Adventure, baby!

Holidays

Birthday Escape: Glen Davis and Katoomba {Day 3}

It’s cold out here. Bone-chillingly cold. The sky is blue today though so it’s a great day for the drive to Glen Davis, a tiny little town where my dad grew up. It was a mining town where my uncle, grand-dad and great grand-dad all worked in the mines, but became a ghost town at some stage, and has now come full circle with people moving back into the town to retire. It’s quite eerie as it is a town in name only – there’s nothing there except for the houses that have moved back, and they sit amongst the ruins of foundations from the previous houses, school and shop buildings.

There is nothing left here of my dad’s house except the front steps and some foundation blocks, but it was really amazing to visit it and see where my dad was a little boy running around. The countryside is amazingly beautiful, so it would have been a very pretty place to live even though it was so isolated it would have been really hard to get anywhere to get supplies.














After visiting Glen Davis we slowly drove back to Sydney, stopping at Lithgow for food and Katoomba for hot chocolate and waffles. I love this little art deco cafe called Paragon on the main street of Katoomba. It has fabulous chocolate for sale, hand-made on the premisis I believe.






Since we were so close we drove down to the Three Sisters Lookout. We came up here on one of our first dates, two years ago, so it was really sweet to come back and look around again and reminisce.








Birthday Escape To The Blue Mountains {Day 1}

For my last 20-something birthday Alec took me away for the weekend to stay in a river-side cabin at Turon Gates, about 4-5 hours hrs drive from Sydney.

After a long and somewhat dramatic drive there, we awoke the next morning surrounded by bushlands.

Our solar-powered cabin, right in the middle of a nature reserve.

Alec takes a look around.

This photo is begging for a funny caption. Pity I can’t think of one!

Scenic bushlands and nature were all around.

It was awesome waking up every morning to look ut of the window at this river. The river was a major site during the gold rush and the remains from the gold prospectors can still be seen here. The river is crystal clear (and bloody cold!). In summer I can imagine it would be a great place to swim and canoe.

Ghost gums – everywhere!

Pretty! I loved how much wattle was everywhere – the bright yellow against olive green and red and brown dirt. So Australian!

Playing with my 50mm lens.

Very obliging boy.

So rugged and manly!

Who da man?

Cheesy! A happy photo on a happy day.

Kiama

We checked out of our house at Callala beach this morning and slowly drove home via Berry, Kiama and Stanwell Tops. The rain started bucketing down after we left Kiama so unfortunately it wasn’t nice enough to take any pics.

Kiama – the little blowhole.


Oh hai!


Wonky self-portrait.


Kiama lighthouse.


Big blowhole. Thar she blows!



Snuggles.


“I love my dad!”



I had such a great weekend. The girls were amazingly well-behaved! Such a pleasant surprise – both my wonderful Alec for taking me away and my loving dogs for not being painful!

Callala Beach Getaway

Alec surprised me with a beach weekend down south at Callala beach. He rented a dog-friendly house and spirited me away after work on Friday night for a lovely weekend.

Beach!



Buffy’s first time on sand.


Kahlua has a bad hair day.


Freedom! First time off leash in public.

















Port Stephens Holiday – Day 3

After a leisurely breakfast, Alec and I checked out of the hotel. We went to lunch at the Inner Light Tea Rooms with Lisa and Alan before heading back to Sydney.

The tea house is on the site of the old light house and has amazing views of the bays.


Lisa and Alan and their root beer spiders.
Magpie on the lookout.
Mmmm quiche.

Tasty scones.


This little fellow caught a worm right at my feet. Having people around didn’t bother him in the slightest.


Port Stephens Holiday – Day 2

We both slept badly, so had a big sleep in, then drove down to Fingal Bay to spend a cruisy day lying on the beach.





By a total co-incidence, Alec’s dad and his wife were staying at the same hotel as us, so we met up with them for dinner that night. After dinner we went down to the marina at Solder’s Point to watch the sun set.