NEWCASTLE to the BLUE MOUNTAINS

17^th March, 2016

We arrived at Trent's 'freecamp' in the late afternoon after spending a few days travelling down the New England Highway and detouring for a look at the small village of Nundle. While here we catch up with friends and family and our son Trent takes us on a tour around Newcastle. We stop for lunch at a hotel bistro along the waterfront where we are entertained by all the boats coming and going along the Hunter River. A cruise ship berthed at the wharf opposite dwarfs everything around it.

Trent and Wok  (Cruise ship in background)

We then go for a stroll along the recently opened Anzac Memorial Bridge walk which follows the coastal cliffs from King Edward Park to Merewether.

Trent and Wok walk along the Anzac Memorial Bridge at Newcastle

There are wonderful views over Newcastle and some of its outlying suburbs from the bridge

View of Newcastle from the Anzac Memorial Bridge

and coastal views to the south.

View of the coast to the south from the Anzac Memorial Bridge

The last viewing platform looks over the suburb of Merewether before descending down many steps
to the beach.

Trent and Wok take in the view of the Pacific Ocean and Merewether

This spot along the cliffs is a favourite for hang gliders and there are quite a few riding the air currents while we are there. They have a landing spot in the park behind the Merewether Surf Club and we watch them glide in over the beach and seemingly land effortlessly on the grass.

It's nearly Easter and we have arranged to meet up with Wok's sister Gwen and husband Roger who are camping near Ulladulla with their caravan club for the Easter week. We travel south through Sydney and take a detour at Nowra to Kangaroo Valley for an overnight camp at Bendeela Reserve. This is a large unpowered camping reserve which is supposed to have an abundance of wildlife. We set up camp overlooking a large paddock and then take a walk along the creek. We were hoping to see one particular species of wildlife but as these animals are nocturnal the chances of seeing one in the daylight hours was minimal. Much to our surprise there appeared to be one of these animals that hadn't heard that it was supposed to be nocturnal and was happy for us to observe it from a reasonable distance.

When you have an itch you just gotta scratch it!

We have seen the odd wombat in the wild before but only in zoos have we been so close. We watch as Mr or Mrs Wombat preened itself and had a couple of good scratches before it ambled off into the scrub. Suitably impressed with our wildlife meeting we retired to the van where we amused ourselves watching kangaroos in the paddock below. Then just before dusk a couple of wombats waddled across the paddock and while we were watching these another wombat appeared out of the undergrowth just metres from our door and started snuffling around in the grass for things to eat. Free entertainment – you just can't beat it! That night the earth moved. Well actually it was the caravan and the reason was not what you are thinking. Shame on you! A wombat was using our chassis as a scratching pole – and obviously quite enjoying it! The rocking eventually ceased and we could go back to sleep. In the morning we hit the road again but if anyone is looking to see wombats in the wild then this would have to be a good choice.

By lunchtime we were slotting into a camping spot near Gwen and Roger at Milton Showground. A lot of catching up to do with everyone's goings on and then joining in with the caravan club's activities – one of which was a couple of games of croquet at the greens beside the showground.

Some of the caravan club members playing croquet.

The croquet club kindly supplied equipment and instruction on how to play the game and provided a sumptuous morning tea. Great fun!

The annual 'Blessing of the Fleet' is held in Ulladulla over Easter with markets and a street parade part of the festivities. We took up position at the top of the hill to watch as the floats, bands and marchers went by.

The start of the parade is led by police motor cyclists

Priscilla 'Queen of the Desert' float

A vintage car display was also on in one of the car parks and we particularly liked this custom camper.

This camper comes complete with its own crow perched on the roof

We had a fun week and it was great to spend time with Gwen and Roger again. Time to move on again and we headed north to Sydney and then west over the Great Dividing Range. We hadn't been through Katoomba at the top of the range for quite some time so diverted in to have some lunch and take a look at the Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains.

The Three Sisters

This natural rock formation draws hundreds of tourists each day and is one of the premier tourist day trips from Sydney. There are lots of viewing spots to accommodate everyone and for the more adventurous there are bush walking tracks down into the valleys as well as other extreme sports. We are quite happy to wander around the top of the escarpment and take in the spectacular views.

View of the Three Sisters and Valley in the Blue Mountains

Back on the road again we continue our journey west, stopping at a state forest free camp overnight and then driving south. We are headed for an event which is being held in a small town 100 klms away - but that will have to wait until our next blog!