Day 34 Thursday - Megalong Valley

We had arranged to meet the horse people at 10AM in the yard, but when we got there the only thing greeting us was a parrot saying hello. We had a look around but it didn't seem to be anyone around so we gave them a call to find out what was going on. They explained they had booked us in for Friday instead of Thursday but if we waited they would come and meet us. When they finally arrived, they went to get the horses in. Normally, or when I have done this in the past, you walk up to the horse and lead it in. In this case, they were pretty much herding them in and screaming for their little dog to watch it. This didn't really ease my nerves as it had been a few years since my horse accident and I have not ridden since. Martin didn't really enjoy this either. After they had got them in the lady shouted 'don't worry, you won't be riding these'. Phew!!! She later explained that she had bought them yesterday and some of them had not been broken in yet.

Martin got a horse called Tod and I got one called Zack. The horses were pretty much programmed to follow the lead horse so it was not a hard ride for either of us, but we got to trot and canter so it was really good. We also got to see some great scenery and bush.

After the ride we went back to the campsite and had a shower before we headed to Katoomba for a coffee and to buy some cake. As we were planning on staying in a rest area for the night we decided to go to the cinema and see the King's Speech to kill some hours. We both really enjoyed the movie especially as we haven't been for months.

Day 35 - Katoomba

We got up to a grey misty day so we decided to go to Gordon's reserve and see if we could wait out the weather. We got more and more bored as the day progressed but the weather didn't improve so there was nothing we could do. We went into town and sat in the library to charge up the laptop and also to look for some clothes that June can bring with her when she comes to NZ.

Eventually the weather improved a little bit but by this time it was 5PM and all the attractions were closing so we headed off to the rest area and called it a day. We decided to get up early the following day to make the most of it before we left and headed up the coast.

Day 36 Saturday - Katoomba/Mooney Mooney

Finally we saw a blue sky as we woke up and we quickly got ready and went to the Sky walk. You can basically take three rides. The first one we did was a ride across the Katoomba falls and where you have great views over the Blue Mountains and the famous Three Sisters. After this ride we went on the steepest railway in the world. At one point it drops 52 degrees. The ride doesn't take long but you are played Indiana Jones music whilst you are descending. When you get to the bottom you have two choices, either go back up the same way or take the Cable car back up. We opted for the cable car as it would take us on a board walk around the rainforest. The walk in itself wasn't very exciting but we did manage to see three lyrebirds in the forest and that was great. We stayed around for another hour before we drove to the library to charge up the battery again!! As we left Katoomba we decided to go and see if we could buy a car charger for the computer as we had been wasting so much time on charging the computer. We drove to Penrith and found the local d*** Smith and bought an adapter. Problem solved! We continued past Sydney and went to a place called Gosford where we had found a rest area we were going to stop in. When we found it, it wasn't great, so we drove back 24km to a rest stop we had passed and that looked nice. The weather had turned nice, but now too hot, so we sat outside at 9PM sweating.

Day 37 - Swansea

The weather had not really cooled down and with the fridge at a dangerous low we decided to go to a campsite for the day. We stopped in the entrance and went to get some information on the area and then headed up to the campsite. It was too hot to do anything and then the thunder storm came so we were camper bound. It was a shame as Swansea had a nice lake we could have gone to explore if we had time. So we stayed in and watched a film. We were both feeling a little bit low and felt that we had enough of being in a camper and in Australia.

Day 38 - Newcastle

We woke up feeling determined to move on and find some fun so we drove to Newcastle where we went for a walk around the harbour and town. Again it didn't seem to be much going on so we had some lunch and then drove to the airport. We tried to get our flights changed so that we would fly from Brisbane to Canberra instead of Cairns to Sydney but the lady who we spoke to was unable to and said we had to call up instead. So we left and went to a place called the Tea Gardens, which is located by Port Stephen which we understood to be a lively place. There was nothing going on and it was getting a little bit tiresome now. We pushed on and drove to a rest area just outside Port Macquarie where we setup for the night. It ended up being a long night as all the trucks going past were so loud.

Day 39 - Port Macquarie/Coffs Harbour

We got up early and went to the Koala Hospital to take the 7.30 tour around the place. When we got there, no one was there and it wasn't open. After a while we saw a guy who was preparing some food so we asked him. He said that they were doing a tour at nine but that we were allowed to walk around and have a look for ourselves. We had a look around but we decided to come back for nine. We got some shopping and petrol and then came back for the tour only to find that there wasn't one. They had however put out signs explaining about how each Koala ended up there so we walked around for half an hour. Amongst others, we saw the oldest Koala on record and four baby ones (so cute). We drove up to Nambucca Heads where we were hoping to do some canoeing down the river but the weather wasn't great so we decided against it. Again, feeling that nothing was going on we drove on. On the way to Coffs Harbour we stopped at the beehive for some Devonshire tea and honey tasting. This is where we got explained to us that this is dead season in Australia and no tourists are around. Everyone in the tourist business takes time off during this time. Great!! So we drove to Coffs Harbour and checked into a campsite as there were no free ones. We went for a walk about town and the harbour and it was really nice to be out and about.

Day 40 - Coffs Harbour

We woke up to a lovely blue sky so after Martin unsuccessfully watched Spurs , we went for a walk. When we got about half way to the island we had to dive into a coffee shop as it was pouring down with rain. We went and spoke to the dive shop but they explained they would not be able to get out to the Solitary Islands until Friday at the earliest. So in the end we went back to the campsite and did admin things and started to look at South America. Tomorrow we are driving to Byron Bay and then onto the Gold Coast.