Lyre Lyre

It didn't quite reach the minus four degrees that we were expecting this morning. Minus two was our minimum and I stayed in bed with the electric blanket on 'one' until after 8am!

Luckily, BGWLBH was up well before me and put the heater on, so the cabin was nice and toasty warm by the time I climbed out of bed.

We were both brave enough to wash our hair today. I blow dried mine with the very small, but effective hair dryer attached to the wall bracket in the main bedroom, while BGWLBH chose to wind her hair into a twist and hold it in place with a loose beanie.

We left the cabin well after 9.30am and drove to the main shopping mall, where we found a little bohemian style cafe to have breakfast. We then grabbed some fruit and nuts from the supermarket to take to Wollomombi Falls with us.

Last time we came to this area, we spent a couple of hours at Wollomombi Falls attempting to photograph Wedge-tailed Eagles that soared and hovered at our eye level at the lookouts above the gorge. So we were really hoping to spend more time doing the same today.

After about 45 minutes, it was obvious that there were no eagles in the vicinity, but I did see a couple of Crimson Rosellas, an Eastern Spinebill and some Robins. BGWLBH came back from her trek and urged me to follow her back up the path to see some Fairy Wrens, which I did.

Along the way, we came across a male Superb Lyrebird! BGWLBH had already met him earlier, so I followed him around for a bit and got some shots. He kept moving in the opposite direction, so I couldn't get any frontal shots, but his tail was his best feature anyway, so it didn't really matter.

I've done a lot of trekking on our road trips and we have never crossed paths with a Lyrebird before this trip. There was one scratching around in the bushes at The Drip too, but we didn't get any good shots of that one because he was much more skittish than this one.

We left him to his own devices and further along the path there was a patch of bush and trees full of different birds. There was a red robin (I haven't looked at these photos yet, so I can't correctly identify the birds), a yellow robin, pardalotes, honey eaters and finches. No fairy wrens unfortunately.

At our last visit, we had the entire lookout and the tracks to ourselves, but today there were a lot of tourists about. Noisy kids, other photographers, families, backpackers etc. We should have realised that it would be busier on a weekend.

We had a bite to eat and decided to drive back to Metz Gorge. We had been there on our last trek too and that's when I took this photo ...

It was completely different this visit. A new lookout platform had been built, a new fence and the road in was very much improved. The two alpacas were still there, along with a couple of horses and a shetland pony.

Today, there were no clouds, just bright Winter sunshine. A perfect day really.

On the drive back into Armidale, an idiot with a mini van full of kids overtook us on a bend and there was another car coming in the opposite direction. The other car had to veer off the road to miss this idiot. They were about ten feet away from a head on collision. The ridiculous part about it, was that the mini van was only about twenty seconds in front of us when we drove into Armidale. What a stupid risk to take for the sake of 20 seconds!

Tonight we had a delicious dinner at the Armidale Exies Club. Grilled chicken breast with salad and chips and gf gravy. The chef made the gravy gf especially for us. While we ate, there was a musician with a guitar, and he was singing Eagles, Creedence, Sherbet and other songs from the 70s and 80s. He was very good and we sang along and took our time over dinner.

Back to the cabin by 8pm and checking out the touring atlas to figure out what direction to drive tomorrow. We think we've decided on Kempsey as our next destination.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring? I must say that I'm having a great time on this road trip. Very relaxing, interesting and fun. I'm glad we're here .. even if it IS cold!

Nite all.

Icy Icy Baby

Armidale - where they issue slips of paper to visitors with warnings about frozen water pipes, adding layers to your bedding to keep warm, icy roads (black ice) and driving through fog, warming your engine before driving off, depleted battery power due to the cold and using loyalty cards to scrape ice off your windscreen in the mornings.

At least they have electric blankets on the beds!

It is currently 1C and is expected to be -3C in the morning. Oh the joys of Winter road trips.

We plan on driving to the lookout where the famed Wedge-tailed Eagle looms from below the lookout, to within eye level, for hopefully some great shots with the long lens.

We'll take a picnic lunch and make a day of it, walking the trails and checking out whatever else mother nature has to offer.

We had a good drive today from Scone, stopping at Tamworth along the way to run some errands and do some shopping. Every time we visit Tamworth, it seems to have grown bigger. 

We reached Armidale by 2pm and immediately checked into the Tourist Park. I had booked a cabin with two bedrooms, each with a double bed, but they gave us a two bedroom, one with a double bed and one with two double bunks! So toddled back over to reception and using my most pleasant demeanour, asked for what I had booked.

At first, she said there was nothing available, but before she even finished the sentence, she corrected herself and said "Oh wait! Yes there is one cabin .. I'll just have to check that it's ready."

So we are settled in here for two nights and it looks like the kitchen/dining/living area has been newly renovated, with timber floorboards, new white kitchen cabinets with the soft closing drawers, a glass splashback, a new black leather couch and a big screen TV on the wall.

Very nice and very comfortable.

We attempted to see a movie this afternoon, but we could barely get through the front door for the crowds of kids, so we did a quick 'about face' and walked next door to the Exservicemen's Club instead. We were going to have dinner there, but decided to get Chinese takeaway and head back to the cabin.

Luckily, there were gluten free options available and we ordered a couple of chicken dishes with some fried rice. Quite delicious and satisfying. The menu does look good at the club though, so I hope we get to try that tomorrow night.

I will be attempting to watch some tennis tonight, with a couple of Aussies playing. Kyrgios is playing Raonic, and Tomic is playing Djokovic. They should be good matches.

Hopefully, tomorrow night, I will have the most fabulous photo of a Wedge-tailed Eagle to show you!

Nite all.   

The Dripping Drip

OMG it was cold last night! Minus two degrees and our cabin was like a little ice box. We had to keep the heater on all night because it only took 5 minutes for the cold to set in whenever we turned it off.

We had a lazy start to the day and didn't even leave our cabin until 10am.

We had our 2nd breakfast in a row at Arbuckles, and even though I planned on eating a duck egg omelette, I was really worried about how it would affect my digestion and the remote areas we would be driving today, so I chose the atlantic salmon again. It was absolutely delicious and both the owner, and the chef, remembered us from yesterday!

After breakfast, we drove to Gulgong, which was a funny looking town with charming, but very old, very tiny houses and buildings. It was a really interesting little town, but the main street, with cars parked on either side of the road, had only one lane left down the middle to drive on. Luckily, we could see from one end of the street to the other, so we knew when it was safe to go, but there was absolutely no way that two cars could travel in different directions down the street.

Phil, our winery tour guide, suggested that on our way out of Mudgee, and after we passed through Gulgong, we should stop at a place called 'The Drip'. It involves walking a supposed 'easy' 1 hour round trip to a location that involved a rugged cliff face that drips water.

We had forgotten all about his suggestion until we were driving along and saw the sign, so we drove down the little dirt track to the parking area, where there were three other cars, grabbed our camera bags, locked the car and decided to do the 1km walk.

Firstly there was a little picnic area where there were heaps of little Superb Fairy Wrens and I attempted to get some shots, but I was really having trouble getting my 400mm lens to focus, so I don't think I had much luck.

As we walked to the beginning of the track to The Drip, an older couple was returning from the trek, so we asked what the walk was like and if it was worth the effort. They both agreed that the track was easy and that it was definitely worth the effort, so we happily began the walk.

It was a beautiful spot and the track skirted along a running stream. The bushland was quite lush with tree ferns and vines and ivy and there was moss and other fungi growing on the smooth rocks and cliff faces that we passed by.

The track, in the beginning, was quite well maintained and there were rocks placed along the edge to guide us, little timber steps dug into the ground that led down to a timber walking bridge that took us over part of the stream. A sign to tell us that we had travelled 150 metres of our 1km.

Then the track became a little more rugged. It was narrow in some places. We had to climb over rocks and then hold onto a rail to squeeze along a narrow path that had a steep drop beside it. We squeezed between the cliff face and some rocks. We skirted around a big hole that had formed in the middle of the track.

We climbed down some rocks and through an archway of rock to the very edge of the stream and then had to climb up some more steep rock that had some footholds carved into them.

At this point we were questioning and loudly criticising the older couple who had told us that it was an easy walk and wondered if they had come this far.

Twice we passed a small patch of cliff face that was dripping water and wondered how much farther we had to go. Then there was a sign that said 600m to The Drip. This was quite discouraging because we were sure we had walked further than 400m!!!

All the while we were stopping to take pics of interesting things, like the rock formations, mud nests on the ceiling of some rock arches, the moss, the fungi, the view of the stream from various points of interest.

A couple of times, the path kind of disappeared and we had to search for where it began again. We passed a couple of other people returning, so we knew we were headed in the right direction.

Finally after almost an hour, we reached what we believed to be 'The Drip' because there was no signage, but there was a huge wall of cliff face that was wet and dripping into still pools of water below. The path went no further. We could hear running water in the distance, but there was nowhere to go to find it.

It was quite spectacular and beautiful and I was surprised at how easy it was to do the walk, fitness wise, for me .. even though my short legs had trouble stepping up onto some higher rock, I didn't feel puffed at any stage and I kept up a fairly steady pace.

By the end of the walk, which took us about 90 minutes, my dodgy knee was beginning to ask a few questions, but it feels ok right now.

On the return walk, we came across a Lyrebird scratching under a bush, which was a bit of a surprise.

For a couple of old birds who don't exercise, I think we did remarkably well!! I have photos to share too, but with slow free WiFi, they won't be shared tonight.

From there we went through the mining town of Ulan and then stopped at Merriwa, where I paid $16.50 for 3 small bottles of water and a cup of coffee. Luckily the coffee was delicious and well worth $6!

We drove on to Scone which is where we are staying tonight in a very comfortable motel. We are unhappy about a galah in a cage because he had no water to drink and when BGWLBH filled the water container, the poor bird went straight to it and guzzled. We are also unhappy about the free WiFi. I was able to sign in, but it was impossibly slow. BGWLBH couldn't even sign in .. it kept telling her to try again, until she gave up.

Last time we stayed in Scone, the Golf Club was recommended to us for meals, and we enjoyed delicious Asian cuisine, so we drove there again tonight, but the restaurant was an empty shell of a room - looks like they might be refurbishing or something - so we decided to try the RSL Club instead, which wasn't too far away.

It was a nice club with friendly staff and the restaurant sold Chinese food as well as Australian meals. We both chose grilled chicken with chips and salad. The salad was minuscule but fresh and nice. The chips were crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside. The chicken was like no chicken I had ever tasted and we couldn't decide if it was real chicken or processed chicken. It was tough and stringy and had a flavour all of it's own. Neither of us ate more than two bites.

We were home by 7.30pm and obviously, by the hysterical laughter that ensued for no particular reason, we are feeling quite exhausted.

BGWLBH is not coming to QLD now. We will be returning to Sydney and I will fly out on Friday next week, while she will drive home to her home town. She will take my wine with her and then bring it up in January next year when she visits. That could be tricky because white wine goes off after a while, so I hope it lasts the distance.

Time to hit the hay and fall asleep to the sound of Wimbledon tennis on the TV.

It's been a good day.

Nite all.

Beaten by the Weather

I woke during the night to the sound of heavy rain. It was about 3am and I immediately thought of our trike ride being in jeopardy.

At 7am, I looked out of the bedroom window and thought it had fogged up on the inside of the glass, but alas, the entire town of Mudgee was fogged up! We could barely see 20 feet in front of us, so I messaged Phil, our driver, and suggested that we take his car instead. He had told me it was available if the weather turned bad and I think he was expecting my text. I also think he was relieved because he told me that he feels the cold these days.

Prior to meeting Phil and heading off on our winery tour, BGWLBH and I drove into town and had a delicious breakfast in a lovely cafe. I had grilled atlantic salmon with green salad, which was just divine, but way too big for me to finish and BGWLBH had the standard bacon and eggs on toast.

I noticed on the blackboard that they also serve kombucha (fermented tea), as well as duck eggs, so we are going back tomorrow and I'll have both of those items. I have never eaten duck egg and I didn't want to risk a reaction to them while touring with Phil, so I avoided them this morning.

We even had time to fit some shopping in, after breakfast and before we had to be back at the caravan park, for Phil to pick us up.

I had never met Phil and our communications since I booked the drive a couple of weeks ago, have only been via email and text messages, so I had no idea what to expect.

He was a lovely older gentleman with white hair and a friendly smile. His right arm was immobile so his driving was all left handed, and I wondered how he managed to manoeuvre a big motorised trike with only one arm. Obviously he was quite capable and I guess if I can ride around town on my trike with a cup of coffee in one hand without any difficulty, then he must be competent enough too.

We had three hours with him and he took us to four different wineries in that time. Not long after our tour began, the fog completely lifted and it turned into a glorious day (of course!).

I bought 13 bottles of white wine and a bottle of white port. I'm not a port drinker generally, but the first words that came out of my mouth when I tasted it were "OH YUM!". BGWLBH bought a couple of bottles of red.

The last winery that we visited was an organic winery and I bought a bottle of Riesling there. I'm also not usually a fan of Riesling!! But it was too nice to pass up.

My favourite thing about the last winery was the number of Superb Fairy Wrens that were flitting all over the place. I spent a lot of time with my camera aimed at the birds.

I've decided that I like Mudgee very much and if I had to live inland again, it would be on my list of top 5 places to live. It's a pretty town with beautiful countryside surrounding it. The people are happy and friendly, the cafes and restaurants are very good quality with healthful and delicious food, the shopping is great and the clubs are welcoming and modern. It's much bigger than I expected with a population of around 9000.

After our winery tour, we came back to the cabin, did some washing, rested up and then headed off to the Soldier's Club for dinner. An inspection of their menu left us preferring the menu at the Golf Club, so after a short visit, we headed back there for dinner instead. I had the same meal as the night before but it must have been a different chef because it was prepared very differently to last nights. It was still delicious, but not as good as Tuesday night.

We will be heading north tomorrow. That's all I know.

I was able to play with a couple of photos tonight ...

It's very chilly tonight and the minimum will go as low as -2C tomorrow morning. We had planned on going to the wetlands very early in the morning to get some misty water and possible bird shots, but tonight we decided that only fools would go out in those kinds of temperatures, so we will stay inside where it's warmer until it's time to leave town.

 Meanwhile, I will enjoy sleeping in the double bed tonight. It's likely, that for the rest of the trip I will be in single beds. Since BGWLBH is the driver, it's only fair that she gets a good nights sleep on a decent bed every night.

It's 11pm so ...

Nite all.

Nudging Mudgee

A sunrise was on the agenda this morning, so we rose bright and early and looked at the sky outside our motel window for a rough idea of how the sunrise might appear. The clouds were spidering across the sky in long wispy streams, so we quickly got dressed, gathered our camera gear and in 6C temperatures, found our way to the lookout where the Three Sisters were located.

There we were, all alone for a good period of time and all the while, the sky looked incredibly promising. It really didn't feel that cold and we waited.

Way off in the distance where the sun was rising, there was some glorious colour in the low clouds, but it was too far off to get a good shot. The colour in the clear sky on the horizon changed beautifully too. There was mist in the valley below which made a pretty backdrop for the Three Sisters, but the sky did not change colour where we were.

At about 7am, we gave up. The sun was up, but hidden behind cloud. The scattered clouds remained grey and there wasn't even sunshine peaking through the cloud to play on the mist or the cliff faces. Very disappointing.

We drove back to the motel and as we came over the rise towards the town of Katoomba, the sky was a beautiful pink orange. Obviously, we were at the wrong location for this particular sunrise!

So we had our hot showers and packed all of our gear into the car, left the car parked in the motel car park and walked to the nearest 'open' cafe at 8.30 am. There we ordered bacon, eggs and coffee/tea and had a leisurely breakfast.

My plan after breakfast was to return to a shop that we visited yesterday to buy some beautiful silk scarves. I pondered over them yesterday but left the shop empty handed. They were so soft and delicate and the colours were the most beautiful and vibrant that I've seen. I decided that they would make great gifts ... because you can never have too many scarves! Right girls?

Much to my disappointment, the sign on the shop door showed that opening time was 10.30am. Good grief! So the scarves remain in the shop, because we left town at 9.30am.

We slowly made our way to Mudgee, stopping a few times along the way to get coffee and for toilet breaks and to photograph raptors hunting on the side of the road and to do some fruit/veg shopping at a supermarket.

There were a hell of a lot of dead native animals on the side of the road and I counted 5 dead wombats .. BIG ones .. and heaps of kangaroos and wallabies.

Probably the saddest part of the trip, was BGWLBH pointing to various landmarks on the way asking me if I remembered them from the last time we came this way, and my response on too many occasions was "No, I'm sure we haven't been this way before". She was insistent that we had, but I didn't even have the vaguest memory .. until finally we came across a little town by the name of 'Kandos' and finally the memory came back to me!

BGWLBH was relieved that she wasn't imagining a trip from our past and I was relieved not to have completely forgotten everything about that trip from our past!!

Finally, we arrived in Mudgee and immediately looked for somewhere to have lunch. We had a delicious hot meal in a little restaurant recommended to us by a local and then we enjoyed a stroll through some great little shops that had half price sales.

I bought some jewellery and a couple of bags and a new wallet. Retail therapy ... always enjoyable!!

With a little help from Google GPS, we navigated our way to the caravan park where we have a cabin for two nights. Very clean and comfortable and with two bedrooms each containing a double bed. We settled into our rooms and then for dinner, we drove not too far to the local Golf Club. I had a delicious Chilli Lime Coriander Chicken Salad. I can't begin to tell you how good it was!

We were home early and BGWLBH headed straight to bed. I watched The Voice and then some tennis for a while and now I'm all cosy in my own bed. I'm wondering whether to leave the heater on in the cabin all night. It doesn't take long for the cabin to get cold, so I'm thinking, for my own comfort, I'm going to leave it going.

Anyway, as usual, it's almost midnight so I'm bidding you adieu.

Nite all.

Mountain Road Climbing

Katoomba is hilly and cold and ecclectic. At least half of the population wear a hat!

We spent the early morning looking for somewhere to have breakfast. There wasn't much open at 9am. I think most places open at 10am!!  Annoying!

We found an alley recently opened to the public, full of street art and spent about half an hour taking photos and admiring the creative works covering the buildings and the walls and the fences and the garage doors. Amazing stuff. Photos to come, after I get home. Internet is intermittent, cutting in and out, making it unreliable for editing and posting photos.

The hat shop was open, so that was our next stop, but I didn't find a hat that I liked enough to buy. I did find one hat, but the band had a big hole in it, as if something had been pinned to it and then removed. I tried many different styles and I loved the 'mad hatters' hat, but it cost $245 and I wasn't prepared to pay that.

We walked next door to the 'Hatters' cafe for breakfast. I had the Canadian breakfast .. french toast (gf) with bacon and pure maple syrup. Absolutely delicious. Their coffee was damned good too. The service was fantastic so if you're heading this way, I highly recommend it. They have a good range of meals and great selection of gluten free meals available.

After breakfast, we walked the streets and went into every antique store (of which there were many!) and before we were halfway up the hill, BGWLBH looked like a pack horse! She had bought books and jumpers and goodness knows what else.

We walked into a bar - the name of which I can't remember - and it was spectacular in it's age and style and furnishings and old photos on the wall depicting an era long ago. We hoped we could get a coffee there and wanted to sit in the sunshine at the front window where there were huge worn leather sofas calling our names, but there was no coffee and it was far too early for a beverage.

Soon after that we stopped at an old building with big glass windows where old photos were taped. Amazing old photos of Katoomba in the early 1900s with the old cars and the fashions of the day and crowds of people at dances and rollerskating evenings. They had us intrigued from the first photo to the last.

We found a little cafe with old wicker chairs covered in lambswool. It was very bohemian with hippy undertones. BGWLBH ordered coffee and cake while I was next door checking out the jewellery. I bought two silver and onyx rings.

After about an hour relaxing there, we continued on our way until we finally found our way back to the motel and once there, we decided to walk to one of the lookouts.

Our map made the walk look quite short, but we didn't take the steep hills into consideration and as we came to the first hill, which was downhill, we considered our options and strongly considered turning back! But we continued on our way. It was all downhill in a big zigzag to the walking track and then just a slight uphill walk to the lookout.

Unfortunately, that meant that the walk back was ALL uphill and steep!

BGWLBH suggested that we take tiny steps so as not to over exert ourselves, and that advice was perfect. I felt like the slow and steady tortoise that won the race. There was no huffing and puffing. No heavy breathing. No burning calves. Even though it took a little longer, it didn't matter.

As we walked up the first hill, a man came out with a sign and he was selling organic lemons and limes, so we bought half a dozen lemons from him on the way.

After a short break, we got changed and headed to the RSL Club again for dinner.

Dinner was even better tonight than last night and we had a couple of glasses of wine to celebrate our holiday.

Tomorrow, we head off to Mudgee.

Having a fabulous time so far. Feeling very relaxed and comfortable and the weather has been superb.

I must admit to feeling very weary tonight, so I think I will sleep well .. and it's only 9.15pm!!

Nite all.

Sydney Shopping

We woke to a very chilly Sydney this morning and realised it with a shock when we opened the door onto our balcony of our motel room! Brrrrr!

Two sulphur crested cockatoos landed on our balcony with full intentions of sneaking into our room (so the receptionist informed us) so BGWLBH gave them the biscuits from our coffee/tea allocation (yes, we know that's naughty) and then the elderly couple in the room beside ours fed them fruit and suddenly there were seven cockatoos in on the action and a couple of them spoke to us "Hello Cocky!"

We checked out of the motel and were given permission to leave our car in the motel car park while we went across the road to Miranda Fair for breakfast and shopping.

There was a cafe opening as we entered the shopping centre and we enjoyed some coffee and bacon and eggs for breakfast.

The shops didn't open until 10am so we wandered around checking out which shops we'd return to and then met up with Bubbles. She grabbed a quick bite to eat and then we went in search of an outfit for her to wear to an engagement party in August.

We did find a couple of items, but ran out of time before we put together the perfect outfit.

Meanwhile, I got some comfy walking shoes, a pair of black and white tights covered in peace signs and yin/yang symbols and pair of stretchy patchwork flares from 'Tree of Life'. I tried to buy a boho hat like the one that BGWLBH bought, but she got the last one .. HOWEVER .. we walked past a shop in Katoomba this afternoon that is full of hats, so I'm going there tomorrow to have a look!

We finally left the motel car park around 1.20pm and followed google maps on my phone to get out of dirty busy horrible Sydney. We did get lost briefly when I gave the wrong directions, but it only took us 20 minutes out of our way, so we arrived at our motel in Katoomba at about 3.30pm.

Our room is cosy and clean - I currently have the window open next to my bed and there is an icy breeze wafting over my bed. Delicious.

As soon as we arrived, we went in search of something to eat because we hadn't eaten since breakfast. We tried the first cafe next door to the motel, but they had no gluten free options, so we moved on to the next place.

The only gluten free option there was a chocolate cake, so we ordered that with a coffee, with every intention of having an early dinner at the nearest club. The waitress brought us the biggest slices of chocolate cake I've ever seen (if we'd known, we'd have shared one piece) and she had warmed it in the microwave (if I'd known she was going to do that, I'd have asked her NOT to do that), so the very thick icing was all gooey and melting everywhere like fudge, and beside it was a little bowl of whipped cream.

Absolutely decadent and delicious. Incredibly sweet .. especially for me because it's been a million years since I had sugar like that. We had about four mouthfuls each and couldn't eat any more, so we asked for a doggy bag and brought it back to our room. After dinner tonight, I tried some more, but two mouthfuls was more than enough. At this rate, it will last until the end of the week!

The Katoomba RSL seemed like the ideal place to try for dinner, because it was within easy walking distance from our motel .. although it was downhill, which made for a tough walk back when we came home!! Very steep!

The RSL had a Chinese restaurant and they made a special gluten free stir fry for my benefit with more prawns than I could even eat. Some wine with dinner was a very enjoyable way to end a great day.

We huffed and puffed our way back up the hill and now I can hear BGWLBH softly snoring as I type away on my laptop.

I expect we will wake to an even chillier morning tomorrow. It was 19C at the bottom of the mountain and by the time we arrived at Katoomba, it had dropped to 12C. It is currently 4C and tomorrow will reach a maximum of 11C.

Luckily, BGWLBH brought extra woollies with her and she is sharing with me :)

Needless to say, her car is absolutely chockers and I'm sure she has brought everything except the kitchen sink .. the boot is full and the back seat is full. Certainly no room for passengers!!

I have photos to share, but they will have to wait for another time.

It's almost 11pm so I think I shall get some sleep.

Nite all.