In Between...

After Sydney, I couldn't face the thought of moving straight to another big city, so made plans for a two-week holiday (yep, in the middle of my one year holiday). I eventually booked a trip with Oz Experience so that I could at least have a bit of company whilst travelling - if I wanted it. Stewart, Paul and Laura? Well, Stewart had gone to Melbourne two weeks earlier with Lydia (a girl he had met whilst working, from Perth), and Paul and Laura wanted to get straight there and took the overnight bus. This meant two weeks of glorious selfishness, peace, quiet and sun. Sound good? Well, read on...

The first leg was a weekend in the Blue Mountains, just west of Sydney. This was meant to be a relaxing weekend, to get me in the mood for a holiday. So what did I do - fill it with ten-mile hikes and mountain bike riding. I ached for days. I did encounter a dingo though (or it could have just been a mad dog).

This trip also was memorable in that it was the first time in Australia that I heard "Waltzing Matilda". Unbelievable, but true!

The first picture is of the Three Sisters rock formation (and this is the typical tourist shot), and the picture above is of one of the many stunning waterfalls near Katoomba. Nearby I took a ride on the Worlds Steepest Railway (apparently) and cycled the Narrowneck Trail - both highly recommended.

And on the way back, the bus stopped at Featherdale Wildlife Park, where I fed kangaroos! Oh, and got to know all of the other native Aussie fauna, of course. Very educational.

After the weekend came the first leg - a short trip to Ulladulla on the NSW coast.

On a small Oz Experience bus with Butthead (Andrew) as our driver-guide, we left Sydney and headed for the coast. An early stop was high above the city of Woollongong. I took this picture of Australia's 'Steel City' so that I could compare it to the view from high above my own Steel City hometown of Sheffield. There is a bit of a difference.

Just after we set off again down the coast, the driver played us Sunscreen - and I have reproduced the words, just in case anyone feels like being inspired. Anyway, it just seemed to hit the spot, in a funny sort of way...

In Ulladulla I stayed at the South Coast Backpackers (highly recommended) where I kicked back and made a great start on a fantastic tan - and did some more bike riding. I can't get enough of it. Anyhow, the picture above is of Narrawallee Beach, only a short ride from the hostel - almost completely deserted and absolutely gorgeous.

The next leg took me to Australias capital, Canberra. This was a fairly short hop, but our driver (Peter) still managed to take us to see some wild kangaroos near Pebbly Beach.

Canberra itself is a pretty amazing city, simply for the fact that it was so deliberately planned and thought out from the very beginning - most roads lead to the Parliament, and stuff like that. The panoramic photo is taken from the top of Mount Ainslie (which I walked up...) which is one end of the central 'line' through the city, from the Parliament and through the War Memorial (bottom photo). There was also loads of 'cultural' things to do, like art galleries, museums, and things like that - which made a nice change...

A couple of cultural days later, I set off on the road for Karoonda Park - my next stop. The driver (Royal) took us via Cooma, Lake Jindabyne (right), the Snowy Mountains and the Kosciusko National Park. The highlight must have been swimming in the Snowy River amongst beautiful, secluded scenery - just ignore me, floundering in the middle!

And then I made it to Karoonda Park, set in the Alpine National Park in Victoria. No sooner had we set our bags down when the first activity began - horse riding.

The last time I did this was when I was about 10, on the back of a pony, but eventually I got the hang of it and developed that 'special relationship' with my trusty steed that all expert riders have. Possibly. Then we all got back for a quick spot of wall climbing (?) before our huge home cooked dinner - my stomach's first experience of vegetables for a long time.

In the evening a group of us went for a night walk / drive in the surrounding countryside, seeing possums and loads of marauding kangaroos - and we met the pets from the farm, a baby joey, a baby wombat and a baby emu. Aaahh, cute.

I spent the next day doing nothing but play a bit of tennis, lie by the pool, eat loads of food and chat with some of the people who had been there for a while (meeting people from Holmfirth, Yorkshire and Victoria, British Columbia - both places I have been before...). A lovely day.

The penultimate leg towards Phillip Island began early, but to make up for it we drove through some stunning mist-covered countryside (above). We reached the Victorian Coastline at Lakes Entrance, which you can just see behind my head.

We had a fairly lengthy stop here for a cruise on the lakes to a local winery for 'morning tea and scones' followed by a serious wine tasting session (and yes, I did try some!) where the owner seemed to be having more fun than us - a very entertaining host!

And then a long drive through the Gippsland and on to Phillip Island. Lots of wildlife on the journey, although most of it was roadkill by the side of the road (including some of the biggest wombats in the world) and super cheesy road signs! I finished my little trip with a couple of days on the island relaxing and getting myself ready for city life once more - and I almost learnt to surf, but the conditions weren't quite right (honest).

But, all in all, I had a fantastic fortnight - meeting loads of different people (most of whom were friendly and interesting!), having days of peaceful solitude on beautiful beaches and seeing places and doing things that I will remember for a long time.

And then, on to Melbourne...

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