Country Comfort Parklands Mudgee

... had a very nice cabin to stay in. It was a good place to catch up on the laundry etc.
Sunday was a beautiful day and we spent it visiting a number of wineries in the area. We sampled along the way and bought some nice wines to take away with us as well as olives, dukkah and other tasty morsels. Tonight we dined at the Mudgee RSL- we are educating Angela and Adrian in the art of eating at Aussie pubs and clubs!!

... After arriving in Mudgee and settling into our first camp site we spent some time sorting out our camper trailer which was to be home for the next six months or so. Stuff had been casually tossed into the camper and into Pancho (our newly acquired Prado christened by our friends and previous owners Carol and Peter). Luckly our new life doesn't require a lot so it wasn ...

... had endless varieties of honey and other products such as honey mead & mead liquers, so we didnt hold back! On the way back to town we stopped off for a quick photo opportunity at Henry Lawson's original house site, but not much to see except a plaque and an original chimney stack. Later on in the afternoon we took in the town centre to stretch the legs and to give the kids a break from staring at things from a car ...

With no time to waste, we headed towards the Blue Mountains. This is a "top tourist attraction" within about two hours of Sydney. This I knew from Australia guide books back home but confirmed it when I saw brochures advertising day trips to this region plastered throughout each tourist establishment. First though, we went to Featherdale Wildlife Park. The highlight of this visit was having a close encounter with a koala. There were ...

... trip to Armidale via Ebor and the 'Waterfall Way'. At Nymboida, disaster struck: another puncture in the rear tyre! This road is in the middle of nowhere, and there is no phone reception. Ali went on ahead to find a garage, so I was in first gear for miles, trying to keep the Guzzi upright, and trying not to lose the tyre off the rim in the 'twisties'! I managed to get to Tyringham, to find Ali at a tiny one-pump petrol station, cum grocery store / Pub! All the locals were ...

... about a half hour walk (although it was up a massive hill). The guide was pretty good and gave us loads of information about the trees and animals etc. It was good to be out of the city as as soon as we were back....we went to a bar where Pete and Will stayed til the early hours. We did come 5th in the quiz night though and won a free shot - butterscotch schnapps and baileys (one for you to try Helen!).

... round to face the other way (the way Sheffield trams used to be!) and generally tried to fit in Down Under. We do miss home sometimes but there are some things out here that are just sooo much better than home - like food courts (you can get basically any food you want in them!) and the weather! We'll put some more photos up before we leave hopefully - including some actual people! We've been a bit slack taking pictures recently - not that you can tell from this site!

... lush country side. We also toured an olive orchard, all the antique stores, and near by Gulgong, an old gold mining town, famous for it's $10 motel. It was apparent that very little has changed in this town from the 19th century. We took the very scenic Bell Line of Road back, crossing the first ferry ever over the Hawkesbury, ending up in St Albans, where we had to yield at a chicken crossing ! We also drove through the beautiful and well preserved towns of Windsor and Richmond.

... Pretty cool though. I rode through the outback landscape on a horse called puddin.. he was a champion in trotting and cantering... I got him because I had experience riding when I was a kid. However, there is much about form I have forgotten since last riding in my lessons. He had a very bouncy trot and well, let's just say the cookie is feeling a little bruised. On the other side, it was so amazing to have a horse that wanted to go as fast as I ...

... years. I saw the land exactly how Darwin did way over one- hundred years ago. Pristine and untouched beauty. It is the untouchable... We head down the wall and sat at the bottom of the falls, the most amazing part about the falls was the lack of water running over the edge. It trickled down with such power, the smallest movement of water falling at such great heights it could do nothing but pound the edge of the rocks...We travelled ...