Saturday 29 September
We fly out
on a very early flight arriving in Melbourne about 8 am. Our hotel is on
Collins Street so pretty central but we’re too early to check in so they
look after our cases while we have a wander, ending up in the lanes having lunch. We immediately realise it’s going to be an expensive holiday
as things seem to be about the same price or more than they are in NZ but the
Ozzie dollar’s a whole lot higher than ours. It’s also very cold compared to
Auckland, and we need to get well wrapped up to do our stroll along the River
Yarra: hats, scarves, gloves, the lot. That evening we go to Brunswick Street
in the suburbs to eat and get the tram back. Melbourne is a city of trams and
travel is fun, easy, and cheap once you know what you’re doing. I’m always keen
to get to know the public transport wherever we are and it’s fun persuading
Mike to catch buses etc.
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| The tram system was really good. This is one of the old circle line trams which give you a free ride round the centre |
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| Walking along the River Yarra |
Sunday 30 September
We walk to
the Queen Vic Market and have the perfect breakfast, reading the papers and
taking our time before launching into this enormous market. It’s selling the
usual goods but also a load of Ozzie tourist stuff: boomerangs, kangaroo skins,
and nasty opal jewellery. There’s a lovely covered market area which reminds
us of Europe with cheeses and olives, real bread and great looking meat. We buy
lunch then wander off and visit the Museum which is rather disappointing,
especially as we had to pay to get in. Back to the hotel for lunch and siesta,
and in the afternoon we walk down the river to the Botanical Gardens which are
lovely. The sun’s shining but it’s very cold still. We see loads of parakeets, unusual sweet smelling plants, and we find the Magic Pudding statue. Walk to Chinatown in the evening and Mike eats
crocodile.
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| One very strange tree in the Botanical Gardens |
Monday 1 October
After
packing and settling up at the hotel we get an early tram travelling through the
lovely south Melbourne suburbs to St Kilda’s. The domestic architecture here is
quite different from Auckland with far more brick buildings and tiled roofs as
opposed to the weatherboard and corrugated roofs we have here, along with
plenty of decorative iron work on verandah railings and balconies, and a lot of stained glass windows. Very pretty
with flowering shrubs and climbers everywhere.
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| Looking back towards the Melbourne CBD from St Kilda's Pier |
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| Brilliant entrance to Luna Park at St Kilda's |
It’s a
lovely bright day and we stroll down St Kilda’s pier to the Pavilion for
coffee. There’s a colony of little penguins here but of course they’re only to
be seen at dusk and dawn so no sign of them for us. Fantastic views back to
Melbourne CBD however. Back past Luna Park though the Botanic Gardens to
Balaclava, from where we get another tram to Windsor and walk along to South
Yarra. This area is great for retro and second hand shops, and I see
the most stylish Sally Anne shop ever. After lunch we jump on another tram
north to the National Gallery of Victoria only to discover that Australian
artists’ work is kept somewhere else. Love the stained glass ceiling and water
wall. To fill every last minute we manage to squeeze in a quick tram trip to the new
Docklands area before grabbing our suitcases and catching the 19.30 sleeper
train to Sydney.
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| Stained glass ceiling at the National Gallery |
Tuesday 2 October
. . . and
it’s quite an experience. We have our own tiny compartment with bunk beds that
drop from the wall, and we share toilet and shower with an identical
compartment next door. The toilet and wash hand basin have to be pulled from
their vertical position to the horizontal. All very clever and space-saving
though I’m not sure how you’d manage if you were a large person. The train is
quite old and it shook and rattled and juddered slowly overland as we slept
fitfully through the night, arriving in Sydney about 7.30. Sydney is much, much
warmer and we see great big sulphur crested parakeets grazing just outside the
station. It takes longer than it should to get the hire car and then we have to
find our way to the airport to pick up a satnav.
We drive up
out of Sydney for about 1.5 hours stopping at the Glenbrook i-site in the Blue
Mountains. We’d already planned a walk but wanted maps of the area. The big guy
who dealt with us was so positive about going to Wentworth Falls that we
changed our plans. He also recommended Newnes for wildlife telling us we’d see
loads of wallabies and wombats down there. Good man, he was right on both
counts. We drove on to the Falls but struggled to find the right path with the
decorative but impractical map. We’re used to
free DOC maps in NZ so it came as a bit of a shock to have to pay for them
here. We soon get the hang of it and are amazed when we get our first glimpse
of the massive canyon that is the Jamieson Valley.
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| View across and down into the Jamieson Valley |
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| A lot of the walking is along ledges, looks hairy but feels pretty safe because of the railings |
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| Looking back up the steps as we descend into the valley |
The Blue
Mountains are in fact a plateau with rivers and erosion cutting deep canyons
into the surface over millennia. You are immediately reminded that Australia is
an ancient continent in comparison to NZ. Katoomba, where we’re staying, and Wentworth Falls are on
the surface of the plateau but the walks descend steeply down into valleys
and run along under cliffs: sort of ridge walking in reverse, and the scenery is
amazing and of course, completely new to us. A lot of the time we’re walking
along narrow ledges with startling drops a few feet away, but it feels safe as
there are metal rails beside us. Our walk this afternoon takes about 3 hours, down steep
steps carved out of rock to the spectacular Wentworth Falls and then along the
fabulous National Pass track running parallel under the over-hanging cliffs and
through hanging swamps, then steeply up metal stairs at the far end to the
Conservation Hut from where it was a short but exhausting walk back to the car.
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| Taking a rest in the shade |
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| Looking up at the foot of the Wentworth Falls |
We drive
onto Katoomba and check into the lovely Carrington Hotel. It was built in 1895
and has retained most of its original features, so our room has a window seat
and stained glass windows. Even the bathroom is original except the bath has been
removed and a shower replaces it. I love it here, there’s a library and a
billiard room: the perfect place for a murder mystery. We eat across the road
at an Italian restaurant and get a good night’s sleep.
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| The Carrington Hotel, Katoomba, my favourite place to stay |
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| Lovely stained glass everywhere |
Wednesday 3 October
Another
beautiful clear blue sky and we’re walking down Katoomba St right to Echo Point
at the far end. It’s a stopping point for coaches, there’s an i-site and a
fantastic view from the top looking across and down into the valley. From here
we descend the Giant’s Staircase beside the Three Sisters, down and down steep
metal and stone steps into the valley below. Again we reach a level path and
walk along towards Scenic World where we get on the steepest funicular railway in
the world for a lift back to the top. This walk is less spectacular than
yesterday’s but still stunning.
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| The Three Sisters from Echo Point with valley and Blue Mountains beyond |
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| Cllimbing down the Giant's Stairway, an almost vertical descent beside the Three Sisters |
We walk back
to Echo Point stopping for tea on the way and see sulphur crested parakeets and
crimson rosellas up close. Siesta back at the hotel after lunch and then in
late afternoon we begin our drive out to Newnes where we’ve been told we’ll
spot some wildlife. It’s a fairly remote spot further into the Blue Mountains
and is an old mining town at the far end of a gravel road. It’s now more or
less derelict except for an old ramshackle hotel and a wild camping site. Just
driving along the road and I spot a bunch of wallabies looking startled in the
late afternoon sunlight and they soon appear left, right and centre, though
never very close. We’re soon walking along beside a river where a few families
have set up great campsights, and we see large holes in the ground
which we take to be wombat holes, then all of a sudden Mike spots a great big
furry creature lumbering along not too far off . . . and of course it’s a real
live wombat, just come out to sniff around in the evening light. Amazing
wonderful creature and we’re chuffed to bits.
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| The Newnes Hotel, more or less all that's left of the old mining town |
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| Our first wombat sighting |
Further
along we spot a large animal just beside the road and stop to investigate. It’s
wombat-sized but looks different and is very still, blinking its eyes but not moving
much apart from that. Its hair is variable in colour, lighter, and very scruffy
looking. In fact on closer inspection it doesn’t look too well at all. It’s so
still, Mike thinks it may be a large koala fallen out of a tree. It certainly
doesn’t look in the best of health, but doesn’t have the distinctive koala nose
and ears and is just too big we think. It may be a very ancient wombat on its
last legs poor thing. Much later, after a Google search we decide it must be a
very sick hairy-nosed wombat.
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| The poor sick looking animal we think may be a hairy nosed wombat |
Driving back
along the gravel road in the dusk we see loads more wallabies and a field full
of grazing wombats . . . a wisdom of wombats as Mike’s chosen to call them,
though they don’t look particularly wise it must be said. Suddenly a large
kangaroo appears to our left and hops right across us, in front of the car, and
another appears to our right running along beside us. So we’ve seen wallabies,
wombats and kangaroos in the wild, all in one evening, and we’re excited and
feeling very pleased with ourselves.
Thursday 4 October
It’s our
last day in the Blue Mountains and the sun’s shining with all its might, so we
pack up after breakfast and set off with packed lunch to Wentworth Falls. Must
say I’m very sad to be leaving this beautiful hotel and great walking area.
This time we decide to walk the other way around on the Wentworth Pass track as
opposed to the National Pass which we walked on our first day here, so we’re
parking at Conservation Hut. The path is lower down into the canyon so we’re
descending more stone and metal steps even further towards the valley bottom, then
walking on a more or less level track through bush with the parakeets
screeching overhead.
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| There are endless waterfalls during the descent |
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| Mike climbing the Slack Stairs |
At the far
end we climb up the steep, metal clad, Slack Stairs, to the foot of the
Wentworth Falls where we stop for lunch. There are kids playing in the pools
and Mike joins them to cool his feet. It’s a fabulous day but quite windy and
the spray from the waterfall is blowing all over the place. Spectacular and rather
pleasant as it cools us down. We continue the climb back up steps which were cut out of solid stone over 100 years ago when a Scotsman had taken on the
job of creating a scenic route for Victorian tourists. We take tea at Conservation
Hut then drive on to Sydney. Mike
returns the car and I check into the Hyde Park Plaza, where we have a small apartment with kitchen and balcony.
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| Old stone steps leading back up to the top |
There’s a
big difference in temperature, must be 30 degrees this evening, which is lovely
for us as we walk out to find a restaurant. Stanley St has been recommended to
us and its close by. There must be about 10 little restaurants for us to choose
from, all with tables out and open fronts, we go for Thai.
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| On the level along the Under Cliff path to Conservation Hut |
Friday 5 October
It’s really
hot today, 34 degrees and turns out to be the hottest October day Sydney’s had
in 4 years, not really what you want for sight-seeing but we do our best after
breakfast setting off through Hyde Park. We see lots of Ibis’s
digging through rubbish bins. They’re very common here and quite ugly close
up, not at all scared of people. We walk past the Royal Botanic Gardens down
to the Opera House where we watch the little green and yellow ferries dashing
around the harbour. We then walk around Circular Quay to The Rocks where we get
ripped off for coffee but find a good info centre.
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| One of many ferries criss-crossing under Harbour Bridge |
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| Close up it's not bright white but made up of off-white ceramic textured tiles |
The heat’s
really getting to me and I need to retire to my bed with paracetamol while Mike
buys lunch. We then walk over to Darling Harbour, stopping to nose at the shops
in the Queen Vic Building. The weather’s changing again, temperature must have
dropped about 15 degrees.
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| More stained glass in the Queen Vic Building |
Saturday 6 October
Today we
do the Spit to Manly walk. Much cooler and drizzling but not
enough to put us off. We manage to find the right bus, so I force Mike on
public transport again, and get off at The Spit. The path takes us around the
coast, past beaches, through bush and some bits of National Park. There are loads
of flowering bushes and trees, quite different to kiwi bush, and we pass some
Aboriginal rock carvings along the way. We get to Manly for lunch then catch
the famous ferry back to the CBD. There are hundreds of little sailing boats
out in the harbour and great views of the Sydney Opera House through the
drizzle. This evening we go to the nicest restaurant on Stanley St and eat
Balmain Bug (after checking what it is with the waiter) and Barramundi.
Delicious.
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| Over-looking Sydney Harbour on a drizzly day |
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| On the Manly ferry going back to the CBD |
Sunday 7 October
Get the
train to the airport and back home to Auckland. ouse through the drizzle.thiiiiito the airport
