Port to Port

After a pleasantly exhausting day of sniffing, swirling and sipping, we proceeded to stumble upon a special little campsite in Lemon Tree Passage in Port Stevens (you like it already don't you - I knew you would:). The best thing about it was the name, 'Koala Shores', I was happily hopeful.

The campsite was just divine. Everyone was so friendly. Within seconds of arriving I had met a lady and was introduced to her brother and sister in law from England and her daughter and grandchildren from just down the road. They gave us the latest campsite news, which was that there was a koala sitting just above our heads. Our first wild koala, I ran for the camera, it was so exciting!!!





Here is the view from our campsite, all night long we could hear the wildlife, flipping and flopping about in the water.














Then another lady and gentleman (they were living in the campsite whilst they were building a house in Port Stevens, she was originally from Switzerland) told us they were going to feed the Mum and baby possum, who lived in the roller door (?) above the camp kitchen. So we followed them too!




Yes, the mummy possum is holding a piece of carrot, given to her by the Swiss lady. Even Naomi had a turn at feeding them.

The next morning we were really sad to leave Lemon Tree Passage and our new friends, we waved a fond farewell to the koala, the possums, the Oz/English family and also our neighbours, Gordon and Margaret (no, I am not kidding!).

Gordon has suggested a pleasant walk up the Tomaree Head for the next day, and we gladly took the advice. He ensured us the views would be some of 'the best we would see'. ...ever? ...in our lives? We just had to go!

Here are our first views on the way up. There were spiders aplenty, and they were pretty ginormous. They were even bigger than this photo shows (but that probably depends on the size of your screen, if you are reading this on your 55inch web enabled TV, don't worry, they were actually much much smaller than this;)




And then the glorious view over Nelson Bay - it was worth the climb,





and the 'sea' side,




(note that Benny is still attached to his iPod, even up a mountain).




At the top of the hill, people had attached padlocks, as little memorials, which I thought was just lovely.











Then we ran down the mountain again, to rush to Port Macquarie. It was a straight three hour drive (we are such Aussie drivers now), it was 11.45am and we had to be there to see something very special at 3pm!

Love
Est xxx

The Hunter Valley

An excerpt from our Lonely Planet:

'A filigree of narrow country lanes criss crosses this verdent valley, but a pleasant country drive isn't the main motivator for visitors - sheer decadence is. The Hunter is one big gorge fest: fine wine, boutique beer, chocolate, cheese, olives, you name it.

Going on the philosophy that good food and wine will inevitably up the odds for nookie, the region is a popular weekender for Sydney couples. Every Friday they descend, like a plague of Ralph Lauren polo-shirt wearing locusts. Prices leap up accordingly.'

Sounds good eh?

So, at 10am, as soon as the cellar doors opened, we were there. We started at Oakvale for tastings. Funnily enough we were the only people there on a Thursday morning at 10 o clock, and when I stopped to think about it, 10am is probably a little early to start consuming wine, even by my standards, but the lady at the counter took it all in her stride, so we tasted five wines (and of course that is 'we' in the proverbial sense, Alex was the designated driver, again; I have not driven since October last year, I will let you know when I get back on the road in a few weeks time, so everyone can make space;) bought two bottles and wobbled out.








The Hunter Valley region is beautiful, kind of like Martinborough, on a larger more glamorous and more commercial scale but without the lovely quaint towns of Martinborough and Greytown close by. The nearby town of Cessnock, (you can tell by the name really can't you?) doesn't really cut it. But, Hunter gets the crowds in by incorporating chocolate, ice creams, sweets, gift shops and even golf courses and children's play areas into the wine experience, very clever!

We stopped for some cookies, this spelling mistake made us grin, and Alex said, 'well, they wouldn't be made from fake ingredients would they?'. Alex went into the store to tell them about the spelling error, rather than us just laughing at them. The lady in the shop explained that it was her 17 year old daughter who had written the sign. 'Oh dear' she said, 'all the money I spent on her education.... Oh well, at least she's pretty.'





I got to take a relaxing turn around the Hunter Valley Gardens, whilst Alex and the children swung their clubs to try to win lots of money at Aqua golf. Naomi was completely convinced that they would win. Alex treated himself to a 'bargain' set of golf clubs as well, which has to take the prize for the largest thing we have to carry home (up to now;) and he is never allowed to tease me about lamps again.







Meanwhile, the gardens were quiet, peaceful and exquisite.



















And then a lovely lunch, followed by some more tasting. We had rain and mist for the caves, but the sun definately shone for our Hunter Valley day, it was glorious!











I took a photo of this wine rack because Alex thinks he is going to make one of these for us when we get home. But can you imagine us ever having this many bottles of unopened wine at one time?











Bottoms ups!

Love
Est xxx

The Jenolan Caves

After our big Blue Mountains day we decided to go native and enjoy a 'camping on the side of the road' experience on our way to the Jenolan Caves. That day we finally got around to purchasing the Camp 6 book (the campers Bible) which details every free campsite and rest stop in Australia. With the purchase price the equivalent of one night's camping in a Big4 campsite (they charge us an extra $10 each for Benny and Naomi, which is crazy for our two, who are only having two showers a week at the moment if they are lucky, the rest of the time a dip in the pool or a nearby lake is suffice;), if had paid for itself within a few hours. That night we were truly in the middle of nowhere. I can cope with no shower for a day or two, and I have actually been wearing the same shorts for four days now (hey, I don't know anyone in Australia, so it's ok:) but no service on my iPad? That is hard.

I never really understand people who love being completely alone, it always makes me just a little bit nervous. Call me old fashioned, but I like civilisation, I really do. Out there in the wild, I felt a bit exposed, you know, to the elements, to the wild...things.

But, the next day, we were still alive, we had survived - get that Bear Grylls - we survived, in our fully equipped campervan with wine and chocolate and hot and cold running water. I was so proud. If I ever go to a job interview again in my life, and they ask me to tell them of my toughest challenge, I will regale the story of our Aussie off road experience with confidence and pride (and a bit of colourful exaggeration for good measure;).

The next day we drove down a very long hill (like the Rimutakas in reverse) into a rainy valley and did not come across another vehicle all the way. It was rainy and misty and ghostly and ghouly, but at the same time as wishing life would appear, we were kind of glad there were no other vehicles, as it was an 8km road of windy one lane driving, with a mountain on one side and a sheer drop to oblivion on the other.

Eventually, after what seemed like years, we came to a large rock, which we were obviously expected to drive through...




...and on the other side, life! Crazy life! Tour groups and tour buses (?) and tickets and credit card machines and coffee and internet! Wooohoooooo!!!!





We had reached the Jenolan caves!

They have been there for millions and millions of years - and still no one has created a better way of getting there! We asked the lady at the ticket office, 'Is there another way to getting here?' 'Yes', she said brightly, 'Ahhh, is it a better road that the one we came in on?'. 'No', she said, even more brightly. What is with this place? Where do all the staff live - in the cave???

We took a guided tour in the Orient Cave, and it was spectacular. It is hard to believe that this truly natural phenomenon has been there for so long and is changing and evolving so gradually. Some of the caves are so large, they even hold concerts in them.























Don't forget, stalactites hold 'tight' to the ceiling and stalagmites 'might' reach the ceiling - you will always remember now:)

In the gift shop we overheard the the school tour bus was leaving at 2.30pm so we took the opportunity to quickly jump into the van and tailgate it back up the hill, then if we did meet any cars, the bus could deal with them rather than us, rather like following an ambulance when you're in a rush, aren't we cunning?




And it did happen, more than once!

Crazy roads, but worth the caves, and definitely worth the story;)

Love
Est xxx

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