Boxing Day saw us leave Sydney to enjoy some pure relaxation in the Blue Mountains, about 2 hours train ride west of the city. Every time we told anyone we were visiting them, they told us how relaxing it was there!! We could see why when we arrived. There really isn’t anything you can do, except relax!! But as this is just what we needed we were relieved. Visiting cities is great, but after 2 weeks of rushing round to see everything, we were looking forward to chilling out!!

We stayed in Blackheath town, above a small pub, two train stops away from the main town of Katoomba. There are plenty of walking trails, with lookout points over the numerous tree covered gorges and valleys, but unfortunately, the weather was pretty dire and misty, so you could only just see a few metres in front of yourself, for the first few days! Again, we didn’t really mind as it gave us a perfect excuse to have a couple of long lie ins and watch some DVDs. By the third day though, the sun was shining and we headed to Katoomba to do some walking and sight seeing. We saw the ‘Three Sisters’ rock formations, numerous waterfalls and the impressive valleys.

For New Years Eve we headed back to Sydney, staying in Kings Cross, smack bang in the heart of the city. By some pure stroke of luck, we had a room with a perfect view of the Harbour Bridge and opera house. However, we organised to meet Donal and Melissa, along with some other Warrenpoint fellas, to see the New Year in down at Pyrmont Park, behind the Harbour Bridge. Living up to expectations, the fireworks were fantastic and well worth the expense of hanging around!!

January 2nd, must be the busiest day for Sydney tourism workers, as literally everyone and their dog seemed to be leaving the city for sunnier climes!! When we went to collect our hire car, there was an hour long queue to check out the car and it was the same at all the 10 or so other hire companies next door; the queues were out the door!! So, eventually, we headed out, along with half of Sydney, to start our epic journey along the east coast of Oz! Only 2500 miles of driving, in two and a bit weeks, to go!!