Travel Diary: Blue Mountains, Mardi Gras and a visit from home

The month of March marks our last few weeks in Sydney.  Delilah, our self-made campervan, is almost ready and the cogs are in motion to move out of our apartment. My mum and dad are travelling half way across the world to see us in a few weeks which I am so excited about.  It's been a long 6 months since we last saw them.  When you are travelling time seems to slow down, 6 months feels like a year.  It's only when you look back you realise it actually went by in a flash. The weekend before their arrival we thought we should test out Delilah as she neared completion.  We still had a deisel leak and old tyres but despite this we had to make the most of our last weekend.  On Friday 6 March we drove up to the Blue Mountains to explore and camp for the night.  We had a comfortable 2 and a half hour drive to Katoomba, home of the Three Sisters and the centre of the Blue Mountains region.  We parked up at the information centre and walked to the Three Sisters lookout.  We were expecting three huge mountain peaks.  What we saw were three small peaks which honestly were quite disappointing! To our dismay the walking track was closed for repairs.  Instead, we walked from the lookout and round to the cable cars.  Almost all of this track is tarmac with handrails.  I was expecting adventurous bush walks with lots of encounters with wildlife but we had nothing of the kind.  Despite the walk not being as challenging as we had hoped, it was still worth it.  The Blue Mountains are beautiful and the views from the lookouts are incredible.  It's crazy to think this is just two and half hours from Sydney. We spent the night in a campsite in Blackheath.  Being acclimatised Sydneysiders we were not prepared for the temperature drop after sunset.  As soon as the sun went down it was freezing.  After cooking up a BBQ we were in bed by 8.30pm playing chess trying to keep warm.  This short trip was great, not only to see the beautiful Blue Mountains but it also made us aware of a few things we needed to adjust or buy for the van for our big road trip. The following morning we drove back into Sydney ready for our last night out in the city which also happens to coincide with Mardi Gras.  Bram, Shaun's friend from the gym, and a few friends came to ours for pre-drinks.  We got so side tracked chatting that by the time we left the house the infamous Mardi Gras parade was over.  There was nothing but glitter lining the roads.  We continued into Oxford Street anyway and had a few drinks in the gay bars surrounded by men in chaps and women snogging.  After midnight  we headed back to Darling Harbour and spent the rest of the evening/morning in our local, PBH.  As 4am hit we thought it was a good time to head home considering my parents are coming later today!  We had a great night out and made some great new friends, just a shame we are leaving in a few days. Feeling very sorry for ourselves on Sunday morning we had some work to do.  We cleaned up the flat best we could in preparation for moving out on Thursday.  We also tried to downsize.  I have no idea how we have collected so much stuff in 4 months.  Shaun had a bag of clothes to throw out and Shaun being Shaun wanted to donate it to the homeless.  He offered the bag to the hobo nearest our house.  His response was 'Hmmm i'll have a look through it'.  No gratitude, no thanks.  Never mind, it still counts as a good deed. Late Sunday evening we drove down to the airport to pick up mum and dad.  Eeeeek i'm so excited.  They left home at 4.30pm on Friday and are arriving in Australia Sunday at 8.30pm, they must love me a lot!  As we stood there with our Guernsey flag and blow up kangaroo they finally emerged from around the corner.  Mum was obviously already crying!  I think we all had a bit of a tear at our reunion.  It's so good to see them again.  We took them to the car park (paying $26 to park) to meet Delilah, their transportation to Melbourne in a few days time.  I think they liked her!  Mostly because she had a nice cold beer waiting for them in the esky!

They are staying next door to us for 2 nights in the Ibis in Darling Harbour.  Do not stay there, it was awful.  Luckily they had booked their next 2 nights in an AirBnb in Ultimo which turned out a lot better.  This was my parents first time doing paid 'couch surfing' #prouddaughter.  I will turn them into travellers!  If you don't know what AirBnb is you must check it out airbnb.com.  It is where people rent out a room in their house or their whole apartment.  Shaun and I have used it and have never been disappointed. Anyway, we had an action packed few days with my mum and dad.  Monday we took the tourist bus (costing $40) around the city.  Even I found this interesting learning facts about the city.  Tuesday we went down to Bondi.  Of course I took them to my favourite cafe, Bondi Wholefoods, for breakfast.  Unfortunately, the weather was rather overcast.  Nevertheless we sat on the beach and dad got a swim in.  And he was pretty pleased he didn't see a shark.  In the afternoon we headed back to Circular Quay for a jet boat ride around the harbour.  This was great doing 360's around the bays and we even got to see a couple of sea lions.  One snoozing on the steps at the Opera House and the other just relaxing bobbing around in the harbour. Wednesday we had to split up.  Shaun and I had a lot to do with cleaning the flat and getting the van ready as we hit the road tomorrow.  In the afternoon we met back up for some more adventure climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  We took the late afternoon climb which was perfect as it wasn't too hot and the skies were pretty clear.  The great thing is that you don't get the same speal each time.  As I climbed the bridge a few months ago with work I was worried they would repeat the same stories but each guide tells you something different.  We had a great afternoon and perfect to round up our time in Sydney. Wednesday night was time to say goodbye to Nathan and Jo, our wonderful roommates for the last 4 months.  They have really made our time in Sydney great.  We couldn't have had better people to live with and it would have been pretty boring living on our own.  It will be weird not to have them around to chat to anymore.  As we were all out of beer we celebrated with a sparkler on the balcony!  Sad times. As we will be back on the road tomorrow I will be starting up the day by day diary.  Don't forget to subscribe to get notified when I upload new posts. A la perchoine, Jodie and Shaun x  

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