6th March

Our first major stop off after leaving Sydney was the Blue Mountains. This is a series of national parks, part of the Great Dividing Range and is one of the most popular areas, probably because of its close proximity to Sydney, although is stunningly beautiful too. The 'Blue' of the blue mountains comes from the unlra fine oily blue mist given off by the eucalyptus trees. The night we arrived we did a night stroll as some of the cliffs are illuminated by powerful beams which is very effective in giving a sense of the size of the place. The area we were in, katoomba is on the very edge of sheer cliffs by the famous set of rocks called the three sisters. Legend has it they are three daughters of an Aboriginal witch doctor who turned them into stone to protect them from a mythical beast. Unfortunately, said mythical beast relieved him of his magic bone so he was never able to turn them back again so there they stand to this day. Our night walk ended by spotting a couple of possums together in a tree which the children are still entranced with.

The next day we set off on a popular walk down 1000 steps into the rain forest. The steps were incredibly steep, almost ladders in places, and it was quite hairy with meg on my shoulders as well. The walk along the base of the cliffs was delightful and the children are well practiced at the songs they like to sing and the stories they want us to tell them as we do our walks. Meg did brilliantly, almost doing the entire rain forest part of the walk on her own, often demanding to be in front in her own inimitable style. We stopped for lunch at Katoomba falls and then had a treat to finish the walk as there is cable powered railway to get back up the cliff. Allegedly it is the steepest railway in the world. When it's horizontal in the station the seats are at 52 degrees ready for when it goes up and down the cliff. The children thought it was 'so cool' and wanted to have another go. I think we all appreciated the fact that we didn't have to climb the 1000 steps out.

Our plan was to get started on some of the 3000 plus km we need to do before the end of the trip so we set off northwards towards Gosford and a reptile park we visited before, and planned to take the children to. We stopped an hour before the park as it was getting late, 'pitching up' for the night at a lovely National park site near Wiseman's ferry on the Hawkesbury river. Here the total fire ban was not in force and we were able to have our first campfire of the whole trip. The children were very excited and we roasted lumps of rocky road (chocolate/marshmallow/gooey stuff). Staying in the parks campsites is wonderful. Slightly unnerving if bush noises give you the heebie jeebies but there are always surprises and new things to see in the bush. This campsite had a couple of wild! turkeys patrolling around and there was the usual compliment of cicadas and kookaburras to go to sleep with and wake up to in that order. This campsite is very close to the Great North Road which was built in the late 1800s by convicts to open up a permanent access to the fertile Hunter Valley from Sydney. It took six years to build and, as you can imagine, a lot of blood, sweat and more blood. The convicts carried out this work most of the time in leg irons as well to stop them running off!

The reptile park the next day was just fantastic. It is world renowned for its assisstance in the production of antivenom from both snakes and spiders and in for its research into all venomous animals. The park also has the more cuddly native Australian animals such as kangaroos, wallabies, koalas etc. The 'roos can be petted as they are in the public areas and Isla especially loved them. Firsts for us included Tasmanian Devils, Duck Billed Platypus, Dingos, Lace Monitor Lizard (five foot long), funnel web spider and Tiger snake (in the top five most venemous snakes in the world). It's so interesting finding out about such a diverse range of animals and I think that is what is so amazing about Australian wildlife. The adaptations to survive in such extreme conditions are phenominal (that and the absence of any large predatory carnivores).

We dragged the children away from the park mid afternoon to get a few km's done before stopping for the night with the full intention of a full days driving the next day as we'd left sydney two and a half days ago and were still only 100 km outisde it! Hawk's Nest is a tiny town on the coast and surrounded by water ways and Mangrove swamps and a camapsite right behind the beach - perfect. As lwe left the next morning after a quick play on the beach we spotted some Pelicans by the waterfront and went off to get some piccies. We then spotted a boat hire place and before you know it we'd packed a lunch and were out on the water in our own motor boat with a little cabin and everything (so much for the big drive today). It's lovely being able be spontaneous and do things like this. The look on the children's faces when we told them we were going pelican spotting in our own boat was priceless. The weather was perfect and just when we thought things couldn't get any better five dolphins popped up and accompanied us up the river - we were 'rapt' as the Australians would say. We dropped anchor further up the river (Rosie took responsibility for this, having spotted the anchor and 'paxcied' as they say the job of first mate for lowering anchor at the appropriate moment!) and enjoyed the peace and tranquility of the mangroves and a conversation about what would happen if the boat didn't restart! The return journey was just as sensational and finished with rosie dropping her flip flop over the side of the boat (not so first mate now!) which caused some hilarity as we went back and searched for it (successfully) and made it safely back to the jetty.

We still managed nearly 300 kms in the afternoon before heading off to Hat Head National park, again on the coast, and encountered a couple of lovely locals after stopping to watch some kangaroos in a nearby field. He was an ex lighthouseman and told us of a campsite right by the beach but in the bush as well. The beach was Smokey Beach and he told us his memories of watching from the lighthouse as kangaroos came down to the beach for a swim in the sea in the middle of the summer heat! Local stories and characters like that cannot be beaten and we headed off for the campsite in high spirits. Being right in the bush means it is pitch black at night and later in the evening we watched the stars which seem so much brighter and more plentiful in the southern hemisphere. It's as if there's the normal number of stars you would expect and then handfuls of extras have been thrown up there and the brightness been turned up on all of them - just magic!

Picture this for the start to a day. You wake up and decide to have breakfast on the beach because the beach is stunning and you have to spend all day in the van getting some serious km's done. On the way down to the beach you encounter a mother kangaroo and her baby nibbling on the grass by the dunes. They seem pretty chilled and relaxed as you pass by, making a great start to the day as this is the closest you've come to wild kangaroos on your trip (about 10 feet) and it's rather special. Down on the beach you set up your rug, chairs and table on the sand overlooking the crashing waves. The sun is already warm and you are the only ones as far as the eye can see. The children play in the sand which is perfect (the quartz type, brilliant for making sand castles) and you are able make comments like 'this is what life is all about' and 'it makes you glad to be alive' with full justification and a warm fuzzy feeling inside. After an hour you decide it's time to get on the road and walk back to the campsite, saying goodbye to Kanga and Roo who hop gracefully into the bush. When you get back to the site you are greeted by two monitor lizards resting near the van. These are no small reptile, the largest in front of you being about 1.3 metres long with razor sharp claws and a long tongue which tests the air, deciding you are not palatable as breakfast. You watch from a safe distance, savouring the moment, saying a silent thank you that you met the ex lighthouse keeper yesterday who pointed you in the direction of this campsite. Well that is how our day started on Wednesday and that was all by 11.00 in the morning! How could the day get any better? Well unfortunately we spent the rest of it driving 400 km up the coast but the memory stayed vividly with us and will do for a long time yet.