Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Tuesday 12th Jan
We woke up to the sounds of nature which was really pleasant, had coco pops (so nice to be able to have cereal for breakfast and not egg on toast like everyday in Asia!) and made a couple of toasted ciabatta batches to have for lunch on our walk. After paying the rest of the balance at reception (it's $55 here a night as we have a separate bathroom), I had my first go at driving the campervan to Katoomba falls which was a 15 minute drive away. The campervan was fine to drive although it can be a bit difficult uphill, and there was continued clanking around in the back despite the fact we had rescued the curry sauce jar which had been bashing around in the back the day before. The clanking around turned out to be the metal pole which Lisa had dismantled the table to make our beds the night before and was smashing around as I was driving - once I discovered this and stored it properly driving is less painful.
We arrived at our 'explorer bus stop' and the driver was really friendly and throughout us hopping on and off he was telling the odd love story of how people had met here. He gave us a map book which was our ticket for the day to show as we hopped on and off and advised us on walking routes to do. There was an option to upgrade to be able to do Scenic world which consisted of a couple of 'rides' - add on's to get money out of people which we decided not to do as Lisa isn't great with heights and one of them was a glass floor cable car and overall we thought we'd save our money for things we really want to do further on in our trip. We spoke to an Italian couple later on who said the steep train ride into the rainforest was only 1 minute long anyway so I was glad we didn't bother and took our time to wander around the greenery of the area instead. We began at point 8 and walked back from honeymoon walk which was 15 to 14. The pathways and views were beautiful and I loved being in amongst Australia's blue mountain nature range. We ate our packed lunch at the three sisters view point and then walked to edge view to rehydrate. Finally we stopped off at 18, Gordon's falls where Lisa left me at the bottom to walk down on my own and see Sloam's pool, a remote area where I felt really peaceful standing on my own watching the small waterfall trickling down the side of the mountain.
We took a trip to the shops and picked up some ciders before heading back to camp and by the time we got back and had cooked our butter chicken curry for dinner it was around 7pm. A few of the campers were around and a friendly lady from south of Melbourne travelling with her husband and son sat down to chat to us and (after confessing she was tipsy) asked us lots of questions about our trip. She had travelled a lot herself and was a funny character with our sense of humour telling us about what wild koalas are really like and saying how she'd love to come and travel England in a campervan - we warned her of the weather! I chatted on the phone to Nick for a bit and came back to join in Lisa's conversation with the Italian couple, both around our ages giving advice as they had just come from the route we were about to do. They mentioned difficulty in finding places to park a campervan overnight in main cities and after talking to them we decided to alter our trip and skip Newcastle out.
My Aussie friend Jess who I'd met in Vietnam (travelling with Sara at the time) had also messaged me inviting us to hers in Port Macquarie so we scheduled to visit there for Thursday and Friday instead. It started to get cold so we went back up and tried to sleep in the camper but it was a very cold night so neither of us slept very well, I felt like I was back at a festival in a tent in England and had to put my hoody on to sleep in with the cold still getting to me.
xxx
- comments
Doreen Thomson Blue mountains looked gorgeous in photos .. So the cote am has been a good idea for getting about then.. Be nice to meet fellow campers too different people .. Shame your not getting enough sleep in the van nothing worse than trying to drive when your tired ❤️Xxx