Today we were genuinely sad to be leaving Katoomba. The hostel was great, the scenery out of this world, but I'm starting to get to terms with this whole travelling malark and that it's always going to be fun so it's always going to be hard to move on.
Before we did though, we gave a lift to the two UK guys from the hostel and all went for a walk around Wentworth Falls, an even more impressive waterfall with equally spectacular views of the Blue Mountains. On our way round we caught a brief glimpse of one of Australia's many poisonous snakes... I say glimpse with quite a bit of relief in my voice I have to say. Every twig from then on looked like a potential threat...
After our walk, we were on the road again off to Denman in Australian wine county, the Hunter Valley. Our drive took us through the scenic route between two huge national parks, Yengo and Wollemi. We did not see a soul, or a sign worryingly, for hours as we wound our way round the mountains. Sometimes I have moments where I can't believe where I am and what I'm doing - definitely one of those times.
The road took us through apple country so we stopped by a roadside cafe selling everything apples... From different varieties to pies, to cider, to jam... We picked up a bit of everything, including a large pie for our hosts at our next stop, a home stay in Upper Hunter Valley.
When we finally reached the end of the parks, everything flattened out into lush green hills with vineyards, token frolicking horses and blinding sunshine. It felt like a different world to the blue mountains, but just as stunning.
When we got to our homestay, we felt even more of a world away. The tiny town was like a toy town with almost no one around and as we walk into the house we realise instantly this is going to be an interesting couple of days... The woman doesn't even introduce herself, so we stand sort of stranded holding our beloved pie on their lawn. Eventually we were greeted by our honestly lovely but quirky host who introduces us to the cutest dog I have ever seen, Molly. But then it escalates, he also has pet snake, Stevie, pet turtle, Frankin, and out in the back is their pet pig which we are encouraged to take for a walk...
A series of surreal events involving underpants and toilet seats culminated in the highlight of the evening. At 10pm, our host has adorably gone to the effort of laying out all the leaflets and maps for places we might want to go but he's missing a contour map which he is insistent we will need. So we jump into his car and head to the local fire station where he volunteers to find the map.
Em and I immediately regressed to 5 year olds, jumped onto the truck, grabbed helmets and discovered an ancient fire engine... Best. Night. Ever.
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