Travelling around NSW
Trip Start
Jan 2003
1
124
200
Trip End
Dec 2003
Sydney- Katoomba - Hunter Valley - Port Stephens - Syd......,
Australia
Thursday, August 28, 2003
As should be apparent from the long winded entry above, we've done a fair amount of travelling these past few days. We'd decided you could spend too long in Sydney and it would be nice for my mum to see a bit more of Australia given how far she had come to we took a whistle stop tour of New South Wales before heading for a week's R&R on the South Pacific island of Vanuatu. Kirsty and I had visited these places in NSW previously but given that we'd seen them as highlights of mainland Australia and the fact that they are easily accessible from Sydney meant we were more than happy to head back. While the weather in the Blue Mountains was dry, it was pretty dour and the highly commended Carrington proved highly disappointed. Despite the Lonely Plant proclaiming it to be lavish and luxurious we found it to be dingy and musty. The Hunter Valley and Port Stephens thankfully did everything within their power to recompense. While the wine of the Hunter vineyards was always plentiful and generally delicious, the cheese of the Hunter Valley Cheese Company stole the show - and I'm not a cheese lover.
As you may have remembered, our last visit to Port Stephens was particularly successful and this visit raised the bar. I certainly haven't been anywhere else in the world where I can be stayoing in a hut in rainforest (complete with wild koalas - look just like someone has stuck a teddy bear up a tree) but within walking distance is a thirty kilometre deserted stretch of beach. Add this to the general striking scenery and you've got a place that would be my retirement utopia. Unfortunately I'm not the only person to think that and I'd imagine there's a longer queue at the Post Office on giro day than there is at the pub on a Friday night.
And so, onto the final leg of the last three days before Kirsty and I get to spend a week in the same bed for the first time in six months. Worryingly my tooth flared up a little on the plane but it was worthit for the mumsy friendliness, if not the physical beauty, of the Air Vanuatu air hostesses. Never before have I been so looked after on a plane and they seem to encourage drunkeness given the amount of free booze we were offered even in cattle class. Hopefully this will be indicative of the people of Vanuatu. Arrival was frustingly in darkness so any comments about the place will have to wait......
