21st March 2014-Down To The Coast

21st March 2014

We have moved down to the coast (circumnavigating Sydney for obvious reasons when towing a  caravan) and are heading north. Our first stop was at Taree...a nice little town and the caravan park was right on the river....spectacular!!!!

OUR TAREE RIVERSIDE CARAVAN PARK-We saw a dolphin going up the river and there was a fat goanna walking around...he was very suspicious of us

While here we went to the cinema and saw 12 Years a Slave....it was very good and I recommend it!

We also decided to drive the 140km round trip to visit the Ellenborough Waterfall....the second largest single drop waterfall in the southern hemisphere!!! And if that doesn't impress you then the drive there certainly will as the last 10km was narrow...winding AND unsealed!!!! And just for extra fun it turned out that following heavy rains, some sections of road had started to crumble away and had been temporarily repaired......hmmmm. Turns out a single drop waterfall isn't as interesting as a big splashy waterfall, yep...probably not worth the drive but we wouldn't have known that if we hadn't gone.

Next we moved to Sapphire Beach, this isn't really a town as there is only a caravan park, a café and some houses. But the beach was beautiful and there was a nice walking path through the bush. The big benefit was it is only 5kms from Coffs Harbour...........the home of the BIG BANANA!!!!!

We saw the big banana...
We ate a chocolate banana....
We bought a 'big banana' badge for my backpack........Yeah baby!!!!!

Sapphire Beach has sooooo many birds that you will be woken up at 6am unless you wear earplugs. I am an early riser so thought this was a fabulous way to wake up!!!!

COFFS HARBOUR AIR WALK LOOKOUT

We saw a sign for a Coffs Harbour lookout so headed up the hill. It was a 6km drive and wouldn't you know it......it was a narrow and winding road, but after the Ellenborough Falls road it was a piece of cake!! The lookout is a suspended bridge giving a massive panoramic view of Coffs Harbour and beyond!! It did sway a little if anyone moved too much which was a little spooky! Coffs Harbour was a great place for us to stock up on food and do a little shopping,  very enjoyable.

With Sapphire Beach and Coffs Harbour behind us we are now at Broadwater (still in NSW) Sugar cane area!!  We are at a bush site in the back of the caravan park so we feel very rugged when we look out of our windows and see bush, but unfortunately the other night we saw our first Cane Toad, and this morning little Sam the Chihuahua got bitten by a baby bull ant (she's all better now).  But you can't beat the view and the peace and quiet, and our little old neighbours are lovely!

BROADWATER SUGAR CANE FIELDS

We have driven to Evans Head (a beachside township 11km away) and been to Lismore for a look around (bought the most amazing Satay Chicken Schnitzels from a butcher!!) This afternoon we went to Ballina...had a walk around the town and ate a fantastic lunch.....mmmmmm I'm gonna remember that lunch for a long time.

EVANS HEAD LOOKOUT

We are here until Sunday when we will move to the Gold Coast in Queensland. Hellooooo theme parks!!!

8th March 2014 - Katoomba Rocks !!

8th March 2014

Katoomba was our destination after Bathurst. We decided to stay at Blackheath (a town 10km west of Katoomba) to avoid the bustle of a bigger population and it proved to be a wise choice. The caravan park here was small, quiet and walking distance to town.....all of the prerequisites for a good park!

As we were now at 1200mtrs elevation there was a lot more rain, but it is this rain that makes the rain forest that we were about to enjoy.

A KATOOMBA RAINFORREST WITH SOME OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS IN THE BACKGROUND

Scenic World was a 'must see' destination and it has a huge amount of visitors every day. We had been advised to arrive early before it got busy so 9am we were there (in the queue) buying our tickets. I have to say this this was amazing value!! For $35 each you can stay all day and do as many of the rides as you want. Scenic world has three rides and plenty of  walkways that are all designed to show the view of the rainforest, the Blue Mountains and of the Three sisters (a famous rock formation)

We started with the Scenic Railway, this is the steepest passenger train in the world (it descends at 52 degrees) when you are on the train it feels almost straight down.....but the panoramic view was fantastic!!! Later that day we took the train back up which was very weird because you were going backwards-didn't like that sensation much!

THE SCENIC RAILWAY AS IT COMES OUT OF THE TUNNEL AND CONTINUES DOWN

When you depart the train at the bottom there are various walkways through the rain forest, we chose the longest walk which took us over 1 hour and ended at the base of the Scenic Cableway. This is a cable car that can hold 84 people and would take us back up the 545 metres to the main building. It was spooky being in a glass box gliding over the tree tops and past cliffs but we rode this one a second time to go back down again (going down was harder on the stomach!) Whilst we were waiting to board this ride a Lyre Bird ran out of the scrub, panicked, and disappeared again, it was too fast to grab a photo :(

THE SCENIC CABLEWAY ON ITS WAY DOWN, JUST PAST THE TREE TOPS IT DROPS MORE DRAMATICALLY INTO THE VALLEY

This is where I have to confess that whilst there was a third ride....we didn't go on it. The very very very good reason is that it is a Skyway - a glass box that goes directly across the valley to a cliff on the other side, but then of course you have to ride it back again! When I say glass box I literally mean that as it has a glass floor.....no way was I getting in that!!

Scenic world was a great place to visit and by the time we left all of the tourist coaches from Sydney had arrived and it was getting very busy....the advice to arrive early was good!

The other big attraction in the Blue Mountains is the Jenolan Caves! There is a large area of underground cave tunnels and you can go on a guided tour. There are 12 tours to choose from and we chose the Lucas Cave. This tour started at 11.30am and lasts for 1.5hours (the timing of this was important which I will explain later) so we arrived on time and spent 1.5hours seeing awe inspiring crystals and caverns!

ME IN FRONT OF THE 'BROKEN COLUMN'

SOME OF THE BEAUTIFUL CRYSTALS THAT HAD FORMED EVERYWHERE THROUGHOUT THE TUNNELS AND CAVES

This tour was also well worth it. The caves were a 65km drive from Blackheath and they advise it would take 1.25hours to get there.....I know this seems a little out of proportion for the distance but up this high the roads are steep, narrow and very bendy. There is also a length of 8km that is single lane....literally only one car wide.......and this is where the timing of our tour was important! From 11.15 to 1.15pm every day that 8km section becomes one way-IN only-this is so that tour buses can get in without coming head to head with a car trying to get out-stalemate! Our 11.30 tour meant that we would beat the Sydney tour buses and therefor have a quieter tour.....AND as our tour finished at 1pm we would be able to get out again only 15 minutes later---go Ralstons!!!!

By the time we were ready to leave a thunder storm had set in and we were driving the narrow, bendy, steep roads in heavy rain and lightening- and trying to do it fast to minimise our chances of finding someone coming the other way - not the thrill I was looking for. And in case you are wondering why they made that 8km length only one lane wide.........it is because the mountain side is soooooo steep that they could only manage to cut out one lane...this meant that I had a spectacular view down a cliff side!!!! (PS: their idea of a barrier rail is timber posts with chook wire nailed to it - and to be honest the posts looked pretty old!!!)

Katoomba is a great place to visit and it offered plenty to do. However we moved on today. We are currently at a very big caravan park on the side of the M1....pretty much in the middle of nowhere which now that I think of it would be a good setting for a horror movie...hmmmm. We will only stay here 1 night and head off tomorrow for prettier pastures!

Of note.....at Blackheath I wanted to do some laundry but was reluctant as the forecast was for 99% humidity and I didn't think it would dry....It turns out that I was correct about that because this is what 99% humidity looks like....it is a fog/mist soooo thick that you can feel it hit your face (and wearing glasses is useless!)

(PS: I ended up paying the $4 for a laundry dryer otherwise it would have taken all week to get my washing dry!)