4/20/10 (parklea)

Parklea - Sydney

Final day in the Sydney area. We got up early and worked on getting caught up on the daily details, laundry, and camper clean up. We were going to return the Cheapa camper and head to the airport. We left the camp site by 10am and were off to Sydney. The traffic was quite heavy and a little challenging in the camper. We took a different route than when we left Sydney and were headed in on Hwy 4 and it allowed us to drive over the suspension bridge called The Anzac Bridge. It was a new view of Sydney and Annie and I liked it. It was a good thing because later that day, I got a little turned around and we went over it two more times. 

We headed into the city to a familiar location, the Morgan Hotel. This was the hotel we first stayed at when arriving to Sydney and we were hopeful to grab a little internet with the login we used when we were guests. It is a little challenging to park the camper in the city because we can’t park in structures, the high top won’t fit. Luckily we found a spot near the hotel and Annie and I went the front of the hotel armed with laptops but unfortunately they had changed the password. We did get a signal from the Tropicana, a coffee bar across the street so we agreed to check it out. We were going to call Debie to meet for lunch and we had to grab my jacket that I had left in her trunk, but it was still early. The Tropicana had a great chai latte and some free internet and so that was a nice stop. Afterword we tried Debie unsuccessfully and decided to revisit our favorite Thai restaurant S. Thanda on Victoria Street. We had eaten there on the past Saturday and it was really good and pretty affordable. We ordered the same dishes. It was some the best food we have had on the our travels. Next we were off to the CBD (central business district) to try and meet Debie before heading to the airport. 

The CBD is incredibly busy and is the hub of the Sydney’s financial district. It is a series of one way roads with lots of people who hardly utilized the crosswalks and instead choose to pop out in every which way. The perfect place to take an oversized camper! We circled a few times and finally parked in front of an alleyway to avoid oncoming traffic. Annie fortunately got a hold of Debie, who met us of a quick goodbye. Down the road from Debie’s office is a nice camera store and I grabbed a long sought after piece of camera gear and we were off to the Apollo rental office. This is the point we got a little lost and Annie was very patient. After a short trip we fueled up and returned the camper. It was a pretty painless process but they did lack a bit of the professionalism of the New Zealand branch. We asked about a ride to the airport and the attendant reluctantly told us how we could walk to the airport.

This turned out to be quite an adventure and we found that airports are really not structured for walkers. We weaved in and out of several large intersections under the hot Sydney sun and arrived safely in fifteen minutes. I am sure it was quite comical to watch. Debie had warned us about Tiger airlines and how they frequently left the gate early and so we decided we would arrive early. The checkin was swift and we were at the gate with plenty of time to spare. The flight was smooth and we had fun watching the all male attendants hit on a row of girls next to us. 

When we arrived to Melbourne we were on to our next adventure. We were staying with Dennise, a friend of Annie’s from her English teaching days in Japan. He had given us directions to his house and we were to take the Sky Bus to the Southern Cross Station and then take the Pakenham line to the Clayton exit. From there we took the 703 bus to the Princess Hwy near the second Mc Donald’s. A little crazy, but that was part of the adventure. We met Dennise and grabbed a quick bite at Mc Donald’s and then went to meet Dennise’s family. We spent the night reminiscing about Annie’s Japan days and were off to bed around 11 for some much needed rest.

4/19/10 (katoomba)

Katoomba - Parklea

Our final day in the Blue Mountains. Annie and I seriously debated about doing some canyoning on this day. Canyoning is when you repel down waterfalls into deep pools of water that are canyons formed out of rock. It sounded fun but ultimately proved to be too expensive and we decided to save the money for something down the road. I am lobbying for a helicopter ride at the Great Barrier Reef. 

For the third day we got up at 5:30am to capture the sunrise of the Three Sisters and the Blue Mountains. I returned to Echo Point to try and get a time lapse I was happy with since my first day didn’t turn out. I set up shop on the lower deck and started the camera rolling at the Three Sisters. Several people came to join me and I met a group of three from France. Two of the people lived in Australia and one recently moved to Pacific Heights in San Francisco. It was fun to swap favorite spots from a familiar location. Annie came to join me after a bit and I got two really good time lapse shots of the morning sunrise. 

We returned to the camp sight and chatted with our neighbors for a bit on sites in the Melbourne area we should check out and then cleaned up our area. We visited a fun little cafe just at the entrance of our campsite for the first time to enjoy a hot beverage before our departure. We were then off for lunch at Katoomba’s sister city Leura.  Annie and I decided on a cafe called Wayzgoose, famous for their flowerpot scones. They had a little eating area out back. Apparently, Leura only has one set of public toilets and they were within a stones throw of were we were sitting. We watched wave after wave of people come looking to use the toilets only to discover they were closed. Someone had put a note on the door saying they should reopen at noon. At this point it was 12:30 and Annie and I got a few laughs at how upset people were getting. We decided to eat quickly and get on the road before the town had a mini revolt. 

We had to return our camper tomorrow near Sydney and so it was a short drive to our next camper site. We ran into a little speed bump because our original site we had planned to stay was booked because of the annual RV show just outside of Sydney. We we a little concerned we would have some challenges with accommodations but luckily the Gateway site we stayed at a few nights ago had availability. We checked in and I was ready for a nap, while Annie was off to do laundry. After a few hours rest for both of us we decided to go out and get some dinner. We headed to the Blacktown mall based on a recommendation from our camp site and found that it had already closed when we got there at 7. We found the downtown area that was a pretty sketchy and settled on a bistro that looked like the neighborhood nightclub. After a nice meal and a little rugby on TV we were back to the camp site. This was our final day full day in the camper and in the Sydney area. We are looking forward to our next adventures in Melbourne. 

Likes: The Blue Mountains, toilet troubles. 

4/18/10 (katoomba)

Katoomba

We decided to just hang out in Katoomba on this day. It is a beautiful little town that is really at the center of the Blue Mountains. We had gotten home late from our day of caving and thought we would take a day to rest and get caught up on a few things. A “get shit done day” as I have affectionately labeled it. I had spotted a great view of the canyon and the Three Sisters on our drive home from the caves and at 5:30 I rolled out of bed and drove to this lookout. The sun was just starting to rise and I set up shop. Annie was up a little earlier on this day and came to join me. I got two really good time lapse shots and we returned to our site. We booked one additional night and were a bit lazy the rest of the morning.

In the afternoon we went to check out the local IMAX theater called the Edge. They have had a long running movie about conservation and the Blue Mountains. It had a really cool story about some bushwalkers that were canyoning and had stumbled upon at small patch of pine like trees that dated back to the era of the dinosaurs and were thought to be extinct called Wollemi trees. Their location was highly secret but they were just an hour via helicopter outside of Sydney. Scientist are hard at work to preserve these rare trees and the overall message was one of conservation. It also gave a great idea of how unique the animals and plant life is in Australia as a result of the hard climate. 

We then visited the local video store that also offered affordable internet and got caught up on our bills and emails. Had a quick lunch and were off to do a little bushwalking around the Three Sisters. Then have a trail that leads to the first Sister and then the Grand Staircase that leads to the Canyon floor. We made it down the first flight of stairs that was incredibly steep and decided to snap a few photos and head back up. We talked to the local information center about some activities for our final day and then returned back to our campsite. We finished up our leftovers in the fridge and were off to bed a little early. It felt good to get caught up on a few things and get a good night sleep. 

4/17/10 (katoomba)

Jenolan Caves from Annie Lin on Vimeo.

Katoomba – Jenolan Caves

The weather report yesterday said there was a chance of showers today but it turned out to be a beautiful sunny day. I guess it’s hard to give accurate weather reports in the mountains since it can change so quickly. Jon decided that he wanted to go back to Echo Point to capture a sunrise time-lapse so he woke up around 5am and drove the camper with me still in the back sleeping. That’s what so nice about having a camper…I can sleep while Jon is driving though I have to admit it was very bumpy but luckily it was a short ride. I woke up to the sun already shining and went to meet Jon but he was already on his way back to the car. He made quite a few friends in the early morning. One of them even checked out our blog and commented on it. Three were three French Canadian who worked on the airbase nearby fixing fighter planes that we have seen fly over us while we were driving.

After breakfast we decided to drive to Jenolan Caves, which were about an hour or so away. The caves were supposed to be quite spectacular with several cave tours to choose from. When we reached our destination we drove through a huge cave, which was really cool. There is only one hotel and one restaurant as it was built specifically for the people visiting the caves. We decided on the river tour, which we found out later doesn’t have a river in it. I wonder why they gave it that name. Our guide, Ian Dive, was probably in his late 60’s and had very extensive knowledge of the caves. We saw incredible limestone formations that were so shiny that I was very tempted to touch them. But of course, they ask that people don’t touch anything since our hands will leave a type of oil that will corrode the caves. The river cave consisted of approximately 2000 steps and there were parts where we had to climb up or down a ladder and after a while you left like you were going in circles. Some areas of the caves were enormous while others you really had to squeeze through. It was really different from the caves Jon and I explored in Karamea since this one was well lit and there were about 15 other people on the tour. Our tour was supposed to last about 2 hours but it ended up taking us about 2.5 hours. We must be slow walkers. By the time we finished the parking lost was practically empty.

One of the things we really wanted was to include other people on our video blog so I asked Ian if he wouldn’t mind being on camera. We asked him a few questions about himself and the caves, which you will see on the video. Jon did a quick video edit to include some of the video we took in the caves, which consisted of me holding a camera in front of us as if someone was taping us. It was a fun way for us to capture the experience.

We decided to drive back to Katoomba and stay at the same campsite since there wasn’t much else around Jenolan Caves. Overall, it was a really good day and we were pretty exhausted after our cave tour.

4/16/10 (parklea)

Parklea – Katoomba

Before we arrived at the Blue Mountains we stopped at a lookout point in Leura to have some lunch. It was a beautiful picnic area with a river running through it. Jon decided it would be a good spot for him to do his testimonial video of New Zealand. We had been procrastinating on our recap of New Zealand since there is so much to talk about. The picnic area had been relatively quiet but as soon as we had set up our shot people started walking by and there were kids at the swing set next to us. We waited for a bit before we started but then every time a car drove by we had to pause. It got to be quite disruptive but we couldn’t tell people to be quiet since it was a public place. When a battery in the lighting equipment exploded we figured it was a sign for us to stop trying to shoot this video. We decided to check into our campsite. 

As we were entering the town of Katoomba we passed by Echo Point where we caught a glimpse of the Blue Mountains. It was absolutely stunning and we decided after we checked in we would come back to get a better look. But we still had the video on our mind and decided to give it another try. Jon found a field next to the campsite that seemed like it would be a good spot for us. It’s always during times like this when the things you don’t wish for happens. As we started taping there were little disruptions: tour bus passing by, couple walking by with dogs, planes flying by, and a group of kids playing rugby. It tested both Jon’s and my patience. But we persisted. Then our worst nightmare happened…something happened to the video card and if Jon ejected it from the camera it would erase everything that we had taped. But there was no way around it, which meant that we had to tape everything again. All the forces were against us but we persevered and taped it again until the camera battery died. Keep your fingers crossed on this video. 

After such an ordeal we needed a distraction so we went back to Echo Point. The view was amazing and nothing like anything we had seen before. We were in awe. The scenery was what we had hoped to see when we arrived in Australia. Below the Blue Mountains there are millions of eucalyptus trees and they emit a blue mist onto the mountains, which is how the mountains got its name. It is said that when the Grand Canyons were forming the Blue Mountains were already considered ancient. Talk about old.

To the left of Echo Point is the famous Three Sisters, which are three rock formations right next to each other. I don’t remember the story clearly but in a nutshell there were three sisters that got turned into stone and the guy who turned them into stone got killed in battle so the sisters are still waiting to be turned back into human form. This certainly doesn’t do the legend any justice so google it to get more information.

We settled back into our camper for the night. We needed some comfort food so we made spaghetti and had a nice bottle of red wine. 

4/15/10 (nelson bay)

Nelson Bay – Port Stephens – Parklea

Today tested our limited in all different directions. By the time I went to shower there was hardly any hot water. I guess the site had limited hot water. A semi-cold shower wasn’t a good way for me to start my day. But it was getting warmer as the day went on so it wasn’t so bad.

We drove to Port Stephens and hiked about 30 minutes to the Tomaree Headlands, which had a gorgeous view of the port. It was really stunning. Jon decided to do a time lapse of the bay but had to step over the guardrails to do so. Several kids who walked by asked Jon what he was doing and how he got to the ledge. They were quite fascinated by him. One girl secretly took a picture of him even though she claimed she was taking a picture of the scenery. A boy told Jon that he was going to tell his mom on Jon and that his mom can overpower Jon. Kids can be so funny.

We stopped at a café to grab a drink and Jon noticed there was wireless internet so we hunkered down at a table. Jon was trying to upload the time-lapse video of New Zealand onto our blog but since it was a very big file it took a long time. The video still wasn’t done uploading after two hours so we decided to leave and hopefully finish it at our campsite. Luckily Jon was able to download this week’s episode of Lost.

We wanted to make our way towards the Blue Moutains and were caught right in the middle of rush hour traffic. We hadn’t seen so many cars or been in a traffic jam in the last six weeks. I had misguided him so we had to turn around, which proved to be more difficult than imagined. We ended up driving about 15 minutes past the turn we wanted to make but we did spot a grocery store to pick up some food for dinner. Once we were back on the right road we still couldn’t find the street for the camper park. It was getting pretty dark by now and hard to spot the street signs. We made a turn not realizing it was a T-lane, which meant it was only for buses and there was no way for us to get out of it since it was an express road. There were signs indicating heavy fines and traffic cameras so we were worried we were going to get fined. We finally found the correct street after a few more u-turns. We pulled into our campsite, which turned out to be really well equipped. Luckily the lady at the campsite gave us a number we can call and explain we had gotten onto the T-lane by mistake.

While I made spaghetti in our camper, Jon continued on his quest to finish uploading his video. There was a bit of miscommunication between him and the front desk clerk about the internet and he ended up buying an internet card that we couldn’t use. So we had to buy another type of internet and was finally able to load the video. 

It was just one of those days when we miss the convenience of home.

4/14/10 (hunter valley)

Hunter Valley – Nelson Bay

One of the things I was really looking forward to doing was wine tasting in Australia. Over the years, Australian wine has become very popular in the states. The first experience I had with Australian wine was Yellow Tail, which I know isn’t a very good introduction but it had a kangaroo on the label and everyone has to start somewhere.

It was a warm day and relatively quiet in the valley even though it was a school holiday. There are about 180 wineries in this region so it was tough to decide which ones to try since we hadn’t heard of most of them. The area is well known for their shiraz and semillon. The guidebook suggested Drayton Winery, which is a family owned winery and the second oldest in the valley. Some of their grapes date back to the late 1860’s! We met Willy at Drayton who told us some very interesting stories about the Drayton family. There are several nearby wineries owned by other members of the Drayton family so as you can imagine the family is very well established here. We also learned that a few years back there was an explosion at the winery and unfortunately the winemaker passed away as a result of it. The assistant winemaker barely escaped by jumping into the dam (aka pond in the states) at the estate. Their tasting room was completely destroyed but they had someone who was in the construction business in the family and rebuilt it within a year. The wine from that year also survived and while they didn’t have the equipment to ferment the wine luckily there was other family members who owned wineries to help them out. What a story! Oh, and yes we did also try some of their wine. Port is also quite popular here and their tawny port was one of my top favorites from the day. Makes you all warm inside.

Willy suggested some other wineries for us to try. As we pulled up to Ivanhoe Winery there were about 10 geese blocking the entrance. I got out of the car to take a picture of them but they kept walking away. Must be camera shy. The lady at that winery also had a very funny story to tell. She took her daughter to the Australian Reptile Park that we had just been at the day before. Her daughter was feeding one of the kangaroos and she wasn’t feeding it quickly enough so the kangaroos stood up and started slapping her head back and forth with its hands. The little girl didn’t quite know what to do or what happened. It was like a scene from a cartoon. Hilarous! Oh, back to the wine. One of the most interesting wines we tried was their sweet shiraz. There are only a few wineries that make them. It is to be chilled a bit and goes well with pork, turkey or spicy food. 

It was lunchtime so we stopped at the Hunter Valley Cheese Factory to sample some of their cheese. They had a semi-hard feta cheese that was delicious. We picked up a sample platter, which included crackers, cheese, chutney, and dried grapes and enjoyed our lunch on their picnic table. The dried grapes were still on the vine with seeds in it so I don’t think they are raisins yet but they were delicious.

In the afternoon we visited two other wineries based on recommendation from the lady at Ivanhoe, which coincidentally is also owned by a member of the Drayton family. We also did a beer tasting at Blue Tongue, which is a local valley beer. And there was the Hunter Valley Chocolate Factory that we had to check out too. I was hoping to see some chocolate in production but we were out of luck though that didn’t prevent us from trying their fudge and buying some chocolate for the road.

We were planning on making our way to the Blue Mountains but based on a recommendation from one of the ladies we met at a winery, we decided to drive up to Port Stephens. It is a common getaway for people who live in Sydney and supposed to be quite pretty. We stayed the night about an hour away from Port Stephens. When we pulled up to our spot a bird that Jon had seen from another campsite, which fascinated him, was perched on a ledge. It had a Mohawk hairdo and a bit aloof. Jon named him Stanley. 

4/13/10 (gosford)

Gosford - Hunters Valley

We woke up to the sun shining and lots of bird chirping. We have seen some crazy looking birds and some of them sound like children talking. There is a bird that has a head that looks too big for its body to support and no neck. All the birds have very bold distinctive colors.

We arrived at the Australian Reptile Park where we were greeted with a cartoon crocodile figure who is supposed to represent Elvis. He is their resident crocodile who weighs about 2 tons and is over 5 meters long. The park is very well equipped with a huge picnic area and bbq grills. We saw all sorts of creatures: American alligators, birds, platypuses, koalas, kangaroos, emus, Tasmania devil, and more. The kangaroos and emus are not caged so they just run around the park, which was pretty cool. I had a certain image of how the Tasmania devil was going to look based on the cartoons I had seen growing up but they looked a bit different. They look like a huge rat and are quite strong. We went to various presentations about the animals to learn more about them. It seemed like the park does a good job in educating the public and they have very successful breeding programs. We saw the alligators, Elvis, and Tasmania devil feeding, which is quite a scene since you see the keepers dangle a kangaroo leg in front of them. My favorite animal was the koala and I even got to pet one of them. They were quite soft and fluffy. 

It was really cool to see animals that are so foreign to us. They look weird and interesting all at the same time. We don’t get see many of these animals in the states and to be so close to them was awesome. We even saw birds that look like turkeys fly up onto trees and jump around in them.

Next we headed to Hunters Valley to settle for the night. The valley is known as one of the best wine regions in Australia. We are looking forward to tasting some Shiraz and Semillon tomorrow.

4/12/10 (lane cove national park)

Lane Cove National Park - Wisemans Ferry – Gosford

We rented the campervan for 10 days just to explore the surrounding areas of Sydney so we could take our time. After we left the park we headed north towards Hawkesbury River. Australia has a very different topography than New Zealand. The land is flatter but still with lots of bushes around. The nice is that they have freeways and the roads aren’t so windy. We did notice a lot of speed limit cameras with signage telling you where they are located. 

We took the Wisemans Ferry, which takes you over across the river to Settlers Road. Settlers Road was built by convicts and leads you to a small town called St. Albans. There was an inn called Settlers Arm Inn in the town, which was built in 1836 and has a lot of character. We had a nice lunch consisting of chicken pot pie and Tooney beer. The town was quite small so we headed back to the main roads.

While in Australia, we really wanted to see koalas and kangaroos. We stopped at an information center and they said the only way to guarantee seeing them was at the Australian Reptile Park. Both Jon and I aren’t fans of zoos or any enclosed animal parks but it seemed like our best shot to see these animals. We decided to find a camper site close by the reptile park and go there first thing in the morning.

Finding camper sites proved to be a little more difficult than in New Zealand since there isn’t as many around. The information center suggested a Big4 site, which is a big camper chain. It was a very nice site designed for families with kids. They had big bouncy pillows, which Jon really wanted to jump on, and activities planned the whole day for kids. If I were a kid I would be in heaven.

4/11/10 (sydney)

Sydney - Lane Cove National Park

The alarm went off at 5am. I popped out of bed and packed up my camera gear, determined to get some cool shots of the Sydney Opera House. It was roughly a 25 minute walk from our hotel to the Opera House and I was out the door by 5:30 hoping to capture the sunrise. It looks like the Sydney bars close at 5 because I saw a lot of people stumbling around on the streets looking like they just rolled out of a bar after a long Saturday night. 

When I got to the Opera House I was surprised to see a large amount of activity right out front. They were setting up for the Sydney Triathlon and this was a good thing. Usually at these landmarks, security can be a little tough as soon as you pull out a tripod. They classify you as a professional and you need to get permission. With all the commotion I was able to set up shop pretty much anywhere and didn’t have to worry about getting kicked out. I spent the next two plus hours capturing several time lapse videos of Sydney harbor. It is quite a nice area! I also caught some of the triathlon and those guys are amazing. 

Later that morning, Annie checked us out of our hotel and made her way over to the harbor to meet me. When she arrived we made the final decision to rekindle our camper van experience, this time in Australia. Annie had done a lot of research on the different companies and we decided to go with Apollo again. We had gotten the hippie from them in New Zealand and as a repeat customer, we would get a discount. After a quick lunch, we jumped on the train and headed to the Apollo office to pick up our Cheapa Camper. It is a little more expensive than the hippie but it is a luxury liner in comparison. The Cheapa is a full size van with an extended roof. I can stand fully up inside and it is quite an upgrade over our hippie days. It is a little more challenging to drive but with all of our New Zealand experience, I feel pretty confident about it. We are only going to have it for 10 days and then fly down to Melbourne to stay with Annie’s friend. Our rationale was this would allow us to explore some of the attractions outside Sydney like the Hunter Valley vineyards, the Blue Mountains, and some of the renowned beaches. It feels good to be mobile again. 

We drove back to Sydney and over the Harbour Bridge to North Sydney. We found a grocery store to stock up on food and supplies. Just over the bridge are some beautiful views of downtown Sydney and the Opera House and I talked Annie into letting me do one more time lapse as the sun set. They have this great little tiled sidewalk that runs along the water overlooking the harbor. We set up shop on a small pier and  that allowed me to get some great shots as the sun set. I have to give Annie credit because as it got darker a continuous stream of the biggest bats I have seen flew from downtown to a tree right above us. She handled it pretty well but they were huge! I am getting the sense that this is a pretty hard environment with the large bats, poisonous snakes and spiders, and saltwater crocs.

When I had gotten my shots, we were off to Lane Cove National Park just north of Sydney for our first night in the Cheapa. We both slept very well and have a ton of space which is really nice. 

Likes: Sydney Harbor, Cheapa Camper