Well, following growing calls for me to contribute something else to this blog I will oblige and confirm to my parents that we are currently in Sydney, having spent the last couple of weeks travelling south from Cairns. This is actually our second stop in Sydney, having arrived back earlier today from a trip to the Blue Mountains. Prior to this, we spent a couple of nights at a pub in the Sydney suburb of Ultimo where I gained hero status for having the mental and physical capabilities to operate the jukebox. This might not sound a great achievement, however in a bar where a 12-hour stay is obligatory for locals; it was something of a boon and ensured a merry time was had by all.
Working backwards over the last fortnight, the Blue Mountains were a pretty spectacular sight, although not for one minute would I personally consider them to be either blue or particularly mountainous. To my mind, Green Canyons would be a more appropriate name and whilst they do feature highly on most oz-tour itineraries they come a distant second to the more rugged beauty of Stannage Edge in the peak district. Doubtless there will be others who disagree.
We arrived in Sydney from the second of our internal flights, down from Brisbane where we managed through a combination of a river trip and getting badly lost in our hire car, to see most of the city in a little less than 7 waking hours. Our impressions were positive, with the river area being very attractive albeit somewhat eclipsed by seeing Sydney harbour for the first time (for me at least).
A plus point of the drive down from Cairns to Brisbane had been that the temperature and in particular the humidity had started to fall away in the evenings - those waiting for further sweaty photo’s of me (Nina!) will hopefully have to suffice with simply dishevelled and confused looking from now on… Other than travelling south, a significant factor in the cooling off was the fact that we were driving about half-a-day ahead of a cyclone/tropical storm that has done considerable flood damage to many of the places we have left behind. Our disappointment at missing out on trips to the barrier reef/Whitsundays due to the inclement weather has been countered by the fact that the main road down the coast was closed within a day or so of us passing along certain sections. This positive is however countered by the negative that if the road had been closed when we got there, the police wouldn’t have caught me querying their speed limits and not seen fit to fine me.
Returning to the bigger picture, prior to Brisbane, we spent a couple of days further up the coast at Mooloolaba, from where we made a day trip to Noosa to see the Booths (Leon, ex-Sheffielder, travelled to Oz in 90’s, met Kate, stayed, had large family of attractive children all of whom take after their mother!). For anyone who knows Leon, it will come as no surprise to learn that after a week or so of unsettled weather, we arrived in Noosa on probably the best day of the trip to date only to spend the majority of the day in the pub! In fairness, it was one of the better pubs we have spent time in, being the Noosa Surf Club with views out over Noosa Heads. Photos of the Booths and other aspects of this leg of the journey will be posted in the coming days.
The journey down the coast was about 1700km in total, being primarily long straight single carriageway roads with occasional kangaroo signs to keep the drivers alert. We had good stops in Agnes Water/Town of 1770, Rainbow Beach, Townsville, Caloundra and Airlie Beach and have managed to avoid spending too much time with the younger/healthier types that seem to frequent the majority of these places.
The plan from here is to spend the next few days in Sydney, travel up the coast at the weekend to see Leon/family for a couple of nights and then return for a final time to Sydney in time for Australia day on the 26th. From there, we fly to Christchurch and having looked at some of the weather forecasts possibly half a day in a shopping center refreshing our wardrobes.
RJH
