So, we got up about 8:30, made some sandwiches, grabbed some bananas and boiled eggs and packed up our handy little soft-sided cooler. Then Mark took us down to the basement and gave us lessons in taking down the top of the convertible, and putting up the wind shield. Soon we were on our way out of Sydney, headed out over the Anzac bridge and up into the Blue Mountains.
The Blue Mountains
We've been to the Blue Mountains before, including the Three Sisters, Leura, and Scenic World, all great stops.
This time we took the turnoff to go out to Evans Lookout. Steve was looking for the Rock Warbler, and this involves clambering around on rocks with really super steep drop offs. I declined. Instead, I walked around up top, looking out over all the different viewpoints from the lookout.
As I understand it, they are called the blue mountains because of the way all the eucalypt oil hanging in the area give it a blue haze. Here's a better description:
The Blue Mountains is densely populated by oil bearing Eucalyptus trees. The atmosphere is filled with finely dispersed droplets of oil, which, in combination with dust particles and water vapour, scatter short-wave length rays of light which are predominantly blue in colour.
In any case, it was living up to it's name today.
I scrambled around a little bit, but not as much as Steve. Lots of sandstone, and instead of painted graffiti, the stone was soft enough that people just carved inscriptions (e.g., Steve loves Merri).
The Capertee Valley
The Capertee Valley is the world's largest enclosed valley. It's spectacular. It's also designated as a Very
Important Bird Area (that's a real designation, I didn't make it up!). It's sparsely populated, and there are virtually no services in the valley. Certainly there isn't cell or internet service. As on our other road trips, just the drive itself is interesting.
Glen Davis
Eventually we ended up at the Glen Davis campground. One of the interesting things we have seen around Australia are these small, free, community supported campgrounds. The center was closed, but there were bathrooms, showers, and potable water. Steve was birding, and I was catching up on reading and writing. We were both grateful we had packed a lunch! (thanks Fiona!)
I read all the history of the area, and chatted with a few people. This is apparently also a good starting point for lots of bush walks as well, and the next day I ran into a family who had been out for about two weeks. They were all taking showers!
The town is almost non-existent now, but the history is pretty interesting. It was basically a company town started in the 30s for Petroleum/shale oil production. At one time they had up to 2500 people living there, and had a theater, garden, and a bowls club among other community benefits. Now there are mostly shells of houses. They still do a reunion of the workers every year, and there's a monthly community dinner.
Finding a place to stay, oh, and a breathalyzer!
Eventually we drive back up through the valley headed for Rylestone and Kandos, looking for a place to stay. That's right, miss super planner here had made no reservations for the two nights we would be out there. To be fair, we decided at the last minute and I did try to reach a couple of places but one was not available and the other never returned my calls.
Entering Rylestone I saw a police checkpoint to the right and someone (cough, cough, Steve) did not have their seatbelt on so I turned the other way and wound through town looking for lodging. We didn't see anything promising, everything looked pretty shut down. It was, after all, New Year's Day.
Seatbelt securely fastened we headed back out of town, and got waved over by the police checkpoint. What? Another breathalyzer in Australia? Seriously, I've never done a breathalyzer in the US, and each of the last two times to Australia I've gone through these checkpoints.
In any case, after he admired my Missouri drivers license (he'd never seen one of those) and noted how colorful it was, I passed my breathalyzer test and asked him about lodging in Kandos, a small town just up the road. He mentioned a motel right as you enter town, right at the golf course. And then said, Don't expect much from Kandos.
Hmmm
So, we pull in, get out of the car, and Steve immediately spots a yellow-tailed black cockatoo and is off while I go over to the office. It's about 7, and after office hours. Just before I reach the office I see a screen door to the right, glance over, and see an ancient couple seated side by side at a kitchen table, looking out at me through the screen. I'm sure they were watching a tv mounted on the outer wall, but it was just so funny.
I ask if they have any rooms for the night, and they answer yes. She starts to rise, and he asks if she is okay to take care of me. She mutters yes, yes, and gets to her feet, reaches her walker, inches into the office, and eventually the door to the office opens and she beckons me in.
No worries, she was going to take care of me all right. What a sweetheart. Turns out she only had room for the one night and so after getting me all checked in for tonight she makes it her mission to find a place in the valley for Thursday night. She's unlucky for the first few calls, and each call involves conversations that go something like this
Hello, Marie here from the Fairways Motel in Kandos. Fine, fine, hoping 2014 is a bit better than 2013, been in and out of hospital for the lat 3 months but feeling better now--yes yes, we have had the firefighters staying with us. They are a lot of work, they pack and take their things but come back and I have already washed the sheets--oh well, you have to take the bad with the good. Oh, you know Richard? Well, I have an American couple here, they are birdwatchers. They need a room in the valley tomorrow night.
And so on. It was great!
I tell her not to worry, that we can always drive over to Lithgow tomorrow night. Well, that just won't do! (Lithgow is a bit away, and not necessarily scenic.)
Then I ask if she knows a place we can gt dinner, and she makes that her net mission. She calls around, asks if we like Chinese, then draws me a mud map.*
Unfortunately, she draws it on paper on the counter, well below where I can see it. She tells me the instructions as she writes, but doesn't actually show me the map until she gives it to me.
She then has another idea for accommodation, and reaches Diane Page at Glen Alice Farm. They have a cottage near Glen Alice, and so I write down another set of instructions and make plans to stop there the next day.
At last, we are checked in. It's another 50s style motel room. Cinderblock walls, avocado green fixtures, the same 50s patterned bedspreads, designed so as to not show the dirt.
*I finally asked on our last trip why they called them mud maps as I had never heard the term before. They said because people used to squat in the dirt/mud with a stick, and draw a map.
Chinese Food in Kandos
After a few wrong turns, and a short tour of downtown Kandos, we pull in to a parking lot behind the local RSL Club.* There are two ladies sitting there having a smoke, so we asked them if this was where the Chinese restaurant was. They say yes, and I ask them were to enter. They point to a door that says DANGER, DO NOT ENTER on it.
So we shrug and enter.
We enter a pretty large bar area, with gambling machines (pokies?) on one end, a stage at the other, and well decorated for Christmas. We still don't see a restaurant and are pointed through another set of doors.
Aha! We've found it!
But it turns out it is cash only so we look in my wallet and I have all of $40 so we peruse the menu and figure out what we can get for $40. Steve orders Fish and Chips (they do Australian meals as well as Chinese) and I order Curry Chicken. Could we order pop? No, we need to get that from the bar.
Back to the bar I go, and order 2 cokes. Upon hearing my American accent the bartender asks if I would like 2 glasses of ice. Yes please.
It's only 4 dollars and a creatively bearded and tattooed man offers to carry the cokes while I carry the glasses of ice.
There are two Chinese Cooks and one Chinese woman working and it is hoping. There's a possibilty it's the open place New Year's Day night! It's well over 30 minutes before we get our meal as they fill takeout orders, orders from the bar, and orders for people there in the dining room. And it was worth it. The curry was super good.
After a longer tour of the main street, looking to see if there was a Westpac ATM and where the grocery stores are, we head back to the room. Time warp or not, it was the best shower I had in Australia. You could regulate the temperature and it was hot and had water pressure.
Refreshed, we watch Roger Federer win in Brisbane and go to sleep on the super soft sheets.
Here's the link to the Kandos Fairway Motel...you can take a look at the rooms! http://www.kandosfairwaysmotel.com.au/index.php
*RSL - I wasn't sure what RSL clubs were, and had seen them other places. This is what Wikepedia says: The Returned and Services League of Australia (often abbreviated to RSL) is a support organisation for men and women who have served or are serving in the Australian Defence Force (ADF).
It also says this about licensed RSL clubs: Licensed clubs operating under the RSL 'banner' usually have bar and dining facilities for their members and guests, and sometimes have extensive gambling areas. In licensed (RSL) clubs, each evening a one-minute silence is called for in respect and an ode is read to honour those war veterans who have served their country.[11]
Given the setup of the one we visited in Kandos, I suspect it is a licensed RSL club.
At last, we are checked in. It's another 50s style motel room. Cinderblock walls, avocado green fixtures, the same 50s patterned bedspreads, designed so as to not show the dirt.
*I finally asked on our last trip why they called them mud maps as I had never heard the term before. They said because people used to squat in the dirt/mud with a stick, and draw a map.
Chinese Food in Kandos
After a few wrong turns, and a short tour of downtown Kandos, we pull in to a parking lot behind the local RSL Club.* There are two ladies sitting there having a smoke, so we asked them if this was where the Chinese restaurant was. They say yes, and I ask them were to enter. They point to a door that says DANGER, DO NOT ENTER on it.
So we shrug and enter.
We enter a pretty large bar area, with gambling machines (pokies?) on one end, a stage at the other, and well decorated for Christmas. We still don't see a restaurant and are pointed through another set of doors.
Aha! We've found it!
But it turns out it is cash only so we look in my wallet and I have all of $40 so we peruse the menu and figure out what we can get for $40. Steve orders Fish and Chips (they do Australian meals as well as Chinese) and I order Curry Chicken. Could we order pop? No, we need to get that from the bar.
Back to the bar I go, and order 2 cokes. Upon hearing my American accent the bartender asks if I would like 2 glasses of ice. Yes please.
It's only 4 dollars and a creatively bearded and tattooed man offers to carry the cokes while I carry the glasses of ice.
There are two Chinese Cooks and one Chinese woman working and it is hoping. There's a possibilty it's the open place New Year's Day night! It's well over 30 minutes before we get our meal as they fill takeout orders, orders from the bar, and orders for people there in the dining room. And it was worth it. The curry was super good.
After a longer tour of the main street, looking to see if there was a Westpac ATM and where the grocery stores are, we head back to the room. Time warp or not, it was the best shower I had in Australia. You could regulate the temperature and it was hot and had water pressure.
Refreshed, we watch Roger Federer win in Brisbane and go to sleep on the super soft sheets.
Here's the link to the Kandos Fairway Motel...you can take a look at the rooms! http://www.kandosfairwaysmotel.com.au/index.php
*RSL - I wasn't sure what RSL clubs were, and had seen them other places. This is what Wikepedia says: The Returned and Services League of Australia (often abbreviated to RSL) is a support organisation for men and women who have served or are serving in the Australian Defence Force (ADF).
It also says this about licensed RSL clubs: Licensed clubs operating under the RSL 'banner' usually have bar and dining facilities for their members and guests, and sometimes have extensive gambling areas. In licensed (RSL) clubs, each evening a one-minute silence is called for in respect and an ode is read to honour those war veterans who have served their country.[11]
Given the setup of the one we visited in Kandos, I suspect it is a licensed RSL club.
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