Brekkie BBQ & Buddies in Bodalla

After a good night’s sleep (having eventually gotten over the shock of being mildly electrocuted!) Larissa and I were surprised by Kim with a cup of tea in bed! I then got up to find all her family in the garden; I followed them outside and was very excited to discover that they were cooking up a storm for everyone – brekkie on the barbie! Yum!

We enjoyed our brekkie rolls and tea, chatting away outside in our PJs – pleased that it was mild enough to do so. Shortly after finishing brekkie, we said goodbye to them as they all headed off to watch a footie match of some description (someone’s brother was playing or something!). Kim, Larissa and I spent the rest of the morning chilling out and chatting, having a proper girlie catch up, over a few cups of tea.

Deciding it was time to get dressed, we sorted ourselves out and Kim took us for a drive, to go see the sights of Bodalla. As the town is so tiny, this didn’t take very long at all, so we went a bit further out, to a place called Potato Point. The exciting thing about Potato Point was that what it lacked in potatoes, it made up for in kangaroos! There were hundreds of them, all merrily hopping about around a little lake! They were very laid back and certainly in no rush to move out of the way of the car – we had to manoeuvre around them!

On the way back to the house, we picked up a DVD from the petrol station (yes, it’s where they get their DVD rentals from!) – Kim suggested the movie, called ‘Bran Nue Dae’ which neither Larissa or I had ever heard of, but she explained it was a recent low budget Aussie movie that had made it quite big.

We got all comfy and spent the rest of the arvo chilling in the lounge, watching some tv. Kim put the dinner on and once it was in the oven, we started watching the DVD with a few drinks. The film was absolutely brilliant; so funny, yet very moving – it was a kind of musical, set in the late 1960s based on the life of an aboriginal teenager in Broome. We laughed a lot and were very pleased at Kim’s choice. The dinner was amazing – a delicious roast chicken, which we enjoyed with a glass of wine. The rest of the evening was great fun, just relaxing with the girls and a few more drinks. We decided to watch Austin Powers, which had us in hysterics, before it was time for bed (I made extra sure not to get electrocuted this time!).

Farewell Friends & Festive Fun (and an electrocution!)

This morning I had to get up super early, but having packed everything up efficiently the night before, there was less rushing about to do. When I came downstairs, I was surprised to find Stu on the sofa! It turned out he too was going to the airport this morning (he was heading to Sydney on a different flight to me but at the same time) so Matt had offered to give him a lift, along with me, on his way to work. I made tea which seemed to wake everyone up enough for us to pack the car up and head off.

Once at the airport, Stu and I checked in to our respective flights and then the three of us had a coffee and doughnut for brekkie! Lovely! Then Matt left us to go to work and Stu and I mooched around the terminal, before the boards told us that we had to go to our gates; we said cheerio and off we went.

I was excited to get on the plane first once again (go me!) and then soon I was jetting back to Sydney (after a bit of a delay – grrr!). I took the opportunity to have a bit of a kip as I knew I would be dash-dash-dashing once I got off at the other end. I wasn’t wrong!

At 10am, having disembarked from the plane and collected my bags, I had to get on the train from the airport to the city. Then because there were engineering works on the train line, I had to get on a rail-replacement bus which took me part of the way, then I had to get off and wait for another train, for the last part of the journey which brought me into Bombaderry at 3pm, where Larissa was waiting for me! Phew!

It was great seeing Larissa again and as soon as we had loaded my gear into her car, we were on our way to Bodalla, to see Kim! The drive took about three hours and took us through some familiar places; Berry, Gerringong, Bateman’s Bay, Nowra and several other places I visited in 2005 with Rotary. We spent the whole journey chit-chat-chatting, which helped the three hour drive pass quite quickly!

Eventually, we arrived at Kim’s house at 6pm – it was next to the now-empty Bodalla cheese factory and the ‘Big Cheese’, which is still there but no longer really relevant as the factory itself has closed (so therefore the cheese is now somewhat dilapidated). Kim was there on the veranda waiting for us, along with her sister, brother in law, two nephews and their girlfriends! Quite a good group to help Kim celebrate her birthday! She showed us to our room and gave me a tour of her house. It is really old (in Aussie terms!), which is why she bought it as she is now restoring it, although it does still need a lot of work – the gaps in the walls are currently stuffed with newspaper to stop drafts and some of the wiring leaves much to be desired! The tour over, we all settled down in the lounge with a beer and chatted; Kim’s family seemed really nice – just as down to earth and life and soul as she is! Larissa and I both gave Kim her birthday presents which went down very well indeed; this was hardly surprising as we’d both got her alcohol!

A couple of beers later and it was time to get ready to go to the pub for the evening’s incredibly exciting event – Christmas in July! No, they're not completely mad, it’s something that is quite common in Oz; often it’s a fundraiser or something, but always has the same sort of theme – a full Christmas lunch; Brit-style with turkey etc! I guess this is because the regular festive season is always so hot, which means that they don’t want to do the hot-roast thing in December, plus you can’t have the roaring fire etc. Anyway, I was very excted as I hadn’t been to one before!

We walked down to the pub; the only one in Bodalla and Larissa and I were instantly taken aback by how ‘local’ it was – everyone clearly knew each other, so gave us a bit of a funny look when we walked in! The guy behind the bar told us that they were still setting up, so we had time for a drink amongst the locals (slightly scary!) before going through to the function room. When we walked through the bar, I realised just what a lovely building it was – so old with lots of original features, although sadly it doesn’t look like the owners take proper care of it, which is such a shame as it really could be beautiful! It is also a hotel, again slightly old-school, with shared bathrooms, but either way, really cute!

The festivities were taking place in the function room, which was bedecked with a range of tacky decorations; only the high ceilings kind of made it look a bit meagre. It was still sweet, if a bit pathetic, in a kitsch way! The fireplace had a fantastic blazing fire, which we sat close to and the tables were laid out with crackers and other table decorations (the type with the honeycombed tissue paper!). Despite the fact that it could have been so much more festive, it was still really cool and we were all very excited!

Some more of Kim’s friends and colleagues joined us, so our table constituted over half of the total number of diners! The meal itself was not bad and was done in an alternate fashion, where they give you alternating plates, so you either stick with what you are given, or negotiate with someone who has been given the other option! For starters it was pumpkin or potato & leek soup – I had pumpkin and it was very nice indeed. The choice of mains was turkey & ham stack or belly pork – I had the pork which was great; I think I got the best deal as Larissa couldn’t tell which meat was the turkey and which was the ham as it tasted the same! Dessert was either plum pudding or pavlova – I had the former and was quite impressed although it tasted nothing like the Christmas pudding I am used to, so I am not sure whether Christmas pudding and plum pudding are actually two different things.

Throughout the meal, we wore our silly hats and listened to the dodgy carols playing on a CD. The fire was so hot that we started cooking! I enjoyed chatting to Larissa and some of Kim’s colleagues, who were all very friendly. I had a long chat with her sister too and I realised how similar they both are, which meant that she was very easy to get on with. Our table was quite raucous in comparison to the other two tables – full of old people! The best bit was when the local newspaper reporter took a photo of us, so who knows, maybe we’ll make the front page!

After dinner, we headed back to the bar and had a few more drinks before heading back to Kim’s, where we carried on chatting and drinking for a while. Both Larissa and I were both incredibly tired, so decided to turn in. We got ready for bed and once she was in her bed, I went to turn out the light, but forgot which bit of the switch Kim had said not to touch and promptly got electrocuted! As there was no door on our bedroom (beaded curtains for the moment!), from the lounge, Kim and the others saw me and heard the zap and my yelp; she came rushing in and Larissa jumped up to see if I was ok. I was fine, if a bit stunned and with a slightly buzzing feeling in my hand and arm, oh and suddenly I didn’t feel so sleepy any more! Once we were all sure I was fine, Kim tucked us into bed and turned the light out!

Girlie Goodbye & Gig

This morning I pottered about the house, finishing off my laundry and chatting to Christie and Niamph until they headed off to work. I then went on the tram to the city to meet Nic, as it was her last day in Melbourne, before she would be heading off to Sydney (and then home to Scotland).

We spent the rest of the morning and arvo being part of the ‘latte set’ and generally wandering around the city. It might sound like we do this a lot, but it’s just because the both of us love the city so much, we could walk around for hours and hours at a time without getting bored! Obviously part of our wanderings involved a visit to Little Cupcakes (they know us in there now!) and a wander around the Myer centre. We also had lunch at another icon of Melbourne – Lord of the Fries (everyone has been telling me about it but I had never had it), it was ok but I don’t really know what all the fuss was about!

In the late arvo, I said a sad farewell to Nic so she could go and catch her flight – we don’t think we’ll manage to catch up with one another again before she goes home. However, it has been great getting to see her and spend time together again.

Once I got back to Thornbury, the gang were home from work and we sat chatting and chilling with a cuppa. I then went and packed my case once again, then we all got ready to go out. We headed off to Brunswick Street, to a bar where Matt was doing the lights for a gig. The bar itself seemed really nice and we’d gotten there early so that Matt could help with the set up. We met Stu, one of Matt’s friends who was the sound techie guy for the night, along with some of Matt’s other muso friends. Christie, Niamph and I watched with a couple of beers whilst he did his techie stuff and organised all the lights, then watched each band do their sound check. There were four bands and three of them seemed ok, from what we could tell, whilst the other one was slightly dubious!

As soon as the doors opened to Joe Public, the pub filled up quickly and soon the music began. We enjoyed the first two bands (kind of rock music mixed with metal, I guess – I’m not so great at music genre identification) and I was pretty impressed by Matt’s skills at lighting. The sound and lighting desk was so enticing with all its little buttons, dials and flashing lights; it made me have a major urge to press something, but I managed to hold myself back!

When the third band began, someone else took over the lights and so the four of us went out to grab a quick bite to eat for dinner. We found a decent looking pizza place only a few doors down, so went in there. It turned out to be a really good choice as the pizza tasted amazing and had such a thin, crispy base (almost like a cream cracker!). It was good too because it was a stone baked pizza, so was really quick – Matt needed to get back in time for the last band. Once we were done, Niamph and I decided to go back home, rather than stay out any later as I had to be up early and she was tired, so we hopped on the tram whilst Matt and Christie went back to the pub. Back at the house, I finalised all my packing, took a shower and turned in for the night.

Demon Dramas, Dinner & Drinking

After more demon-related nightmares (stupid film!) I woke up late again, so everyone had gone to work by the time I got downstairs. I mooched about a bit, sorted out my washing, had a cuppa and headed off out. I spent the morning having a wander down the Thornbury High Street itself, looking in the little shops and marvelling at how some of these businesses can actually stay afloat! Some of the shops are very strange, quite random and I just don’t know how they can make enough money to keep going in this day and age, as Thornbury is only a small suburb – some examples of random shops; tv/radio rental, wedding favour makers, shaver menders, comic books, artificial eye services (honestly!); I guess they’re specialist shops that people must go out of their way to visit.

Having had a look around, I found a tram stop and went back to the city, where once again I wandered around ‘real’ shops! I popped to Little Cupcakes and bought a box for the Ascot Vale gang, then hopped on a tram to go and see them.

It was lovely being back in Ascot Vale and as I expected, Becs and Sarah were super excited to see me come up the path with the now-familiar box from Little Cupcakes! Ewan came over too, so it made for a veritable party atmosphere! After a cup of tea and cupcake, we spent the arvo watching silly tv programmes, the Tour de France and then in the early evening Gremlins 2 (of all things). The latter was fuelled by beer and offered plenty of opportunities for the four young’uns to tease me (as the original film came out the year they were born!), but I gave as good as I got!

Becs made a delicious lasagne for dinner, which was superb. We watched tv, carried on chatting and drinking beer until it was time for me to head off. It was sad saying goodbye to them yet again, but I know it won’t be the last time I see them.

After hopping on the tram to the city, I met Niamph and Matt in the Young & Jackman’s pub. We had a couple of pots in there, before we went upstairs to see the famous painting of a woman which hangs there – apparently years ago some US soldier tried to slash the painting and got beaten up for even attempting to do so (he failed).

They then took me on a bit of a wander around the city, it looks so pretty at night. We went to a really fantastic bar on the roof of one of the buildings on Swanston Street. It was a heck of a climb up all the stairs to get there, but the views from the top were well worth getting puffed out for! I was gutted that I had forgotten my camera, as the lights across the city twinkled so daintily. We had a couple more drinks there – this time moving on to cocktails – chatting and walking around, looking at the city from each side of the building. It really looks so different from so high up! The walk back down the stairs wasn’t as difficult!

The others were a bit peckish so we went to a really well-hidden dumpling house off a side street which was off another side street (you really wouldn’t come across it by accident!) but clearly it is well-known to much of the Asian community, as it was super busy. We ordered some beers and a couple of different types of dumplings – it is kind of like dumpling-related tapas! Having had dinner already, I wasn’t hungry, but did try a pumpkin cake which was delicious!

We then found a tram and headed back to Thornbury, where we found Christie asleep on the sofa! A cup of tea later, we headed to bed.

Nattering with Nic

After a restless night’s sleep where I had been having paranoid dreams about being possessed by a demon, I got up, dressed and headed downstairs. Niamph and Matt had already gone to work and so I had a cup of tea with Christie before heading out myself.

I hopped on the tram and went into the city once again. I met up with Nic and we spent the whole day wandering around the shops and chatting merrily, stopping for a cup of coffee here and there (obviously popping to Little Cupcakes – our favourite coffee shop!), as well as a bite to eat for lunch. Despite it still being sale-season, neither of us bought anything, it was more of a window-shopping exercise! We also walked along the river a little way, enjoying the views and sitting down to watch the world go by with a coffee. It may not sound like a very interesting day, but it was lovely and relaxing.

Later in the arvo, I left Nic to go back to where she was staying and hopped on the tram back to Thornbury. When I got back, everyone was home from work so we sat and debriefed about our days over a cup of tea. We were all supposed to be going to a gig, but Ryan called to tell us that it had been cancelled because the singer had a throat virus, that was a bit annoying as we’d all gotten quite excited about going, but hey, these things happened.

So instead, we plumped for an evening in. I did some boring things like washing and then discussed dinner options with the gang. Niamph knocked us up a tasty pasta dish, which we all enjoyed with a few beers, before whiling the rest of the evening away chatting and watching a random documentary about Australian film making, which was surprisingly interesting!

Film Fans at Fed, Followed by Frights!

Today, I got up at a reasonable hour and chatted with Christie for a bit over a cup of tea. It was a sunny morning so we went and sat out in the back yard. I then went inside and helped him with his computer, as he was having some problems (user error!). Niamph appeared, had a cuppa with us, then headed off to work and Christie followed shortly afterwards.

A couple of cups of tea later, Matt and I went to the tram stop and headed to the city. As usual I got excited when we went past the funky art-deco Maccas which I like to look at whenever I go on the tram. On arrival in the city, we noticed a lot of hub-bub in Smith Street – there were people everywhere plus a lot of big trucks, it didn’t take us long to work out it was some sort of film crew doing something filming-related, but we couldn’t quite make out what.

We walked from Flinders Street to South Wharf – the shopping centre inside the Crown casino. I hadn’t been there before and it was quite exciting! We went to JB Hifi to see if they had a slightly obscure DVD I had been after and the woman explained that they had sold their only two copies that very same morning, which was both a rather strange coincidence and a bit annoying! We then took a wander about some of the other shops and through the casino, which was filled to the brim with pokies and all sorts of other gambling-related activity, which I had no idea about. You could see people who looked like they’d been sat there for days on end. All the flashing lights and plinky-plonky sounds were doing my head in, so we made a quick exit.

Next we took along the wharf by the exhibition centre and I was surprised at how pretty it was – I had never walked on this side of the water before and it was a lot nicer than the other side, especially in the sunshine.

We wandered back up and met my friend Nic at Flinders Street – it was so nice seeing her again – and went off to find a quick spot of lunch on Fed Square. She had also seen the film crew and had walked past, asked someone and discovered that it was filming for a new De Niro film, but she hadn’t seen the man himself either! The three of us then moseyed on over to ACMI to see the Tim Burton exhibition that I had been so keen to visit. As it was still school holidays, it was rather busy, but good nonetheless, although a little annoying that it wasn’t possible to take photographs.

The exhibition wasn’t entirely what I expected, although I am not altogether sure what I had expected. It seemed to focus heavily on his artwork, which was very cool indeed and it kind of told his life story as you went through the exhibit, from his childhood attempts at design and film making, through to his work for Disney, then his own films. Some of the pieces were fascinating and what I liked was when I saw a creature or concept he had created when he was younger, that I could recognise as something he had gone back to and used in his own films at a later date. There were some models and costumes from some of his films including Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Mars Attacks, Alice in Wonderland Batman. There was a tunnelled section to walk through which was lit with black light, so we had fun in there; once we’d looked at all the images and models, we pulled out all sorts of different things from our bags to see what they’d look like under the black lighting.

Once we’d been through the whole exhibit, we went to the ACMI screening rooms and found some of Tim Burton’s early short films. We watched the ones he’d made as a teenager and they were not brilliant, but funny to watch nonetheless.

We popped to Little Cupcakes for a coffee and mini cupcake, then Nic headed back and Matt and I hopped on a tram back to Thornbury. When we got in, Niamph was home and wanted to know all about the Tim Burton exhibition, so we chatted about it over a cup of tea.

In the evening the four of us went to the cinema at Northfield, with the intention of seeing Toy Story 3D, but when we got there, it was absolutely heaving with people, in particular families and then we realised that perhaps trying to see a kids’ film in the school holidays wasn’t such a great idea. There wasn’t much else on, so we changed the plan and headed back to the house, via the chippy, supie and video shop – deciding that a movie at home would be a safer bet. We ended up with two movies; ‘Is Anybody There?’ (a British film with Michael Caine) and ‘Paranormal Activity’.

Back at the house, someone had the great idea of watching the Caine one first – it was actually a really good film; a drama about a family who run an old people’s home with a boy obsessed with trying to record the dead. We then watched Paranormal Activity – a stupid film about a demon haunting a house, but although it was silly and not a lot happened, it still managed to freak me out. I wished we’d watched them the other way around as I went to sleep being scared of demons!

Cruising the Coast, Catching Koalas & Criminal Conversion

Thankfully I didn’t have nightmares about Wolf Creek and woke up feeling refreshed and relieved I wasn’t going to have to dash anywhere (I seem to have had a lot of early mornings recently!). I went downstairs and found Niamph still looking slightly green, but getting ready to go to work (I can’t imagine how much she must have drunk to still be hungover more than 24 hours later!). Christie came down next and we had a cup of tea together, whilst he told me all about the day he had ahead of him at work.

When Matt materialised, I made him a cup of tea and because he had the day off work, we came up with a plan – seeing as it was such a sunny day we’d go for a drive along the Great Ocean Road! Cool! We headed off out and before long were on the famous stretch of road. It really was rather beautiful, once the road went parallel alongside the sea. We stopped at Bells Beach (it’s famous for something to do with surfing, but I am not sure exactly what) and watched some surfers catching some waves below us, although despite the sun, it looked a bit cold for me!

A bit further along the road, we came to a little town called Lorne, which looked beautiful. It’s a popular spot in summer with all sorts of activities along the front (including a new million dollar mini golf course that they are currently building!), but being winter, it was quite quiet. We had some lunch in the Kaos Kafe and it was fantastic – I had a delicious smoked salmon sandwich whilst Matt had ‘green eggs and ham’ (which reminded me of a certain five year old back home who likes that story – you know who you are!).

Back on the road, we followed the twists and turns, enjoying the superb views of the ocean, until we came to a random turn off for a holiday park – I didn’t know why we’d stopped until I saw the sign; ‘Koala Cove’! Matt had set himself the mission of showing me ‘real’ koalas so I could tick it off my list of ‘real’ animals I had seen. It was so cool. We drove along the road, looking up into the trees and eventually we pulled over, hopped out and there one was – perched way up in the tree top. It didn’t do much, but at least it was a real koala! As we looked around we saw a few more, all high up, but real nonetheless! So: real live koala – tick!

We carried along the Great Ocean Road until we came to the Ottway National Park, where we turned off the GOR and headed towards the Ottway Fly. According to the internet it was just off the GOR, but in fact was over 40km away, along some very narrow, windy roads and through the rainforest (we even passed an overturned lorry which had gone off the road and crashed into the trees – it must have done so a long time ago because it was very much rusty and dilapidated), but eventually we arrived. When I was in Melbourne in March, I had won a prize for listening to a talk from Safari Johnno – it comprised of a variety of things including a tin of beans, but amongst the other bits was a free ticket to the Ottway Fly. This ticket had remained in my folder of things and I had chanced upon it when sorting out my bag in Sydney, mentioned it to Matt and we decided to go as it was something a bit different and we had a free ticket! It turned out to be more or less identical to the Illawara Fly that I went to with the Stangers a couple of weeks ago – it must be run by the same company. The main difference is that it is much smaller and so there is less in the way of boardwalks and bridges to walk over, although there was one really tall tower with a spiral staircase. The view from the top was quite different to that of the Illawara Fly, as despite being relatively close to the GOR, because the drive took us on such a climb up from it, the result was that we were way above sea level, so all to be seen in every direction were trees! It was still cool though. Another major difference was that they had a kind of mini bush-walk through the trees with some slightly dubious-looking fibreglass dinosaurs hiding behind the tress – they were rather amusing and we had a competition to see who could do the best dinosaur impersonation.

When we eventually got back to the car, we decided that we should start heading back to Melbourne, but this time we’d go along the main roads, rather than the GOR. We set the TomTom and started on our way. After a bit, Matt was getting a bit tired and so I offered to drive for a bit – this was a bit illegal as I don’t actually have my driving licence with me and even if I did, it’s the old paper licence and you’re supposed to have the new one with the photo. I figured we were not on the main highways, so there were hardly any other cars around, so the chances of getting pulled over were slim, plus if I was, I could just go into ‘bumbling Brit’ mode (apparently I am quite good at that and as such my skills have been likened to those of a typical Hugh Grant character on several occasions by several different people!). I was still super nervous, particularly as the car was somewhat bigger than my own (it’s a Rav 4), although I figured I had gotten all excited at the prospect of driving the Stray bus in NZ which was much, much bigger than this!

I started driving and it wasn’t as bad as I thought as we were going along quiet roads through the bush, plus I was being super careful and going super slow (well, just marginally under the speed limit anyway!). I was right about the lack of other cars; once I started driving, it was absolutely ages before we saw another vehicle. Soon it became darker and the additional danger factor occurred to me – animals leaping in front of the car; this made me drive even more carefully and I realised that I seemed to be subconsciously holding my breath for lengths of time! I was able to chat and drive, but was concentrating super-lots on the road!

Then seemingly moments after the light had started dipping, we were suddenly plunged into complete darkness and all I could see was what was being lit up by my headlights, they were the only form of light. My side mirrors reflected blackness, as did the rear view mirror – in fact I couldn’t even see the mirrors themselves as they too were black, so the black casings merged with the black reflections. So it was all black. Black, black, black. Nothing but black. I noticed the road had turned from tarmac to dust and then it occurred to me – Wolf Creek. This really was Wolf Creek-esque. Damn that film! I was then able to appreciate why the film is scary. I pointed this out to Matt, who agreed, but thought it was quite funny that I was now finally scared of the film! I saw the funny side too and we laughed about it, although vowed not to accept help from any strangers should we break down!

Once the tarmac came back, I felt a bit better and before long we were nearing some street lights. We decided to swap back over once we were on the highway. That seemed like a good idea. The highway kind of crept up on us, so I said I’d stop at the first services we came to. That also seemed like a good idea. Then I saw some flashing lights up ahead – police! Arrrggh! Matt laughed and said it was ok; they only put the lights on when they have pulled someone over or were chasing them, which meant they had their hands full and wouldn’t bother us. Sure enough he was right, but I went past the parked police car looking as innocent as I possibly could, just in case! Phew; made it! Seconds later, I saw another set of flashing lights up ahead – they were doing the same thing, so again I went past, bang on the speed limit, trying to look as innocent as possible. Phew; made it again! Then seconds later, I saw yet another set of flashing lights up ahead – knowing the drill now, I ensured my speed was appropriate and drove past looking as ‘butter-wouldn’t-melt’ as possible. Phew; made it! However, on glancing back up into my mirror a couple of seconds later, I saw the police car switch its flashing lights off and pull out behind me! OMG!

The fear of the Wolf Creek moments I had experienced earlier was nothing to what I was now experiencing! Panicking, I pointed out what I had seen to Matt, who then also started panicking, but at the same time we passed a sign for the services, saying they were 2km away. So that was it – I had to make my way as fast as possible, covering 2km without speeding to the services, in order to swap drivers, without getting stopped by the police. It felt like a race. A 2km race at 100km per hour should not take very long. It felt like it took forever, all the while I was keeping an eye on the police car whilst trying not to look suspicious! At last the turning to the services, I indicated and pulled in, parked up and leapt out of the car as fast as I could, ran around to the other side to jump in, whilst Matt slid over into the driver’s seat! Looking around for police; the coast was clear! Phew we made it! We had to sit there for five minutes to calm down – I really did feel like a criminal!

Matt drove the last bit of the journey home and it was with a great sigh of relief that we walked through the door! We told Niamph and Christie about our brush with the law – they thought it was hilarious. I was relieved to have survived my first experience of driving in Oz; without running over any kangaroos, without being Wolf Creek-ed and without being caught by the police!

We had dinner together and then settled in front of the tv for a bit, with a few beers, to chat and watch Masterchef and some other random shows. All the fresh air and drama had taken it out of me, so it wasn’t long before I crashed flat out!

Muesli Mahem & Movies in Melbourne

My early night turned out to have been a good idea, as was getting all my stuff together and piled neatly by the door, so I could just get up at 3.30am and rock on out without causing too much fuss or disturbance. Before I knew it, it was 4.15am and I was at the train station, waiting, bleary-eyed, for my train to the airport.

Having been a bit homesick for Melbourne during my time in NSW, I had taken the advice of my friend Hez and been spontaneous; booking a flight back to go back there for a week, rather than sticking about in Berry doing relatively little, whilst waiting to go to Bodalla with Larissa for my friend Kim’s birthday.

Anyway, so soon enough I was checked in and on my way back to Melbourne! This time, rather than staying with Becs, Sarah and Tom, for a bit of a change I was going to stay with my other new friends; Matt, Niamph and Christie.

Once again, I was first on the plane (hurrah!) and the flight was easy enough, nothing particularly eventful other than a strange man next to me who had clearly never seen muesli before. I was astonished as he looked at the packet suspiciously, shook it, peeled back the lid, looked at the contents suspiciously and then proceeded to start eating it raw/dry with his spoon (yuuuuck!), then looked at me, eating mine with milk (provided in a little mini bottle with the muesli!), and followed suit. Weird.

After I had landed and collected all my stuff, Matt came and picked me up from the airport and we went back to the house in Thornbury, where I found Niamph on the sofa, suffering with a monster hangover! We chatted for a bit and had a cup of tea and some toast, then Matt went off to work. Shortly afterwards, Christie arrived home and the three of us chatted over another couple of cups of tea, although Niamph still looked pretty green!

I hopped on the train to the city, had a meander around the shops, then hopped on another tram to Ascot Vale, where I paid Sarah, Becs and Tom a surprise visit! They couldn’t believe it! The girls had just gotten back from a couple of days in Ballarat at Becs’ parents’ house. We spent the arvo chatting, catching up on news, talking about Masterchef (of course!) and watching various tv shows. We also watched the new version of Alice in Wonderland. It was really good to see them again and I said I’d be around and about for a few days, so we made arrangements for meeting up again.

I headed back to Thornbury, via the city and my favourite shop; Little Cupcakes, where I picked up some sweet treats for the gang which went down incredibly well when I presented them back at the house. Niamph was still looking green on the sofa, but she didn’t let that stop her from having a cup of tea and a cupcake (I’m sure they’re medicinal?!). Matt and Christie arrived home from work shortly after one another, so we all settled down with tea and cupcakes, watching tv and discussing the wonders of cupcakes. We also discussed iconic Aussie people, films, places, animals, phrases and general things. I told them about my trip to the snow and Niamph was particularly jealous as she loves the snow. I also explained about my theory on animals – that I don’t count having seen one until I have seen it in the wild (with the wombat as my most recent example of my first sighting of a ‘real’ one!).

For dinner we knocked up a noodle concoction which was delicious and spent the evening chatting, flicking about the tv channels and eventually deciding to watch Wolf Creek; the infamous backpacker-frightening movie. I found it sort of scary, but not as bad as everyone made out and I didn’t really see what all the fuss was about – it was a classic case of ‘he’s-obviously-a-serial-killer-so-don’t-trust-him’ and ‘turn-the-bloody-light-on-you-idiot’. I did like the film and was more creeped-out by the little bit of text at the end that said that the story was based on true events, but that the police had not gotten enough evidence to convict the scary guy, so he was still out there. Something to remember, methinks!

Goodbye Goulburn, Calling into Canberra & Swift Stop in Sydney

Sure enough, when I got up this morning, I had missed Iris, but Pete was still there, so I sat and chatted with him over breakfast. Once I had helped him with a couple of things on the computer (I never realised what wonderful technical IT support I can provide!) I sorted out my bags and was ready to leave.

It was a gloriously sunny day, if a bit cold, but nothing I couldn’t handle (it certainly wasn’t as cold as it had been at the snow!). Pete and I headed into town for a quick wander about - Goulburn still looks the same and it was nice seeing it again, if only briefly. We then went back to the house, to find that Iris’ sister Marion popped in, so I spoke to her briefly, before Pete and I packed up the car with my gear and went back to town, where he dropped me off at the station to wait for my Greyhound coach to Sydney.

The coach arrived bang on time and the driver was confused why I was going to Sydney ‘the long way round’ – via Canberra. I eventually managed to convince him that this was right and he let me on, even though he thought I was a bit mad! Five minutes later I was waving goodbye to Goulburn and the Big Merrino, and on my way to Sydney, even if it was via Canberra!

The journey to Canberra took me back along the big flat nothing-ness road that I had only been along the day before with Heather, so I was grateful that I had my ipod to listen to and a book to read! The drive only took an hour and a half, but on arrival in Canberra I was devastated to discover that there was no Starbucks to visit whilst I waited for my connecting bus! In fact I was even more than devastated to discover that it wasn’t just that there was no Starbucks near the bus station – apparently there is no Starbucks anywhere in Canberra! How incredibly shocking indeed! Finding out this traumatising information actually took the entire length of my between-bus wait, so soon enough I was checking in with my new driver and hopping on my new bus.

The bus was full and the journey to Sydney was long, but thankfully the girl I was sat next to had the film ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ on her laptop and she invited me to watch it with her, which helped the journey pass quicker. It was such a sad story and I was almost in tears by the end! Once it had finished, I carried on listening to my ipod and reading my book then suddenly it was 5.30pm and there I was in Sydney!

The YHA was right next to Central Station, so it wasn’t too much of a saga dragging all my bags across to it. Once I had checked in, I found my room and whilst chatting to the girls in the room, I set about organising myself so that I could be up, ready and out at some ridiculous hour in the morning without causing too much disturbance to my room-mates. As much as I would have liked to have gone out for a proper amble around Sydney, I knew I shouldn’t, so after a quick wander up the road and grabbing a bite to eat, I returned to the room, checked everything one last time and went to bed at a very reasonable hour, for a change!

Galloping to Goulburn

Despite being super tired from a busy day’s skiing, for some reason I struggled to sleep so got up bright and early, dressed and wrapped up in all my warm gear to go for a walk to the lake. It was a beautifully sunny day, but the air was still bitterly cold and there had been a frost – I guess it was probably snowing up at Perisher.

The caravan itself was very close to the lake, so it was only a stone’s throw before I came to the water’s edge. With the sun shining down, it made for a very picturesque walk indeed. The mountains in the background were mirrored in the clear, calm water which was very pretty, although I can imagine that it would be even prettier in a few weeks when it the winter has really kicked in and the trees are dusted with snow. There were lots of birds hanging out at the lake, the seagulls in particular were making a lot of racquet, they all seemed happy enough.

Having had a bit of a wander, I decided to head up to the little shopping place and find somewhere to have a coffee. My wish was granted when I came across a Gloria Jeans, so I installed myself in there, next to the roaring fire and read a newspaper, whilst watching the world go by. After a bit I had a text from Heather who had woken up to find that I had vanished, so I assured her I was ok and then returned to the caravan a short while later.

When I got back, Heather and I got our bags all packed up and loaded up the car. After saying goodbye to the caravan, we went for a bit of a drive into the national park in order to drop Dylan off at the train station, then started on our way home.

Having originally arrived at Jindy in the middle of the night, it was very different driving in this area during the day – it seemed to take much longer as for much of the way, either side of the road was just flat nothingness for as far as you could see. Once out of the hilly bits which are greenish, the land becomes quite brown and pallid. Still at least we had each other for company – I can see why Heather prefers driving with someone else in the car – it really is a boring drive otherwise! We stopped at the ski hire place and returned my kit, then carried on, chatting and listening to music, until we hit Canberra and decided to get out to stretch our legs. It was quite cool because it meant I had now visited another state on my trip (even if ACT is only a state within a state) and we didn’t exactly go far into it; only to a service station a little way in, but it still counts!

We then continued on our way, for our last hour together, as Heather dropped me off at Goulburn, so I could go and see my friends Pete and Iris, who I stayed with in 2005 and saw again in 2008. It was also exciting because I got to see my friend the Big Merrino once again – the large concrete ram/shop which stands proudly at the top of the highway, really close to Pete and Iris’ house. When we pulled into the drive, we were greeted warmly by Pete and Iris but I was surprised not to be leapt upon by the dogs, I guess the years are catching up with them as well as with me; they’re certainly not as spritely as they were five years ago and could only muster a couple of barks before sitting back down again.

After waving Heather off to complete the final bit of her drive home by herself, we went in the house, sat in the kitchen with a cup of tea. I spent the rest of the afternoon chatting to Iris and Pete, about all the different things they’ve been up to, their daughter’s move to Perth, the horses, the redecoration of their house, life, the universe, everything. It was lovely catching up with them.

A little while later, Iris decided it was beer o’clock, so we moved to the lounge with our stubbies, got comfy on the sofas and watched the news. I told them all about my trip and the experiences I had had, the places I had loved and all the reasons why I would love to stay. Iris was interested to know about my horse riding exploits whilst on the farm in Myella (way back in March) – being a professional horse rider, trainer and whatever else horse-y, she found my disastrous horse-riding stories hilarious! We talked about the different states I had visited and how they vary. We laughed about our lack of wine-knowledge (we both have an attitude of ‘I like it or not’), in comparison to beer and a few stubbies later we decided that it’s the difference between NSW, VIC and SA – none of us would ever fit in, in the wine-loving SA; it’s NSW and VIC all the way!

Iris had made a wonderful dinner (funnily enough a casserole with a lot of red wine in it – Iris had been given the bottle as a thank you for being a judge at a horse trials, had tried it but not liked it, so had put it in the dinner!) which we enjoyed with a glass of wine – a very sweet wine that Iris declared was cheap and cheerful, the only one she likes.

We reverted back to beer after dinner, settled back in the lounge and put on a film – one of Iris’ favourites; Australia (with Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman). She was surprised I had never seen it, seeing as I love Oz so much; I think someone told me it was long and boring when it originally came out so I never got round to seeing it. I thought it was actually quite good and rather entertaining. It might have been a bit on the long side, but when you have a few stubbies for company, it helps!

Once the film ended, we chatted for a bit longer and I tried to give some technical support for Iris’ video camera which she is having trouble with, but for some reason it was not playing ball for me either. We then had a look at Pete’s model train collection, which had grown immensely since I was last here! He is very proud of it and I was actually quite impressed with all the little scenes he’s made, Iris said it keeps him out of trouble! Before turning in for the night I said goodbye to Iris as she would be leaving really early in the morning to go to a horse show in Bowral, so I would not get to see her. It was a shame it was such a fleeting visit, but we decided that it was better to have seen each other for only a little bit, than not at all and it had been like we had only seen each other yesterday; they really are such wonderful people.

Sunshines on the Steep, Slippery Slopes

Having had a good rest, this morning we got up bright and early to head to the resort so we could get a good day of skiing in. The drive took us back through the Kosiosko National Park and we noticed that it seemed generally brighter than yesterday, which made the scenery along the drive much prettier. Along the side of the road we saw lots and lots of road kill, specifically wombats and kangaroos. Hez pointed out that lots of them were in some way coloured – although it looked like a local graffiti artist had gotten happy with a spray can, apparently the Rangers of the National Park go around and check the pouches of the deceased marsupials, to see if there is a live baby inside that can be rescued and the colour shows that it has been checked. Interesting.

Once at Perisher, we got ready, bought our ski lift passes and met Dylan, who had been making snow til all hours, but now had the day off. The three of us went straight up to the Front Valley slope and from the top it looked so different compared to yesterday – the sky was clear, as blue as blue can be, without a single cloud; incredibly beautiful. We had a few runs down the Front Valley slope and again I found my ski legs very quickly, not falling at all and trying out different things on each run. I stopped half way down to watch Dylan go over the jumps on his snowboard – very cool indeed!

Having built up enough confidence to go to another slope, the three of us jumped on the Ski Tube (train) to take us to a different mountain, called Blue Cow. It was much higher up than the Front Valley so was much snowier. It looked even more different to any ski slope I had ever seen – rather than the usual alpine scenery, the slopes were lined with gum trees, which looked so pretty, glistening white against the blue sky. It was strange how the snow on the mountain contrasted with the green, snow-less hills nearby; highlighting the fact that the lack of snow was still preventing lots of the other slopes from opening.

We did a run down the Easy Starter slope, which was exactly what it sounded like; a relatively easy slope but still a little harder than the Front Valley (which is the easiest slope at the resort). We then took a diversion down the Rollercoaster – I was a little dubious about this as there were massive signs on the lead up to it, saying that this slope was not for novices, but Hez and Dylan assured me that I would be fine. The Rollercoaster run was actually really good fun – it is so called because it is narrow, twisting and undulating (it is a path that goes around the side of the mountain) and lots of fun to ski along. It then opened out into a much more challenging slope, with lots of scary ice patches, some very steep bits and other sections which I couldn’t help but speed down as it was impossible to slow down, but somehow I managed to keep upright and get down in one piece.

We got on the ski lift which took us up to the next slope, Zali’s – the views from the lift were amazing - it climbed really high and as we went up, Dylan pointed out the slopes that were still closed and constantly having snow made and pumped onto them, to try and get them open for the start of the school holidays. When we got to the top of the slope, I was somewhat shocked – it was waaaaaaaay steeper than the other slopes we had done, quite narrow in comparison too and was rather long. The thing was, there was no option other than ski down and so I watched Dylan shoot off and then Hez and I started to make our way. I took my time and was particularly nervous, especially as the whole left half of the slope was just a sheet of ice where it was cast in the shadow of the trees; meaning that every time I turned right, I had no grip and I really felt like I was going to fall, but somehow I didn’t. What didn’t help was that I kept seeing people fall over around me and that was really offputting! Eventually I reached the bottom and I felt a huge sigh of relief and could breathe again!

We took the lift back up to the top of the Easy Starter slope and along the way I once again really enjoyed the views in the sunshine. Once we disembarked the lift, we decided to have a much deserved coffee break - I certainly needed a rest after the traumatising experience of Zali’s!

As they had been having to go slower than usual on account of me, I felt bad for Hez and Dylan, so convinced them to go off on their boards for a bit without me. This meant that they could bomb down all the big scary slopes and I could take it easy and just enjoy the views – and that is exactly what I did. When they had zoomed off, I took my time going up and down the Easy Starter a few times; this time stopping at various points along the way to take in the scenery and trying out a few different turns, with just myself for company! It was great because I had enough confidence on the slope that I didn’t really have to concentrate on what I was doing, so instead could just appreciate the beauty of my surroundings; in particular the snowy gum trees. We met up again at the top, then did the same thing for a few more runs, eventually meeting up at the Tube, to go back to the Front Valley.

We had a few more runs down the Front Valley slope, again after doing a few together, I convinced Hez and Dylan to do a few runs without me, so they could go as fast as they wanted! I continued up and down the slope, again not really having to concentrate on my skiing, instead just enjoying the vistas and the glorious blue skies.

The afternoon brought some natural snow and the clouds began covering the slopes once again, so we decided that it was time to depart. Before we went back to the car, Hez said we should go to Little Orbits, where we had some delicious tiny little doughnuts! Yum! The three of us then jumped in the car and went back to Jindy, where I warmed up with a shower and then sat with Hez and Dylan in the toasty caravan, watching tv and chatting about our day.

We headed out to a fantastic Thai restaurant for dinner and then popped to the petrol station on the way back to get an icecream! Back at the caravan, we whiled away the rest of the night watching various things on tv and a couple of DVDs, with lots of snacks and a few beers! It is unbelievable how shattering a day of skiing is, but it had been well worth it and I had been truly blown away by the amazing views – I can see why Hez and Dylan love it there so much.

Pals on the Perisher Pistes

After our late arrival at the caravan, it wasn’t surprising that Hez and I slept in a bit later, not waking up until nearly 9am. With all the covers, extra blankets and doonas, along with wearing several layers of clothes and having turned the heaters on full blast for the whole night, we woke up absolutely roasting!

Today was not particularly good weather wise, in fact Hez’s boyfriend Dylan (who works at the resort making snow) called us to tell us that the conditions weren’t great and that we might not want to ski today, but we decided to give it a go and it was good enough for the likes of me! Hez drove us up to the resort from Jindy, and the drive took us up and up through the Kosiosko National Park. I was quite surprised that there was no snow to be seen as we climbed, but I figured that eventually we would come across some! It turned out that there was indeed snow, but not as much as they’d want at this time of year – for that reason only four of the many slopes were open, whilst Dylan and all his colleagues beavered away making snow to speed up the process and get more of the slopes open, in time for the peak season and school holidays about to start that weekend.

When we arrived at the resort, despite the fact that it was really cloudy, I could see the slopes hiding behind the haze along with lots of little black dots moving slowly down! We parked up, got our stuff together, put our kit on and headed to the ticket office. It seemed busy – the school holidays hadn’t quite started although it looked like there were quite a few children whose parents had made them bunk school to get to the snow a little earlier than the masses.

Once we’d bought our ski lift passes, it was time to get clipped in (Hez onto her snowboard and me onto my skis) then make our way to the lift to head up the Front Valley slope. I was a little worried that the lift only went to one place – the top of the slope; you couldn’t get off part way up, so it meant I would have to go all the way up and come all the way back down again by my own efforts. What was particularly worrying was that I couldn’t see the top. I hadn’t been skiing since 2008 and that had been the first time in decades, so I wasn’t sure I was going to be Eddie the Eagle Edwards – although actually I am not sure if I would want to be!

I was pleasantly surprised by my first run down – despite the low visibility caused by the low cloud and the fact that the slope was teeming with people, on skis and snowboards, hurtling past me. I took my time, went at my own pace and made it the whole way without falling once! At the base of the slope I was very excited and keen to carry on! Hez was really sweet and took the slope at the same pace as me, to make sure that I was comfortable – we did the Front Valley slope several more times as I built up my confidence, tried a few different turns, went a bit faster and generally found my ski legs! I was loving it and even more happy that despite pushing my boundaries, I still hadn’t fallen over!

After a quick coffee and pie break, we hit the Front Valley slope again and then went to a neighbouring slope, Goat’s Gully. This one was far more scary than the Front Valley slope – for starters it was higher which seemed to mean that the visibility was lower (I guess it was higher up in the clouds?!) and the first section of it was much, much steeper. There were several icy patches too, which freaked me out when I hit them (probably because I had an epic crash in Switzerland where I hit an ice patch which sent me flying off the side of the mountain, leaving me tangled up and dangling in the crash net over the ravine below!), but somehow I managed to keep it together and didn’t fall or crash at all, let alone epically! There was also a set of moguls which the snowboarders were enjoying doing tricks on, I just concentrated on getting over them in one piece, which I did. Eventually, I made it to the bottom and took a moment to regain my composure, whilst also feeling pumped with adrenaline!

The adrenaline meant that I agreed to go back up to the top of Goat’s Gully, but this time rather than going the whole way down, we did the first bit (the steep bit with the icy patches) and then took a little diversion off piste to a point at which you could follow a route which led to the top of the Front Valley slope (which I felt much more comfortable with!), then headed down that.

We noticed a change in the temperature and soon realised that the snow falling was no longer solely the snow being made by the massive fan/hose combinations, but instead it was being supplemented by real, actual snow from the sky – good news indeed for skiers! After a few more runs down the Front Valley, each time with me getting progressively faster and more daring, we decided to call it a day, as the visibility was getting worse, as the late afternoon meant that the light was now beginning to fade.

Once back at the car, Hez and I started our way back to Jindy, picking up a hitchhiker in the carpark before we left. Now before anyone reading this begins to panic, there was no danger involved in this – he was one of the instructors at the resort, wearing his uniform, name badge and the like, plus we had seen him teaching a bunch of kids on the slope (often the staff live in Jindy which is a 40 min drive away from the resort, so transport can be a problem if they don’t have a 4x4). We chatted to him on the journey and discovered he was a fellow pommie, from Gillingham.

After we’d dropped him off, the first thing we did back at the caravan was to get warmed back up in the shower (over the course of the day, the outside temperature had varied between minus 6 and 0, so we had gotten quite chilly!), then got wrapped up in warm clothes and headed into the town. We had a mooch around the small selection of shops and found somewhere to have dinner. Our plans to cook at the caravan had been scuppered by the fact that the oven wasn’t working, so instead we had a pizza at one of the few eateries, which turned out to be a fantastic idea as the pizza was great!

We whiled away the rest of the evening back at the caravan with a few drinks, watching tv, chatting and nibbling on the snacks we’d brought with us. We decided that considering the rubbish weather, we’d still had an amazing day and looked forward to what the next would have in store for us!

Sisters, Stunning Scenery & Setting Sail for Snow

This morning I had to get up super early, ready to be picked up at 7.30am. Thankfully I managed to get myself ready in time and even had time for a cuppa with Robyn. Shortly after finishing that, there was a noise outside and sure enough a ute pulled up to the house. As we went outside, the doors opened and out came Dave Clark (a Rotarian) and Larissa. Dave is one of the Rotarians we met in 2005 and is a really lovely chap – he organised much of our trip. When we’d been at the Rotary meeting last week, he’d offered to take Larissa and I to the Blue Mountains.

We all hopped back in the ute and I met the others on the trip – Dani (a German Rotary school exchange student) and her friend (Amelia – a daughter of one of the other Rotarians). We headed off in the ute on the long drive to the Blue Mountains – somewhere I had never been before.

It was a fair way and as we got closer, we could see the blue of the mountains in the distance – apparently the blue colour comes from a gas that the gum trees give off. Dave was born and bred in the Blue Mountains, so knows the area very well. We passed through several little towns, including Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson (named after the men who first crossed the Blue Mountains), all of which Dave seemed to have lived, worked or owned a business in at some point in his life! We were stunned at the amazing number of different jobs and businesses he has had over the years.

Eventually we arrived at our first spot, a town called Katoomba, famous for its views across the Blue Mountains and specifically the iconic ‘3 Sisters’ – three massive rocks sticking out of the greenery. There were many other mountains in the distance but I can not remember what they were called. The vista was beautiful, if a bit windy, but well worth the long drive. We went for a walk down the path, through some trees, down some incredibly steep and worryingly rickety old stairs (which apparently Dave used to have to run up and down when he was a school boy, during PE lessons as a cross country run!) and right up to one of the Sisters; once upon a time you could climb and abseil on it, which would have been uber cool, but sadly it is no longer possible. The rocks themselves were really clearly layered (I am no good at geography or geology so can not remember what that sort of rock is called) and had lots of foliage growing from out of the cracks between the layers.

After clambering back up the steep steps and hiking back up to the top of the viewpoint, we heard the ominous sound of bagpipes being played. We all envisaged the romantic image of a lone, kilt and sporran clad Scotsman, stood, facing out across the landscape, playing his pipes sombrely. When we arrived at the top, we were disappointed to find a white hoodie wearing bloke in jeans stood in the car park playing the pipes with a baseball cap on the floor in front of him – shattered our lovely image!

We all hopped back in the ute and Dave took us on a short drive to our next stop – a very posh hotel. The purpose of our visit was nothing more than a brief hello – Dave’s daughter works there, so we had a quick look around and then jumped back in the car.

Our next port of call was to the aptly named ‘Scenic World’, where the first thing to greet us was the sight of statues depicting three naked women and a naked man. It turned out that these represent the Aboriginal story behind the 3 Sisters – apparently they fell in love with three men from a neighbouring tribe, but could not marry due to tribal law, so a battle started and the sisters were turned into rocks by a village elder, to protect them from harm, but he was killed in the battle and so no one could turn them back.

At Scenic World, there are a number of things on offer in order to appreciate the beauty of the Blue Mountains. The first was the Scenic Railway – the world’s steepest railway, with an incline of 52 degrees at its steepest point. As we waited for the train to arrive, we chatted to the man on the gate, who was holding a wild parrot (eek!). He asked me if I would like to hold it, which of course I did, so he gave me some peanuts and transferred it onto my hand. We were taken down onto the little platform and he said that I should just take it down there with me, as it would leave whenever it wanted to. I was rather over excited about holding the parrot and got even more excited when I saw some of its friends down on the platform. The train arrived and I wasn’t sure if it was going to take the train with me or not, but right at the last second, it decided against it and flew off to sit with its buddies, allowing me to get into the train with both hands (which turned out to be for the best!).

The train itself was really a bunch of cages with benches, sitting in the front ‘carriage’ with Dani and Amelia, we soon realised that it was indeed an uber steep train track – we couldn’t see where it was going to go, as the track kind of disappeared, much like when you get to the top of a rollercoaster track before a big drop! When the train started moving, we had to use our feet to keep us upright and it was actually quite scary! As we went down, I could feel the pressure change in my ears, so I could appreciate how far we had dropped down – over 400m. The views across the mountains were very pretty, but we were soon unable to see them, as we were enclosed with trees. Once at the bottom, we looked up and could see the visitor’s centre at the top in the distance.

The train had brought us to a little boardwalk through the rainforest and bush, which explained about some of the coal mining history of the area. We also saw one of the original trains which was exactly the same as what we had just travelled in, only without the protective cage. At the other end of the boardwalk was a vertical tram (also called a tram, but not like any tram I’d been on in Melbourne!) which would take us back up to the top – it was interesting to see that it had been built by the company that make the vertical trams they use in Switzerland. The journey up offered more views across the Blue Mountains and a lone rock, appropriately called ‘Orphan Rock’.

Back at the top, it was time for lunch and Dave treated us to a meal in the revolving restaurant, which both offered delicious buffet food (especially the pavolva!) and amazing views, although we it did keep us on our toes every time we tried to come back to the table from the buffet – the revolving aspect of the restaurant confused each of us on several occasions!

Following lunch we went on our last gondola, this time rather than up and down the side of a mountain, it went between two. As we started the journey across, the floor beneath us changed and suddenly it was clear, so we could see straight through to the ground below! It looked very far off, despite the thick canopy of trees! Again the views were beautiful and I enjoyed watching white dots (cockatoos) flitting about in the distance below. The cable car itself was not completely sealed so it was incredibly cold and we could feel the chill of the wind whipping through, which meant we were quite pleased when we got to the other side and then began our return trip!

Once back, we headed for the car and Dave took us on a drive through some more small towns (telling us even more stories of having lived, worked or owned businesses in them!) and to some look out points from where we had more wonderful views of the mountains, each as impressive as the last.

Weary, we started our journey home, stopping for a quick drink at the Whip and Pin, a very quaint cafe, then back to Berry, arriving eventually at 7pm. It had been such a lovely day, we were so lucky with the weather, as by all accounts, if you go there on an overcast day you really can not see anything, not even the 3 Sisters. It was also really wonderful seeing Larissa again, and spending time with her - she is looking so well having been so terribly ill. Dave is such a kind guy and made a wonderful tour guide, although he said as much as he loved living in the Blue Mountains, he is so pleased to have come to Berry as he never did like the cold climate that the mountains always have.

There was no rest for the wicked, despite an early start and a long day, with lots of fresh air – I had to finish packing my bags for my trip with Hez to the Snow. We then had a quick dinner of chops, before packing up the car (it was literally bursting at the seams, which was very funny seeing as we were only going for two days!) and heading on our way at 8.30pm.

The drive to the Snow first took us through an area called Kangaroo Valley – the clue is in the name. We had to be super careful and super alert, as the risk of some form of wildlife running out in front of the car was high and this can be very dangerous indeed (collisions involving kangaroos and wombats will write off a car). As we drove, Hez and I discussed the wildlife and I mentioned that I had never seen a real live wombat (I think I may have said before that I do not consider animals in zoos as ‘real’ – I believe they are only real if they are in the wild), apart from a dead one at the side of a road back in 2005. Anyway, only moments later, suddenly there one was, standing stupidly in the middle of the road, not sure what to do. Hez stopped and eventually it ran off! Woohoo! My first ever real live wombat! Hez was equally as excited for me! About five minutes later a possum ran across the road, then five minutes after that, a wallaby and then a couple of minutes later, another wombat! How exciting and also a good reminder of the importance of driving carefully and slowly at night.

We carried on the drive, through some little towns, then huge expanses of nothingness – total darkness. I felt so incredibly tired but had to stay awake to talk to Hez and help her stay awake! It actually wasn’t too bad as we had lots to chat about and probably didn’t stop talking for a single second along the way! Eventually at 1am we arrived at our stop off – the ski hire place. I had found it hard to believe that a ski hire shop would be open 24 hours a day, but apparently it is! So we popped in, had a wander about looking at various bits and pieces to give our legs a stretch, then I sorted out hiring my boots, stocks and skis, before chucking it all in the already-incredibly-full car and carrying on our way.

The next stretch of the journey took us through an area heavily populated with kangaroos and we saw many dead ones at the sides of the roads – some looked absolutely massive and must have done quite a lot of damage to whatever vehicle had hit them. We also saw many live ones hopping or just standing about near the roadside, so once again we had to be really attentive and alert to avoid a crisis.

Eventually, just before 2am we arrived at Jindabyne, at the caravan we were staying in. As I stepped out of the car it was impossible not to feel a drastic drop in temperature compared to Berry – it was minus 6 degrees! We dragged our stuff out of the car and over to the caravan, feeling incredibly tired, then had a bit of a saga trying to get the door to unlock (it is amazing how tiredness can reduce two women to be completely incapable of using a key!) but at last we got in and instantly turned on the heaters to try and warm the place up a bit.

The caravan seemed really nice, although I wasn’t paying much attention as it was so late and I was so tired. After we had finished unpacking the car, we got our beds sorted (with lots of extra blankets and an extra doona each!) and finally at 2.30am climbed into our bunks before shivering ourselves to sleep!