Last year was such a success leaving Christmas Day (no traffic) in the arvo we had to jump on board again this year, of course our destination was a little further, so it made sense to leave when we could.

By 330pm we were on the road with the essential cruiser in tow, here we go… but first a little story to share. I am one for surprises and our daughters had no idea about the middle part of the holiday, so we played a little cryptic game this morning when opening presents. The first letter of each present in their stockings would spell the mystery destination, we had – Earrings, Socks, Straws, Yo-yo Biscuits, Nutella, Spa Sensation, yoghurt sultanas, dry shampoo, nivia face wipes, all very good things but then the scramble started – well it took about less than a minute before it belted out Sydney and the joy kicked in.

Back to the road trip, so where are we going, we are off to Bathurst, Sydney, Canberra, Bega, Orbost and Phillip Island – our great eastern road trip, celebrating New Years Eve in Sydney to see a milestone double digit event 2020 in with a bang.

After a solid day driving we arrived at Sun Siesta Caravan Park in Mildura, around 930pm, I mean we had to stop in Renmark for dinner and then made sure to avoid the skips so took it pretty easy coming in the last 100kms. Easy park, showered, air con blasting and sitting back relaxing – yeah right, more like planning what tomorrow looks like. The park was very clean and staff were very accommodating for our late arrival and guided us to our site, or sites.

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The next day, we are heading out to West Wyalong for our next stop before proceeding the short distance to our real first destination Bathurst. Well that was the plan, but the beauty of leaving Christmas Day and then not booking accomodation allows you to make up the rules as you go along. We hit West Wyalong and it was 44 degrees, wasn’t keen to stay the night without the air con so we decided to put in the extra 3hrs and drive straight through to Bathurst.

The next part…

Bathurst, on arrival we noticed immediately how Smokey the area is from the fires raging in the blue mountains, surprisingly it didn’t smell that much until later that night. After a long day driving, we were all exhausted and nipped back into town for a bite to eat, returning to the park for last drinks and sleep.

27/12 today saw us get out and enjoy the first stop of the trip, after a quick stop in the information centre we headed out to what most people relate to when you say Bathurst and that is Mount Panorama. We stopped at the motor museum which was interesting, full of history and cars, bikes etc but it also got you excited about driving around the actual Bathurst track.

We downloaded a local app which has Craig Lowndes voice over as you drive around the circuit, the first thing we noticed was and advised is that these are public roads. About 60% of the track is fenced by private property and their driveways are on Mountain Straight, Griffins Bend, The Cutting and Conrad Straight just to name a few.

The track distance is 6.213km and the fastest official lap record is 2:03.83 in 2017, if you wish to watch us take to the track click the link BathurstLap2019.

This afternoon we headed out to the Abercrombie Caves for the self guided tour of the Archway Cave. For those players playing at home, we have done a couple of cave tours previously and this was different, as it sounds, its an Archway, you enter from one end and exit the other, this cost us $50 to do this self guided walking tour, we give it a 4/5 for the experience but a 2/5 for cost. The outing was good and there is plenty of good photo opportunities, if you like a little adventure you can climb the ladder and walk at the top, which gives you a sense of the depth of the cave while also an appreciation for the little nooks and crannies within Caves.

Overall, we had a great time in Bathurst.

Sydney, Lane cove national park was our destination of choice and surprisingly better than I expected, we were lucky with a very shaded block, well that’s what we thought at the time. Once we hit the suburbs of Sydney we knew immediately this was going to be a challenge with our 27″ footer on the back of the old Holden trailblazer but somehow with minimal steaming at each other we managed to find our location, even with the road work detour taking us around in laneways while trying to tow….bloody scary.

Our festive week in Sydney would see us enjoy the city and a couple of must see beaches, but we were soon reminded that the fires were not far, the peeps of Australia wanted a ban to NYE fireworks and the heat on our MIA PM were all not far from our thoughts (I will save the political view point to another blog).

• Day 1 – Sydney Harbour Bridge, Opera House and Secret Garden

Our day started walking to the train station (subway) and navigating our way to Milson’s Point which is on the northern side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Lavender Bay. Departing the train we walked about 7 minutes to find Wendy Secret Garden (now it’s not a secret anymore) which was well worth the kms in the legs as this place is unbelievable and we got our first glimpse at the bridge in a beautiful garden, which is in memory of Wendy’s husband and daughter.

We exited the garden and walked along the boardwalk past Luna Park and towards the bridge to walk across the famous landmark. Now read with care, you need to walk across the bridge on the left hand side (heading into CBD) for easy access to the Sydney Harbour Pylon Lookout. A must do to appreciate the views from the bridge and then climb up the stairs to the pylon 360 views.

Of course we planned our trip to ensure when visiting The Rocks there would be a market taking place and a cruise liner at port waiting to depart, this just meant it was extremely busy with people. A bite to eat, wander around The Rocks, laneways and pop out in circular quay, this is where the chaos started, continuing our walk around to the Opera House for the postcard snaps. It was hot for sure and our little legs were struggling so we opted to jump on the botanical gardens train ride, this was a great way to see the gardens but only wetted the appetite to ensure we headed back the next day.

• Day 2 – Sydney Botanical Gardens

With yesterday’s finish of the botanical gardens, today we were sure to be heading back this way, after jumping of the train at Town Hall we stopped for a quick drinks break and took in the landscape in Hyde Park. Walking past St Mary’s Cathedral and heading into the botanical gardens we soon noticed the barriers and all the works happening for NYE, but we were on a mission to source out the Mrs Macquarie’s Chair looping back to get split up and lost in the botanical gardens.

Later on that day we some how found our way to the only DFO in Sydney.

• Day 3 – Bondi Beach and NYE

A big day planned to celebrate the the new year but before we get down to that, I could hear the waves crashing against the rocks, the yelling from parents on the beach and of course the budgie smugglers of those yellow and red Bondi blokes. Bondi beach, what can we say, it is an eye witnessing place to visit, beach, blokes, babes, bathers (or lack of) all combined into one place on a hot summers day. We were taking in the views across the beach before heading down to the Iceberg Pool, a pool naturally filled with the crashing of waves from the ocean. After a refreshing swim and dunk from the waves we walked the Bondi walk and even saw PAFC Charlie Dixon, before heading back to get ready for a big night.

Our evening started at the Manly Grill for the dining experience, 3 course meal, a first for the family. The food was fantastic and the service was top level, especially given how busy the place was. Finishing diner we wandered to the main wharf to enjoy the 900pm fireworks but I had the surprise card up the sleeve, it was from here that we are boarding one of the many fleet boats heading out to the harbour to enjoy the fireworks, I think the girls were all a little surprised and speechless at this point. The ride out was rough as ironically the weather had turned cool and we were all dressed for hot evening but the excitement for what we were about to be a part of was keeping us warm.

Happy New Year to everyone

• Day 4 – Northern Beach’s Coast

We wanted to explore the north side of Sydney and took a casual coastal drive up to Palm Beach, this is where Summer Bay is filmed. A beautiful stretch of coast that had driveways built above houses, the great ocean road feel, plenty of white sand and clear water and not forgetting people everywhere. We ended back in Manly to enjoy a wander down the mall and grabbing a quick coffee and cake from Starbucks.

• Day 5 – Darling Harbour, Sydney Tower and ThunderJet

Back on the train, another big day, this time we headed into Darling Harbour, had a nice walk around the harbour, looked at the maritime boats on display and caught the ferry around to circular quay. The adrenaline day, we jumped onboard the ThunderJet boat to cruise around the harbour and do 360 spins, dips and table tops across the waves, it was also a tour of the bays of the harbour. Besides getting drenched in water and having a blast we certainly learnt a lot, Point Piper average mansion is $40million, there are a couple of Burnt Sausage beaches in the harbour, and of course we did a sea donut out the front of Kirribilli House. This was a highly recommended fast jet boat ride.

Our last birds eye view of Sydney and surrounding suburbs had to be from the Sydney Tower, standing at 305m, we waited about 1 hour to eventually head up the tiny lift and walk around looking at the landscape. Was it worth it, I will leave it up to you to decide.

We really enjoyed our time in Sydney and the New Year’s Eve fireworks on the harbour was an absolute life time memory.

The next Chapter…. Philip Island