Australia - Sydney

So we finally set off for Sydney. Now, we knew it was a long way and Jarrod laughed when we told him we wanted to drive the 'coast' road- Prince's Highway, and not take the direct highway, but since when have we listened to anyone?

We spent the first night at Lake's Entrance. Nothing special at night, but we had a nice cabin, so we self catered and watched some TV. In the morning we went for a walk along the coast. It is the end of 90 mile beach, and is a man made harbour for the fishing industry. Not a concrete type affair - but sand dunes to create a lake. Some amazing birds and views.

Time pressed on ... so we had to set off again. We drove a long time (7 hrs) to get us closer to Sydney. It took us through very varied areas from Rain forests to undulating dairy farms (that could be the lake district) and then we stayed in Ulladulla that night. The freshest Fish and Chips ever (we were even healthy and had salad with it!). There were even parrots in the tree outside our room!

Then we started early to get to the Blue Mountains. We cut back up onto the main Highway via Kangaroo Valley and to the foot of the great dividing range of mountains. We climbed so high, that when we got out to see some waterfalls, we didn't realise that we were actually at the top, and not looking at them from below. Far too high - even Lisa went wobbly and had to back up.

However, we made it to the Blue Mountains in time for lunch - for once we stuck to the plan! I can't describe the view from the top at Echo point. No image can ever do it justice - just stunning. If I get to the Grand Canyon and it is half as good it will be worth it. It was so good, I managed to take a cable car that went over the edge (800m/2500ft+) down into the valley. We went for a tree top walk around the valley floor (and I actually enjoyed it and wasn't worried about the journey back up at all.) I'll upload some pictures soon - but I can't download them here.