In this episode, I get attacked by leeches, hide underground and drive a car...

We have a car! And it works! I'm being spoiled. Corina and I headed to the Blue Mountains and as it was raining (the weather follows me everywhere) we decided to head underground. We looked around the Jenolan caves - the oldest cave system in the world - while the skies darkened above. The caves are impressive and so was the guide. Nice bloke. The rain poured just as we got into another above-ground cave and somehow we stayed dry.

Our hostel in Katoomba is really nice! Free pool table, big kitchen and I got a ten bed dorm to myself. And best of all, free laundry! This came in handy.

Particularly the next day as we went to walk Wentworth Pass. This is a long walk down into a jungle valley with waterfalls all around, and because of the heavy rain yesterday they were spectacular! The lower path, Wentworth Pass, was in bad shape. Trees had fallen and land subsided. Rivers were swollen and crossings were either difficult or non-existent. At one point we had about three attempts at crossing a river before succeeding with some sliding on our arses.

Then came the most difficult part. I was so, so glad I wore long trousers, because once we had negotiated land slides and rivers we found the path was littered with leeches. Corina got one on her leg and we resorted to tucking trousers into socks and power walking to get clear. I had several leeches interested in my ankles and boots, but none got through.

Then, the prize. Wentworth Falls. What a sight it was! A hundred metre drop of water with enough spray to drown an elephant. My boots were sodden, as I've now discovered they leak from the soles. Jacob's Ladder was next: a steep criss-crossing set of steps and almost vertical ladders cut into the side of a sheer cliff. I knew I wasn't great with heights and I hadn't been looking forward to it. But it sounded worse than it was, and we snaked our way to the top, through more waterfalls and stopped at some lookouts, then we were done. We took the shortcut track back to the car where we met young Matt and Helen, and drove back via some other lookouts. My feet stank. You remember when I waxed lyrical about the stench of Gez's feet? Worse than that. Thank god for free laundry!

We rounded our stay off with a barbecue, then set about trying to find a hostel for the next night. We don't have one yet.