that Bear Grylls has certainly made us wild!

Love
Est xxx

Sydney with the Sydneysiders

On Friday we arrived in Sydney. Our first stop was at the Britz campervan rental place to fix the fridge - after stopping at no less than five Avis Camping car places on our French travels it seemed almost rude to just sail on past Britz with no complaints. They couldn't fix the fridge but they fixed the window blind and the waste water tap, so all was not completely lost. Now we just have to run the fridge in gas, rather than power, funny isn't it really that a fridge can run on gas....(?)... anyway, the best thing about stopping there was that they gave us some free boogie boards and our own little Britz lizards, cool!







We have been to Sydney a few times before so decided to spend our time seeing our frends Sharon and James, who we know from Wellington days, as well as Fanny and Bruce, who just moved to Syd last year.

Sharon and James kindly offered their driveway as our campsite for the night but when we got there and assessed the situation we weren't very sure about the width of their gates compared to the width of our van, we didn't want to risk our precious wing mirrors this time, so opted for sleeping on the, somewhat vertically challenging road outside;)




The children hadn't seen Edward and Lawrence for at least a couple of years since our last visit but they just rushed off and started to play, which was lovely. Spot the girl in this photo!







We had such a lovely evening of chatting with James and Sharon and drank enough wine that at midnight, when we woke up Benny and Naomi and carried them out to our outside home, it almost seemed flat!







Thanks Sharon and James for your wonderful hospitality, it was one of the best campsites we've been to, and the rates weren't bad either! We look forward to seeing you again next time.

Love
Est xxx

Probably the Most Ridiculous Bathroom in the World Ever

After two weeks on the road, our Britz campervan is becoming like home - a very small home where we bump into each other every three seconds and my bed is the dining table, but a little home from home nevertheless.

But, one thing is still annoying me, very, very much, it has annoyed me so much that I am inspired to write this blog to you, I hope you will excuse my ranting, especially after you read, I am sure then that you will completely understand my frustrations and sympathise most sympathetically.

The space you see, with the mirror on it, that little wee space (excuse the pun), is the official home of the most ridiculous bathroom in the word ever.




Let me show you inside.




Compact doesn't really cover it. You have to stand in the shower to go to the loo, and stand in the loo to go to the shower. Luckily we haven't used the shower yet, as we have been in campsites each night, and I can't say I have any desire to use it in the near future.

The other thing is that the toilet is too high for Naomi, I have no idea why they have made it so high, she manages perfectly well with normal less ridiculous toilets.

But, 'where is the sink?' I hear the more astute of you ask.

Ah, let me show you. Have you spotted it yet?




Yes, in the Most Ridiculous Design Awards 2012, the Britz campervan 'Fold Down Sink' ran away with all the prizes, and also got an honorary mention in the 'Inconvenient Conveniences' category, there was just no competition (probably;).




So, the sink, where you wash your hands, and...urgh, brush your teeth, is very handily situated, yes, exactly where you want it to be, just above the lavatory.

Of course, neither of the children can reach the sink to brush their teeth and, if that was not all, every time you try to fold up the sink, no matter how slowly you tease and cajole it or how many gentle encouraging words you use, it still just empties water all down the back of the toilet, and then it makes you swear, a lot, again. Unbelievable!!!

And, lastly, but not leastly, the kids can't fold it up, so don't leave it down, because...

'Muuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmm, I need to go to the toilet, can you put the sink up?'

Love
Est xxx

P.S. All this talk reminds me of something I meant to tell you about in San Francisco. Our friend Derek was telling us about the US/UK language difficulties they had experienced since moving there (I know we all understand those as we experience them on our computer spellchecks on a daily basis). Apparently, if you say to an American person, 'excuse me, can you tell me where the toilets are?' They say, 'sure, they're in the bathrooms'.

P.P.S. And another thing. I know I previously mentioned that we were glamping, but we don't actually have a washing machine in our campervan (although I have seen vans with them in). Today we met a man whose washing machine is an esky (chilly bin/cool box) with water and soap in which he loads the washing into and locks up before turning the keys in the ignition and driving round a few bends to the next campsite. Good idea....mmmmm, maybe he should go and work for Britz...

P.P.P.S. Today I saw a cool sign in a house mag.

'Laundry, drop your pants here'.

Could work for a drycleaners too. I want open up a drycleaning company now, just so I can use that as my slogan!

The One with the Waggly Tail

The other day, the children and I were browsing through Trade Me looking at dogs - as you do. I know, it is a bit mad, as we don't have a house at the mo, and we will probably soon be in a rental property where it is very unlikely we will be able to keep a dog, and Alex has no desire at all to share his home with a dog, and I don't know what we would do with the new member of our family when we go to England for holidays, and I do not want dog hair on the carpet, but hey, apart from those small technicalities, getting a dog seems like a wonderful idea, so recently, to while away our time we are dreaming of our new friend and looking at doggies on the internet.

The other day, we got friendly with a little puppy in the park, his name was Bunny, named by the youngest member of the family, the day before (as they had just got him the day before). He was an adorable little Chihuahua, Jack Russell cross.








So after that I'm sure you can see why we were searching.

As we were looking on Trade Me, my conversation with Benny went a little like this.

Me: These puppies are lovely, but they are expensive.
Benny: How much?
Me: $1200.
Benny: $1200, that is expensive. Especially for a second hand dog!

Good point Benny, good point!

Love
Est xxx

In Sydney at the mo, all going well, we are alone in the campervan tonight as Benny and Naomi are having a sleepover at Fanny's house with Frank, it is all very quiet. Thanks Fanny and Bruce for having them xxx

My dream was 'Da Bomb'!

Last night I had a dream, and Randy Jackson was in it, and Selma Hayek, and...Sean Tully from Coronation Street!





Wonder what the dream books would make of that!?!?!

Love
Est xxx

This is NZ....er, I mean Australia

The scenic drive through Murramarang National Park, on the way to meet our friendly kangaroos.




The view from the Illawarra Fly Treetop walk, over the Southern Highlands and to the Illawarra Lake.





Fitzroy Falls was breathtaking, and so peaceful, it felt like we were on top of the world, then Benny said, 'Mum, I need to go to the toilet', and the spell was broken.




Overlooking the Minnamurra Rainforest.












There are even lovely koru fronds here, it's all looking a bit familiar!




And of course we recognised this little guy straight away, the Australians call him a Swamp Hen, but we know he's really a Pukeko;)

And finally, we know that there is nothing like a good old Kiwi mince pie - but actually, it would seem that there is, and it's called the good old Aussie mince pie. The Robertson Pie Shop is World Famous in Robertson, so we had to stop and take a look.





As we had burned about 30 calories walking above tree tops and waterfalls that day, we decided to treat ourselves to 3000 calories of World Famous pie, we deserved it.

But, forget the meat, went for the cherry pie with cream, and the lemon meringue.








And they were incredible!

Love
Est xxx