Road Trip 1..continued

Never before have I witnessed such calculatedly slick selling of alcohol as I have in Oz. You don't even have to get out of your car to pick up a 6-pack of Tooheys New, or a tasty 7 dollar bottle of Eaglehawk, oh no. Just point the nose of your Holden towards the nearest drive through 'bottle shop', make the big effort to peel down your window, roar the order at whatever unfortunate happens to be staffing the drive counter and watch them scurry off up a ladder/do backflips to the fridge and grab your hootch. Service.

If you do dare a foray out of your vehicle via a momentary scorch from the sun to a walk in variety of bottler, then you are in for a treat. Picture a cash and carry run by Eamonn Dunphy, imagine what Willy Wonka's factory would have looked like had he been a lovechild of Arthur Guinness...well dream no more and open thine eyes mi amigo (cue angelic singing and harps a-ringing) ...and marvel.

Ok I'm getting carried away..I'm just amazed at the scale, branding, level of advertisement, cheapness and general profligacy of booze out here, its ridiculous and I wanted to throw it out there.

Now to the point - after leaving Denman in the rain the last thing on our minds was drink. We hit the road toward the coast and after a few hours decided on checking out Newcastle. Like its Geordie namesake it's a big uncompromising industrial hub populated by lots of white people with bad teeth. Huge tankers puff in and out of the docklands laden down with coal from the surrounding mines. In fact it's the biggest coal export harbour in the world, and my is it not pretty. The place was deserted on a Thursday evening at about 8pm, so that boded well for our plans of a quiet few nights. We stayed in the Backpackers by the Beach, again empty, and spent the first night between an excellent Hare Chrishna restaurant called Govinda's and the cinema. Rock and tofu Roll.

We got up early the next morning and walked out to the lighthouse at the end of Newcastle Beach before going for a run along the coast southwards past Mereweather Beach. The afternoon was spent in the city catching up on Christmas shopping along the Hunter Mall. We cooked in the hostel and went to the cinema for the second night in a row to see the new Bond.

Saying a less than tearful farewell to Newcastle we made our way up the coast road past the rolling dunes of Stockton Bight towards Port Stephens. Past Anna Bay and One Mile Beach and into Nelsons Bay proper the only thing that caught my interest in terms of land based activity in the area was eating pies. Red Ned's have won the NSW Pie Competition more times than...well more times than any other pie shop in town. I had a kangaroo terriyaki followed by a prawn and lobster and both in fairness, were delicious. I had wanted to pick up a body board so managed to get my hands on one in nearby Salamander Bay before we camped up for the night in Shoal Bay, a sleepy little gathering on a picturesque headland a couple of kilometres from Nelsons Bay. After a quick jog up through Tomaree National Park around a few WWII gun emplacements and back down onto Zenith Beach, we came to our senses and bought some red wine to wash down our red meat dindins.

The sun shone for us the next morning, so we engaged in some ''skin trauma" (as the Australian Health Promotion Board ever so sweetly term sun bathing) on Shoal Bay beach, a beautifully secluded spot for a post brekky swim. Then on to One Mile Beach where I jumped straight into the surf and got pounded around for about an hour on my body board. The waves were up to about 5 feet and pretty powerful, I loved it!

The next morning we got up early, hit the beach again for a few hours and then made our way towards Myall National Park. When we arrived in Bungadelah we stocked up on food and called into the information centre to grab some maps and made our way out along the coast towards Seal Rocks and Treachery Camp. A guy in the hostel in Newcastle had recommended Treachery as a the most beautiful spot along this part of the east coast, so we weren't going to miss it.

The camp itslelf is a couple of miles out along a dirt road and is in a bush setting. Its incredibly secluded, and nestles in a belt of swaying eucalyptus trees behind a series of huge sand dunes. We set ourselves up and took a walk on the beach to watch the sunset over a bottle of wine.

Up early again, the weather had turned on us and we made our way up to Sugar Loaf Point Lighthouse to take in the views before driving through Palm Springs (shaking our fists at the weather because the beaches looked so beautiful) and along the Lakes Way through the rest of the park. We arrived in Forster for lunch and ran into the Boxfish Cafe for shelter from the rain and some pumpkin soup. The caravan park right on the breakwater looked good so we checked in their and spent the afternoon catching up on emails in the local Bowling Club. In no mood to cook and fairly miserable with all the wet, we grabbed some fish and chips for dinner and called it an early night - not much to get up to in town without the sun!..

..which appeared for us again on the following morning. The moods shifted fairly rapidly and we walked out to One Mile Beach and back, stopping in the ocean baths at Forster to cool off afterwards. In the town we bought a few supplies, had lunch down by the waterfront and drove back to the beach for some body board action again. That night we stumbled across Happy Halliday's camping ground, a lovely caravan park populated by lorikeets, and chilled out there for the evening.

Road Trip Part One!

Blue Mountains National Park


Our first port of call leaving Manly was the Blue mountains National Park, so called because of the dew from the Eucalyptus trees. That morning before we left we bought all the necessary supplies to make us self-sufficient for the next month or two, namely a tent, stove and a pot, sorted! I felt so excited to be back on the road. Funny how when you're travelling for awhile you look forward to settling somewhere for more than two nights, but after ten days in Sydney I was itching to get moving again. We both drove out of the city with massive grins on our faces absolutely delighted to be off exploring again. It was late afternoon before we arrived in the Blue Mountains area so at that point it was a case of grab some info and camp up for the night. We settled in a campsite in Blackheath, cooked up a storm and drank wine as the sun set. We were ill-prepared for how cold it would get in the mountains, still used to being constantly hot so it was a strange concept to realise that the temperature was dropping and we were flippin freezing! Pulling any warm clothes (which wasn't much) from our backpacks we shivered our way through the first night camping experience.



The surrounding bird life noisily woke us the following morning and we emerged from our tent with sun shining once again. A pattern emerged over the following days whereby we fell asleep early and were up at the crack of dawn to get most out of our days. The bird life in Australia deserves a mention here, not something you hear much about but certainly something J and I encountered a lot over the following weeks. The birds are a lot more exotic than I expected. I suppose I hadn't thought about it much but here more than anywhere else we've been they have been the most colourful, the noisiest and the most prolific! They are truly incredible and proved to be a great source of amusement for the two of us ( I fear we're turning into my Dad, ha!). From trying to land on our shoulders when we eat, to one shitting on me as we took down our tent one morning to being our regular alarm clock, they have been very entertaining. The lorikeets in particular are fantastic!



The Blue Mountains N.P. is absolutely beautiful. It's hard to believe it's only a stones throw from Sydney. We took the National Pass trail to Wentworth Falls the first day and the Under cliff trail back, and the views were breath-taking. I'm pushed to find words to describe the scenery. The weather was super hot during the day as we huffed and puffed our way along these rocky trails. We drove to Sublime Point in Leura for lunch, where we had a picnic over the look-out. We also managed to squeeze in a visit to the (infamous) Three Sisters rock formation at Echo Point. This is definitely the more touristy part to the Blue Mountains area but the view is spectacular. At certain points on the various trails we did, through a clearing in the trees was the most fantastic views of the surrounding mountains and valleys. The cliff top trails lend the most dizzying views of the valleys below and the huge mountains that roll on forever. At the lookout points like at the Three Sisters there is a panoramic view as far as the eye can see, truly amazing. We headed back to camp that evening for much of the same but with extra blankets in tow this time!



The following morning our "new"car didn't start! In total disbelief we rang the tow company. The morning however wasn't wasted as we headed off on a walk to nearby Govett's Leap lookout. After spending the twenty minute walk placing every hex and curse on the Sydney Car King we arrived at what is my favourite spot in the Blue Mountains. The view from Govett's Leap lookout is crazy, it is almost surreal. Sheer cliff edges dropping into the vast green forested valley below. We decided we'd have time to do a short trail and set off along the path that is Brides Veil Trail, it takes you to a waterfall lookout point. Every step is a photo opportunity. We navigated our way down the tricky steps, huffing, puffing and sweating when a bouncy blond caming jogging up towards us saying "G'day! Great day for it eh?!" Indeed. After getting a few snaps of the fantastic views near the waterfall we headed back and did the Fairfax Heritage trail nearby for good measure.



By this time we got a phone call and our two guy was waiting on us, nice change eh. Luckily it turns out Holden had not given up on us, but because it was parked on a hill, and had less than a quarter tank of fuel, the gauge wasn't registering this and so it wouldn't start. Who'd have known!? Certainly not us! It turns out Holden was to teach us both alot about cars (and what can go wrong) over the coming weeks! Anyway our tow guy who owned a Holden and like most of Aussie blokes seemed to know everything about cars took us to the petrol station and we were mobile once again! Wuhoo!



We drove back to Sublime Point that afternoon for lunch with a view again before pitching our tent that evening in Katoomba Caravan Park. Katoomba is the main access point for the Three Sisters. We tackled the Giant Stairway down from the Three Sisters to the valley floor which consists of 500 steps in total. The view is super going down and eventually you land on the valley floor where it is oh so quiet. All you can hear are strange noises (presumably birds?) and when you look up all you can see is the tree canopy above. I found it a little eerie, James loved it. We strolled for awhile along Dardanelles Pass to Leura's Forest before I became convinced some poisonous, large man-eating creature yet unknown in Australia was going to emerge from the dense forest and swallow me. I prefer the cliff-top walks put it that way. After dinner that evening we came back to see the Three Sisters lit up at night. We pretty much had the place to ourselves so it was very cool.



The following day we took a few different trails including Vaniman's Lookout, Juliets Balcony lookout and down past Witches Leap waterfall near Katoomba. I really enjoyed getting up every morning and heading off for the day doing various walks here and there. Each place gives a different vantage point of the Blue Mountains surrounding scenery. On this particular morning we caught glimpses of Katoomba Falls through breaks in the trees above. Ok I know I'm repeating myself but it really was fantastic to be exploring every day and coming across the most beautiful views. It was pretty quiet too, so we had alot of the trails to ourselves. The cliff side track at Govett's Leap was a 6km round trip but it was so hot and there was so many steps that it ended up being the death of us that day. So we took the pleasure of exploring Leura village for a change which is a quirky little mountainous town with a permanent Christmas store and a few other funky shops and cafes. We went to the Edge cinema that evening for a documentary on the Wollemi Pines. The discovery of these trees a testament to just how remote certain parts of the Blue Mountains are - they were thought to have been extinct for 100 million years before a group of bush walkers stumbled across them in 1994. So much of the area is classified as wilderness as opposed to national park because there is so much left to be surveyed properly. It is just so vast. The cinema has a six storey screen so it was incredible to watch such a documentary there.



Mudgee



We took a quick spin to the highest point at One Tree Hill - 3645feet, before leaving the Blue Mountains area and heading north to Mudgee. Mudgee is a wine region quite near the Hunter Valley area, we found it on the map whilst driving and took a chance. It turned out to be a great two days stopover. Pretty unhealthy however what with wine in abundance! We took a spin around when we first arrived and popped into one or two of the wineries. We bought in Di Lusso winery before heading back and hitting the drive-thru bottlemart just for the hell of it! We strolled into the town to sample the local 'nightlife' and ended up having a few drinks in the Waratah Hotel while watching England V NZ in rugby league (NZ won). The bars here aren't quite the same here and I have to say we both miss the pubs at home. All the pokies and gambling in the pubs means they lack atmosphere, zero craic!



The following day we hired bikes so that we could visit the wineries and sample the produce freely! We hit three in total, as the day progressed we became slower cycling around! The first place called Elliott Rock was great we chatted with the girl there while we sampled every single type of wine they produced, 11 in total I think. I know we're complete amateurs! Saddle bags loaded with a few bottles we left there and clinked our way towards Oatley where we wined and dined before collecting a few more bottles and heading on towards Blue Wren winery. By that point we were both a bit giggly and our daily budget gone out the window so we wisely decided to head home. It was a great day though. I 've never done that before. It was so much fun just peddling around through beautiful countryside pulling into whatever winery took our fancy. I've had worse Sunday afternoons!



Denman



Denman was our next port of call after Mudgee. It was not planned, we kind of arrived into the town late and decided we'd better set up camp before it got dark! It turned out to be a hilarious night. Denman is a one horse town (literally, we drove past one horse on the way in!) I'll never forget that horse actually, it was the most beautiful white stallion whose head followed our car as we drove past! Weird. We pitched up near a French couple who we were cycling around Australia with their 3 year old child - typical Frenchies! We being typical Irish popped the cork on one of our Mudgee purchases before heading into 'town'! Now there are only two pubs/ hotel bars in the town - the Denman Hotel and the Royal Hotel. They are about one hundred yards apart across a crossroads (ie the town centre). When you're in bar they ask you "Were you down in the downer?" and the other asks "Were you over the upper?" Both to which we replied yes! It was in fact the "upper" that we had our first encounter with Aussie locals. A couple of hairy looking biker guys came in and started ordering Jagerbombs at that bar where J and I were positioned. I laughed as one exclaimed "that'll put a gloss on your turd!" while banging his glass down on the bar and ordering more, for himself and a round for us! We naturally reciprocated and after a couple more Jagerbombs and some shite talking we established a funny connection with one of the lads. One of them had been in Ireland and in none other than Calverstown and Ballymore Eustace!!! For those of you who don't know they are small villages near Naas, and Calverstown is pretty much the Irish equivalent of Denman, hicksville. He had been there for his brothers wedding, a Denman local and a Calverstown cailin - a marriage made in heaven eh? Obviously not as it turned out they separated eight months later. We muttered "sorries" to which he replied "aw no worries mate the family got a holiday to Ireland out of it." I've said it before and I'll say it again, what a small world! So we spent the remainder of the evening playing pool with these yokels and generally having a laugh.



We awoke the next morning with very sore heads, decided to stay another night to nurse ourselves back to good health (that and the fact neither of us wanted to drive!) But we soon changed our mind that evening when the rain came and we became mortified at the prospect of bumping into the "lads" again, and so we put the foot down and got the hell out of Denman! Amen to that!