Sydney, the Blue Mountains & Hunter Valley - 28th June to 4th July

G'day mate!

So here we are in Australia after 5 ½ months of touring the weird and wonderful that is Asia. We stepped off our plane at 6.40 am to be greeted by my (Sue's) parents who had just landed 1 hour before us having left Glasgow 1 ½ days earlier. It was a surreal moment seeing them standing in the arrivals hall of Sydney Airport but it was so good to see a couple of familiar faces after all these months.

As we stepped outside to catch a taxi to take us to our hotel (or hostel as dad liked to call it!) the first thing that we couldn't fail to notice was the winter chill in the air. Whilst we knew it was winter in Australia the 10C still came as a bit of a shock after the 30+C that we had just left behind in Hiroshima!

Suddenly it occurred to us just how different the next 5 weeks were going to be compared to the last 5 months. We joined the queue for a taxi to take us to our hotel in Potts Point and unlike some of our more recent taxi experiences it was all very civilised - there was no queue jumping, no pushing, no shoving, no taxi's deciding to simply ignore you or refuse to take you for no apparent reason and best of all the driver spoke English so no map pointing or Chinglish required!

Half an hour or so later we arrived at our hotel where we dumped our bags and headed out for a much needed cup of tea and our first day of sightseeing in Sydney. We decided our first stop had to be the famous Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge so after tea we headed down to the harbour via the botanical gardens which even in the wintertime were very beautiful. The lawns were perfectly manicured and the was a large variety of trees, shrubs and wildlife that we don't see at home, including some parrots and ugly huge fruit bats.

We headed up to Mrs Macquaries seat for our first glimpse of the Opera House and Bridge which were fairly impressive in the distance. We carried on walking through the gardens until we reached the Opera House and spent the rest of the day having a look around the harbour before enjoying a couple of bottles of wine back at the hotel and a nice (if not somewhat expensive!) Italian meal in a small restaurant just across the road. After dinner we hit the sack feeling fairly knackered from all the travelling and our first day of sightseeing.

The next morning we had a bit of a lie in before heading out in search of our Campervan rental company to get a map of how to get to the pick up place which, typically, is back near the airport. Afterwards we headed back down to the harbour stopping for a look in St Mary's Cathedral on route.

Dan and I were keen to do the Harbour Bridge Climb, so we headed up to the bridge and managed to book ourselves on a climb which started 20 minutes later. A bit of a result as we thought we would have to book in advance but had decided not too in case our flights were delayed by the volcanic ash from Chile. Twenty minutes later we were in our climbing gear and heading up to the top of the bridge. The views on the climb were spectacular with great views of the Opera House, the city and as far down as Manly. Although it was a tad cold at times we were fairly lucky with the weather and it managed to stay dry until the final few minutes of our descent. After the climb we met back up with mum and dad and relaxed in a bar in the harbour before some good honest pub grub on our way back to the hotel.

Our last full day in Sydney was spent visiting the legendary Bondi Beach which is a nice beach but feels a wee bit tired. As it was only 18C in the sun the beach was fairly quiet but that didn't put off the hardcore dedicated surfers who were bobbing about in the choppy waves. Us non surfers decided to stop for fish and chips on the pavilion instead, washed down with a nice hot cup of tea.

After Bondi we headed back into town and caught a ferry from the harbour over to Manly on the opposite side of the bay. We wandered around the shops for a bit then strolled along the beach. The sun was starting to go down and the air was getting noticeably cooler so we took shelter in a bar (for a change) and warmed ourselves by the lovely roaring (gas) fire. By the time we caught the ferry back the sun was down which gave us great views of the harbour, Opera House and Bridge all lit up – quite a spectacle.

So, that was our last night in Sydney – tomorrow we pick up our campervans and start our 2,500km drive to Cairns. We thoroughly enjoyed our time here but have managed to spend a small fortune in only 3 days. Sydney is probably not exactly cheap at the best of times but we are taking a bit of a hammering on the exchange rate too which is not ideal! Lets hope the campervan experience isn't so hard on the pocket or we will have no budget left for South America! Its a hard life :-).

The following day (1st July) we picked up the campervans at lunchtime – two old Toyota Hiace's with a high-top camper conversion and more than 1 million kilometres beneath their combined belts. They were both kitted out with rather well used sleeping bags, the smallest dish towels ever, odds and ends of plastic crockery and a few well used saucepans. Class!

We powered up the walky-talkies and with a “what's your handle?” and “there's a bear in the air” we hit the road in convoy, destination: The Blue Mountains, a couple of hours west of Sydney. We stopped at a wildlife park on the way for our first view of native Aussie critters, including cute Koalas, Wombats, Dingos and Wallabies & Kangaroos that we could feed by hand.

It was 4pm when we left and already getting dark, the sun was well and truly down by the time we arrived in Katoomba so we hunted out a campsite for the night and a supermarket for some essential provisions – i.e. wine, cider and beer! After our dinner feast of cheese on toast it was time for bed. The temperature plummeted that night. We went to bed in a couple of layers but by the morning were wearing pretty much everything we owned, including thermal underwear and woolly hats. The Blue Mountains during winter – we should have known really!

The following day was beautiful though and hot when the sun was out (but chilly in the shade). The scenery was spectacular and so far Australia is proving to be more beautiful that I ever imagined. We spent the day touring around, stopping at waterfalls and viewpoints over the massive valleys which were initially filled with cloud that the sun gradually burned away during the day. The temperature dropped sharply again at night but at least we were ready for it this time!

Another beautiful morning though as we took a walk along the lake shore where we spent the night before getting on the road again, north this time towards the Hunter Valley – Vino region! We took the minor roads over the hills, the vans groaning up the steep slopes and a couple of kitchen malfunctions along the way almost ending with a kitchen knife in the back of Big John's head! Cupboard and fridge doors have a habit of throwing themselves open without warning on tight bends and depositing their contents all over the floor of the van. The views were great though and it was nice to be out on the quiet Australian roads.

We arrived in the Hunter Valley in the afternoon and booked into a campsite for two nights to allow ourselves a day sampling the various vineyards. There was a 'Wine Rover' bus that called into our site at 9:30 the next morning which took us around a few vineyards. We had a nice friendly group with just the four of us, our neighbours in the campsite and another younger couple from Newcastle (the Aussie one – not England!)..

By 10am we were sampling our first wines and by lunchtime after visiting two vineyards we were all feeling a bit light-headed and ready for a nap. After lunch we continued with another vineyard, a brewery and a liquor place before we were dropped back at our campsite for the earliest bedtime ever. The temperature at night was a bit warmer here, now that we were a bit lower down, but still cold. Time to hit the road and head north a bit!

Until next time.
Sue, Dan, Big John (aka dad) & Bernie (aka mum).