We started out the morning with a non-traditional breakfast out… no muesli and fruit this day, we went all out and ordered takeaway breakfast burgers and coffee and headed to a locally recommended secluded beach in The Beast down a dusty gravel road despite the cloudy weather. We trailed through a man made walkway through what seemed to be another rain forest. Approaching the beach we found a little sitting area where we decided to stop and have breakfast. Within 15 minutes our breakfast was gone, the wind had picked up to a gust, the clouds began to drizzle on us, so we cut this beach visit short and headed back to caravan park to play a few more games of Shithead.
To our thrilling delight the sun soon broke through the ominous clouds and we ran out to the street to take advantage of every single ray that peaked through the sky. In fact, Melanie ripped off the straps to her tank top hoping to get rid of her tan lines from the days before and Jaclyn prayed like a hippie for more sun and Alison didn’t say a word she just did her sun salutations to the sun gods. Lucky for all of you, Jimmy was quick on his feet and caught us in action.
The sun gods must have heard our prays as we then got to enjoy a day at Elizabeth beach. Boogie boards, bathing suits, and beach towels in hand claimed our spot on the beach, okay there was no one there… but we made it ours anyways. Knowing that the sunshine might be limited, we headed straight for the water and all dove into the waves. While Alison practiced her action photography skills… Jaclyn and Melanie got bodysurfing lessons from the Aussie pro Jimmy. This went on for hours until we all worked up an appetite for lunch.
After lunch Alison and Melanie decided it was finally time to sit down and start blogging even though there was a lack of a WiFi connection and Jaclyn and Jimmy headed back to the beach for round two in the surf. Upon Jaclyn and Jimmy’s return we did what else? Played shithead, drank beer, and ate more Guacamole chips as our new friends the Coocoo Buro birds (sp?) sang around us and watched us play.
As we were just starting to get “pissed” we heard a rumble of an engie and noise on the gravel… more campers were arriving!
Only problem was that they not only pulled into the site next to us, they actually had their door facing our camper and took over half of our site with their tables and chairs… mind you, there were three other empty sites and they actually went through the trouble of backing into the site to face this direction when they could have pulled right in and had all the privacy they wanted. At first we were a bit frustrated, as you can see below. But then decided not to dampen our style and continued on into the evening. The Indian Feast….
Enough said.
Once again it started to rain so we quickly ran to the bathroom to wash up and sure enough another kangaroo sighting occurred. But the night didn’t stop there more box-a-wine was flowing, cards were being dealt, and dancing to Dizzy Razzle continued. At about midnight it was time we all put ourselves to bed for our big drinking day at the wineries in Hunter Valley the next day.
Day 6 - Thursday – Hunter Valley, aka Wine Country!
The drive to Hunter Valley was short and sweet. We arrived at The Big 4 Holiday Park at around 10:00am setup our site, ate breakfast, and got groceries for our afternoon feast and dinner that night. Once again the weather was not in favor, but there was no stopping us. Rain or shine, the wine tasting were on and believe the weather did not hold us back. We made several stops throughout the day, but the one that stands out the most is Brokenwood. We had a fantastic wine specialist, Mandy, that allowed us to try every single item on the two sided menu. Needless to say we bought a ton of wine, ports, and made a new friend.
After stumbling out of Brokenwood we headed right to The Beast for our afternoon feast which consisted of various types of cheeses, Italian meats, olives and olive oils, crackers, French bread, and pesto and red pepper spread. Delicious! Once we sobered up, we headed back to the Big 4 where the four of us took a nap all curled up together in the Suite for an early evening nap. Pretty picturesque, unfortunately no photo is available as there was no one awake to snap it, but it sure was a cozy sight to see. Awaking from our nap, we had intentions to cook an Italian feast, but we were very unmotivated and tired from our long day and decided to have Tai at the Blue Fish restaurant that was recommended by one of the winery owners.
It was a quiet meal, no much was said, and no wine was poured as we could all barely keep our eyes open at the table as our hangovers had already kicked in. So back to the van we went where we settled into our PJ’s and the custom bedding for our second movie night in. We fell off to sleep in hysterics as we watched Office Space, one of our all time favorites.
(This picture also gives you an idea of just how small "The Coffin" sleeping area was!)
Day 7 - Friday – Blue Mountains
We bid farewell to the good old wine country that treated us oh so good and we were off on our final adventure to the Blue Mountains for a bit of hiking. On the way we stopped at the historic town of Wollambi for a cup of coffee knowing we had a four hour drive ahead of us and some daydreaming about owning a B&B ourselves someday soon in this very scenic location. 
About halfway to our destination, we were running low on gas and our stomachs were grumbling so we stopped off for more coffee, Meat Pies, Sausage Rolls, and a full tank of gas.
Arriving In the Blue Mountains, our luck had changed it was blue skies all around with not a cloud to be seen. First item on the agenda, we checked in at the Campervan Park. We were assigned our site, immediately parked The Beast, changed into our “workout” gear, and stepped outside ready for our afternoon hike. As we were driving through to town prior to our arrival at the campsite, we noticed a lot of older men walking around with what looked bee keepers hats with the netting around your head and neck. It stuck as oddly and we wondered why someone would walk around like that and it we assumed it had to do with their occupation. Well, we found out the real reason as soon as we opened the door to The Beast. There were flies everywhere! Thousands of them, no millions of them. The second you would step outside, they would be on you and would not leave alone. It was bad enough and then it got worse when Jimmy told us what they actually do when they land on you… we’ll save you the details as I am sure you can figure it out yourselves. We started the hike at the trailhead across from the Campervan park and were immediately given awe inspiring views of the canyon and led us to better viewing areas of the infamous Three Sisters rock formation. After several photos we decided it was time to take the trip down the nearly 1,000 step staircase that had been built in the 1840’s to assist the coalmines to get to the caves below.
We were shocked once we began walking at our steep and unsteady the trail was now and could not even imagine what it was like back then when there were no railing or metal stairs, but only gravel, ropes, and a few man made steps for secure footing areas. It was quite grueling our legs even though we only opted to walk down as we saw other struggling on the way up. At the bottom we did an hour hike through the forest in search of Koala’s – which unfortunately we did not succeed in our hunt – but it was worth it once we arrived at the coal mining area and took the steepest train ever built in the world back up to the top. The train was pretty much vertical with no seatbelts or siding and of course there was a final warning side upon boarding the train that you have agreed to take this ride knowing that they hold no responsibility should you be injured or die during the ride (there was actually a sign saying this, but again no picture). 
Exhausted from the first real exercise we’d done in several days, we headed back to the campsite to freshen up, had a snack, and played cards with all of the mosquito/fly coils going to keep the bugs away. We were not going to let them dampen our last evening in The Beast. Jimmy and Melanie prepared the final meal of garlic toast, salad, and pasta Bolognese.
After dinner we had a slide show on Alison’s computer of all the pictures of the trip to date. Then it was off to bed as we were all excited to head back to Manly in hopes of good weather and a day at the beach on Saturday.
Day 8 - Saturday – Returning The Beast & Beach & Night out in Manly
By 9am we were completely packed, The Beast was spotless and we were on the road towards Manly. The sun was shining and we were all in good spirits. The trip back took about 3 hours where Jaclyn and Jimmy dropped Melanie and Alison off at the beach and the two of them, along with Jack their ride, headed back into Sydney to drop off and say farewell to The Beast. Alison and Melanie spent the day in the surf and on the beach bronzing. Around 4pm we all meet up back at Jimmy’s house, where we were greeted by Anne with glasses of Champagne and OJ. We had a quick dinner and we were off to the Skiff Sailing Club to meet up with Jimmy and Jaclyn’s friends for drinks. We lucked out and got a table right on the outside deck and sent hours sipping on beer and many many bottles of Champagne. A great night with good friends and lots of laughs was had. Which ended with a funny walk down the boulevard with jump shots at the water, santa sightings all over, santa hat stealing and of course more food, Turkish kebabs and pizza for everyone. Lights out!
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