We left Nelson bay with the intention of stopping in Newcastle and the hunter valley but we ended up driving half way to the blue mountains before we had to find a spot to camp for the night. Apart from driving through Newcastle we also drove through Swansea and Dudley. We would eventually have lunch in the Grand Canyon. We did all this without even leaving Australia.

The winding roads kept taking us further into the blue mountains. Eventually at over 1000m above sea level. we found a town called blackheath which had directions to a free campsite. It was in the Megalong Valley. The camp area itself was tucked in the bushes. Being out in the wilderness Ryan set about gathering fire wood, but most of it had already been taken by the campers who were there before us. Eventually he found some and Maz set about making a fire whilst Ryan made himself a cup of tea. Due to the lack of wood available we managed to smoke out the whole campsite than actually start a fire but eventually the flames started to grow then the wind would blow it out. Where's bear grylls when you need him!!!

We were amazed with the views of the blue mountains. We stopped in Katoomba as it had the best views of the 'three sisters' and the surrounding mountains and peaks. Legend has it that there was a bunyip who lived in a deep hole and was feared by all, passing the hole was considered dangerous therefore when ever the local witch doctor passed the hole in search of food he left his three daughters safely on the cliff behind a rocky wall. One day one of the sisters accidentally knocked a stone into the valley bellow, angering the bunyip. Suddenly the rock split leaving the terrified sisters stranded and exposed to the angry bunyip. As the Bunyip approached the girls their father turned them into stone to protect them, then turned himself into a magnificent Lyre bird to flee the monster. However he dropped his magic bone and was unable to return himself and his daughters to their original form. To this day a Lyre bird can be seen flying over the three sisters rocks in search of the magic bone.
The wind was very powerful though and we nearly lost our wooly hats to it. We decided after being beaten up by the wind that we deserved some hot chips for lunch overlooking the Grand Canyon. We cant even compare it to the real Grand Canyon as we haven't seen that, but Australia's version was pretty spectacular.
We can only assume they call the blue mountains, blue because of the effect the sky has on them as on a clear day they don't look tree like green but more hazy blue. We also took walks around the falls and cascades which were also nice to look at, bit cold for a swim though.

Our next stint of driving would be into sydney. We had to take the camper to Jucy so they could fix a door and give it a check over as we'd driven then best part of 2000 kilometers. We also decided it find a campsite to stay in as it would be cheaper to get the train in to the city than park every day. It would be nice to have showers as well as we hadn't seen one of them for a few days, but were getting used to using cold wet wipes.
Seeing as the camper was sorted before lunch we opted for Bondi Beach as our lunch venue and made a quick picnic to have on the beach. Unfortunately they weren't filming Bondi Rescue so we were able to get on tv. We took a walk around Darling Harbour in afternoon and got to watch a couple of street acts doing there thing. It was starting to get dark so off we went to find the campsite in the dark, we drove round in circles before finding it.

We caught the train into the city and Ryan wanted to sit up stairs as it felt like being in first class, but the scratched lines on the windows brought him back into the real world. We stopped for lunch in the botanical gardens and fed the ducks, though did have to fight off the big eels that also lived in the pond.
After lunch we walked around the gardens and also had the views of the opera house and the harbour bridge, we then headed towards the opera house and surround harbours. We enjoyed Sydney but being on a budget we didn't get to walk up the bridge, so we've decided that if or when we come back through Sydney we will make sure we have the money for it then.

With only 2 weeks to go before leaving australia and still over 1000 kilometers of driving to do we set about picking our route to Melbourne and having our last shower for a week.