Sydney- Day 2

Day 2

After waking up from a lousy sleep, we walked a few blocks with our luggage to the car rental shop to start our road trip.

Our Sydney trip was an amazing road trip of over 1000km! Dear was very excited at the idea of a driving adventure.

We picked up our car which came with a GPS.

The backseat was filled with our luggage. It was truly our home on four wheels! 

Breakfast was lamingtons which is a common bread item in Sydney and was highly recommended by Dear's friend. But we thought it tasted so-so only.

And of course, coffee bought from the supermarket together with the lamingtons the night before.

Crossing the bridge out of the city. 

And out of Sydney onto the mountain road.

After a 90-minute drive, we came to our first destination at the Blue Mountains: Glenbrook

It is a pretty small town. Main attractions, like these sandstone steps, are located near the information centre of the town.

These are the "Message Sticks" which feature artwork by students to depict the Blue Mountains.

A small cluster of shops- probably the town centre- behind the park at the Information Centre.

And this is the park where many children were playing. Love the art on the buildings that we will get to see as we travel around the Blue Mountains.

After a short break, we continued on the road to Wentworth falls.

The town centre of Wentworth Falls after a 35-min drive

Nice recreation area for people to sit under the trees

And some of the interesting shop fronts in the town centre

There was also a park with a memorial for soldiers:

We then headed to the falls to catch the famed scenary:

Maybe you can't see it too clearly but the stream was supposed to be full of water.

I realised that one of the most eye-opening things in a nature place for a Singaporean like me is how close you can actually come to nature.

This very cute bird was lounging around at the picnic table we were sitting at and wasn't afraid of us.

One more picture of the very cute bird before we move on to lunch.

Lunch was at the Conservation Hut which is said to be a great place to eat with a fantastic view of the mountains. We sat at the outside where you are like dining next to the mountains.

I ordered a sandwich. Food was not too bad and the fries were delicious.

Dear had a pie which is more photogenic than my sandwich.

After the late lunch, we drove to the next village: Leura. It has the reputation of being a picturesque town.

Look at the gorgeous wall painting in one corner of the streets!

And pretty maple leaves to frame the look of the town.

This is the clock tower of the town.

The rows of shops in the town. A lot of pretty homestuffs and books on sale here.

We bought chocolates from the famous Josophan's Fine Chocolates. This one is double chocolate or something like that.

This is peanut butter. I love the intricate designs on the chocolates.

And chilli chocolate. Dear and I sat on one of the benches at the roadside to savour the chocolates.

We then went for one of the short walking trails to watch the sun sets.

But we didn't stay for the sun to be fully set lah. Have to rush to reach our sleeping place for the night in Blackhealth.

Here comes the drama of the trip. We didn't realise that the tree house that we were supposed to stay at was located almost literally in the woods. We drove down a 3km dirt path with no house signs being listed on the path.

And all this while, the sun was setting and it was completely pitch dark by now. We were trapped in the woods not knowing how to find our accommodation. We tried calling the owner but somehow the call doesn't get through. 

Then a miracle happened. We saw headlights from the rear mirror as we were parked by the roadside and wondering what to do. 

The car stopped beside us and we asked the driver for directions. Turned out that he is a family friend of the owner who has just left their house after a game of table tennis!

He gave directions -oh you know that path behind you, turn in and you can see the house- and Dear happily allowed him to leave when I wanted Dear to tell him to show us to the house. True enough, Dear tried to drive into the path behind and still couldn't find any house signs.

Imagine how frustrating it is. We could have been spared from this agony if Dear had been kiasu, act blur (we really are blur) and asked him to lead the way to the house. Now we are stranded alone in the dark again!

Then God took care of us. About 10 minutes later, we saw headlights again in the rear mirror. Ok lah, it was so dark that we would have seen any light as the beams cut through the darkness. Dear went down from the car to ask them for directions and they turned out to be the family members living in the house!

Apparently the family friend had called them up after leaving us to say that he saw their guests and the guests are coming. When we didn't appear after some time, they thought to come out to look for us.

Phew! We were finally lost and found! I cannot tell you how grateful I felt to God for taking care of us.

So they led us back to the house. Now we know we missed the correct turn into the house from the dirt path because they did not have any house signages.

We were brought to the tree house we rented for two nights. It is a separate accommodation from the main house.

Allow me to introduce the tree house to you. This place was the highlightof our trip.'

The kitchette of the tree house. It is immediately to the left after you walk in from the door. 

The living room and dining area

There are books and games for guests to use

The sofa area in the living room. There was also an electronic fire place that kept us warm through the cold nights.

The sleeping area is on the second floor. I was actually quite afraid of the steep stairs. 

The bed in the attic with windows at the sight so that you can see the morning view as soon as you open your eyes.

After putting down our stuff, it was finally time for diner. We had a very rustic dinner of roast chicken and baked beans that we bought in the supermarket in Leura Village before driving to Blackheath.

I was feeling tired and grouchy from the cold that had developed in me. While I enjoyed the rustic feel of the dinner, (like so cool right, prepare your meals in a tree house like the stories I used to read in Famous Five), all I want was to take off my contact lens and sleep. Which I did soon after eating and bathing.

Good night!