Now in the Blue Mountains, just an hour to the west of Sydney. Not seen the famous Three Sisters as yet (library pic here) but they are just five minutes walk away from our hotel and we plan to go either tomorrow or Thursday - it is threatening to rain all day tomorrow so it may be we simply chill in our hotel and leave any sightseeing until Thursday when the forecast is quite good. We are staying in the Lilianfels hotel if anyone wants to Google. If is full of classic old world charm and has a lovely indoor pool where I intend to spend a lot of time tomorrow!

We've had a good few days, though I didn't feel any individual day warranted a blog. We enjoyed Coogee and it grew on us the longer we stayed. Just a very simple town with a lovely beach, some history, lots of youngsters learning to surf safely over the weekend - known as the Coogee Minnows - the lifesavers of tomorrow.

We headed up the coast to Newcastle on Sunday which was an interesting town. It's industrial, situated on a huge harbour that had various types of vessel ranging from one man canoes to huge ocean going cargo carriers ploughing up and down but never more than a couple at a time. All very laid back feeling, though I'm sure the businesses there are just as hectic as anywhere else. We were there for a meeting with one of Eddie's customers which went well and was useful. We were staying in the Crowne Plaza on the redeveloped wharf area of the town - all really ... pleasant. That's the best word for it, just nice. Yes, pleasant!

We would never have gone if it hadn't been for the business but we have both come away saying how pleased we are to have been there. Had a couple of delicious dinners on our two nights there, including the interestingly named jewfish for me. Never heard of jewfish before but there is a theory it got its name because it is such a clean tasting fish that it could be kosher. Whatever the reason for the name it was delicious.

We went up the coast on Monday afternoon to a place called Nelson Bay. The East Coast of Oz, from what we've seen, is gorgeous and if anything it is more beautiful than the Great Ocean Road, but I don't think it has anything like the spectacular sandstone formations that we saw on the GOR ... Beautiful beaches though and crystal clear sea. Watch out for the sharks ...!

Then today we drove back down towards Sydney and over to the Blue Mountains, so named because in certain conditions the eucalyptus trees give off oil which creates a blue haze. Sally Anne, we visited the town of Leura today. Georgeous. It is a short taxi ride from our hotel which is in Katoomba. Leura is a pretty little town with lots of upmarket little shops and boutiques. Liked it very much.

I will be back with another blog when we have seen more of the Blue Mountains ... can't believe our Australian adventure is almost at an end.