Brisbane Family Trip - Day 4 (Reckless)

My first visit to Sydney was made almost exactly ten years ago. Easter 2009, only a couple of months after the Black Saturday bushfires had tore through the Kinglake Ranges. The National Band Championships that year were in Sydney and Box Hill City Band decided to head north and try its  luck.  I did not enjoy that trip, for a variety of reasons, except for one afternoon where our bus dropped us off at Manly Wharf. We had a couple of beers and some pizza, then took the ferry back to the city. Seeing the famous Bridge and Opera House from the water was a special moment. I wanted to recreate that moment.

The trip from Katoomba to Manly took almost three hours. A combination of roadworks, a couple of misunderstandings of GPS directions and the notoriously bad Sydney traffic meant we didn’t arrive in Manly until early afternoon. We were thirsty, so found a Bavarian restaurant and ordered a couple of drinks.

The middle glass was lemonade. Lowenbrau on either side.

We then tucked into a shared Munich Brewers platter - sausages, schnitzel, pork knuckle, more pork, cabbage and potatoes. Lesley had fish and chips.

After lunch it was time to board the ferry. At Manly. Heading to the city. At Circular Quay.

I’ll let the photos take over from here.

From Circular Quay we walked over to Opera House, took a few more photos, then boarded another ferry back to Manly. The trip back to Katoomba only took to hours.

It was a good afternoon.

Big day of driving tomorrow.

Total Km 1,161

Total hours behind the wheel 15 1/2

Spotify Playlist of the Day: Your Top Songs 2018

Brisbane Family Trip - Day 3 (Scenic World)

Katoomba was not a place I knew much about when planning for this trip. Part of the reason why I chose this town as a stop was a) it wasn't in Sydney but wasn't far from Sydney b) something about the Blue Mountains and c) Three Sisters (a rock formation?).

When we first entered Katoomba yesterday I saw sign pointing to the lookout for Three Sisters but also saw signs for a place called Scenic World.  This was not a name that initially inspired hope. The name is uninspiring, (Piss Weak World, anyone?). However did a little bit of research on the internet and decided it was worth a visit today.

And Wow!

Basics first. Scenic World is effectively made up of four attractions; Scenic Railway, Scenic Skyway, Scenic Cableway and Scenic Walkway. Or as the sign in the building said:

 Now this was a very popular tourist attraction. Lots of people from all nationalities seemed to be in attendance today. And for one very good reason. The scenery here is absolutely spectacular.I dont think that words will do it justice, nor my amateur photography. However for what it's worth here are some pictures taken during the day:

The Scenic Skyway with the Jamison Valley in the background

Orphan Rock

The tracks for the Scenic Railway. The photo may not show it but that is a steep track!

View from down at the bottom of the Scenic Railway Station.

I forget what this one is called. I liked the photo though, so it;s here.

The Jamison Valley

That's the Three Sisters on the left hand side. Whilst one of the iconic structures of the area, in all honesty it's overtaken by its surroundings.

The Scenic Walkway was also home to an art exhibition - Sculpture at Scenic World 2019. Here are some highlights.

Y? (a pretty obvious title)

I forget this title. Something to do with oil drums being re-imagined as nature.

Yeah, forgot this title as well. Metal in the forest?

Regret

Into the Woods Red Mountain Wood - I found this one a bit creepy.

I forget this one as well, but they looked like Dragon Eggs - sponsored by HBO?

If you find yourself in or around Katoomba I strongly I strongly recommend a trip to Scenic World.

Sydney tomorrow.

No real additions to time or km in the car. Scenic World is less than a couple of minutes from the Katoomba town centre.

No music on play today.

Brisbane Family Trip - Day 2 (To Katoomba)

Day 2 saw us leaving Gundagai without taking any photos of the dog sitting on that tuckerbox (and yes, commenter from yesterday, it is not actually in Gundagai, but about 7km further on.

Lesley would not allow me to stop for photos or souvenirs.  So here is a photo taken when we were last here, a couple of years ago:

Brunch was at Rosie's Cafe in Yass. Yass is not what would be considered a tourist town, but at least the food was nice.

Once we left Yass we entered unchartered territory as we started driving further north than we had  ever been. Congratulations to Nick for the honour of being the driver as we crossed that threshold.

An hour north of Yass and we reached the town of Goulburn. The signs indicated that it was the oldest inland European town, however my interest was in something else:

The Big Merino is over 15 metres high, built with concrete and weighing 97 tonnes. The statue is based on a stud ram called Rambo that was located on a nearby property.

After the obligatory souvenirs (fridge magnet and shot glass), we quickly left Goulburn and started heading north and up, into the Blue Mountains.

We initially passed through kilometres and kilometres of pine plantations. This reminded me of the South West Victorian and Mt Gambier timber regions, only a lot higher. At one point we were at 1355m above sea level; not quite Kosciuszko, but more than twice as high as the peak of Mount Dandenong.

We eventually arrived at the town of Oberon, the regional commercial and industrial centre.

Coffee and cake were purchased at Monkey Bean Cafe. We appreciated their commitment to their logo:

We arrived in Katoomba and our AirBNB housefor the next couple of days shortly before 5.

The view:

A quiet night in before exploring the region tomorrow.

Total Km 925

Total hours behind the wheel 10 1/2

Spotify Playlist of the Day: James Bond Songs