Mount Kosciuszko and Thredbo

This road trip was EPIC! Now I can say that I've walked on the rooftop of this grand Country. I was scared on both my drive and the climb.. but I did it anyway. And man, that was it so worth it!

I was up at 5am plotting my next roadtrip and could not decide one location for the life of me. At about 9am, it was time to piss or get off the pot.. lol. So I picked Thredbo, booked acommodation for couple nights and was outy.

The drive on the Hume to Wodonga was uneventful. The Bandiana drive next to the Murray river all the way to Tallangata has got to be my most beautiful drive evva! I got to Scammell's lookout by 3:15pm. A biker I met at the lookout told me there was an accident further (but forgot to mention that the road was blocked off) I got to Geehi and was told to turn back by the police. There was a fatal accident there earlier in the arvo where a motobiker rode into a tree. RIP brother.

I drove back to Khancoban and was clueless on the way to my accommodation in Thredbo.. A handsome chemist there gave me the map and told me to go up via Cabramurra, Adminaby and Jindabyne. There is no other way.. It was 5:30pm and I had to make a decision. I didn't want to be driving the super tight winding roads in the night. So.. what would have been another 40 mins to Thredbo turned into 280kms and  4hours. But gosh, was that drive epic! The road was mostly deserted and scary as.. there were rock slides in many places. Somehow I went past the big trout in Adminaby at sunset!

The Tumut Pond Reservoir is beautiful and I'd have never seen it if it wasn't for the road-block at Geehi. Even the trees on the peak at Cabramurra were nothing like I'd ever seen before!

I got to Thredbo at 9:30pm. After all that super intense driving through the twisties I crashed at 11ish and was woken up way too many times in the night by neighboring travellers.

I made a couple of friends - Chris and Lawz, the next morning as I was making my protein smoothie and everyone up at that hour was getting ready to go climb to the peak of Mt. Kozi. I was like heck yeah! The boys were going to climb all the way to the top from Thredbo village. I decided I was going to take the chair lift to Eagle's Nest instead. The 20 min cable chair was fun! After that the peak is 6.5km away. It took me about an hour and half. I didn't have any snacks on me.. just 500ml water.

 

The walk to the top is absolutely stunning. Especially when you get to the Lake Cootapatamba lookput. Its the highest lake in Australia and it's gorgeous! It gets windier from there. The trail is flat as and mostly metal grill and a bit of cobblestone near the top. The walk to the top has been the most serene and peaceful experience for me especially after the adrenaline pumping drive. I didn't have Vi on me so for the first time I was walking with no music.. All I could hear was the swoosh of the wind, my footsteps on the metal path and occasional hello and chats of the people I overtook. The walk up to the peak took me an hour and a half and about the same time on the way down. Would have been faster if I didn't stop every 15mins for selfies.. lol

  

I got back down and was hungry enough to eat a well... the equivalent of a horse for a vegetarian. The Burger bar in Thredbo is lovely. I sat there and ate a veggie burger by the Thredbo river. It was so mesmerising to watch and hear the water and occasional ducks that I decided to get a dessert.. and nearly died of a heart attack after all that.. Got back to where I was staying and vegged out on the lounge chatting with Chris. The beauty of Thredbo is the water all around there and makes this lovely gurgling sound and it melts all the city woes away. The stars were also sooo bright in the night and even with all the lights around I could see the Milky Way.

  

By 3:45pm I told Chris and Lawz that there was nothing left in Thredbo for me to do and I was thinking of getting back.. And Lawz goes, have been on the bobsled? We googled it and it was about to shut at 4PM.. so we hurried to there and had an AWESOME time down the 700m bob sled.. next time, I'm going to buy the 6 rides package lol.

I left Thredbo at 4:30 and wasn't sure where to go so I figured I might cut through to Bairnsdale and spend Monday there (public holiday in VIC) I drove down a path my GPS told me and obviously it was a gravel road.. I've gone to about 20km on it but that's about all I will risk in my car.. after a few kms of skidding around I decided there was no way I could go on like this for the next 260kms. I turned back and saw a gorgeous echidna scurrying across the road. I drove back via Jindabyne and Thredbo. The winding roads start after Thredbo and go on for 60km till Khancoban and I made it to there just by dusk... and man was that a fun drive!!

  

I got back to mine and was in bed at 1:15am and had an entire Monday ahead of me to laze about and finish chores.

Sunrise at the Blue Mountains

Most people that k ow me kbow how much I love sun and moon sets and rises.. or for that matter super starry nights as well..

This weekend I decided I wanted to watch the sunrise at the blue mountains.. most of the summer id been avoiding going to the Blue Mountains because it gets pretty cold up there.... now that summer was over and we're almost past autumn.. I fihfiguefigured id have to suck it up and go now or wait till next summer...

I booked accommodation on friday so the next morning I had no choice to go... but the procrastinator in me just couldnt gwt off her ass out of the bed... so I spent the morning doodling.. and chatting to friends... by 2pm I had told at least 10 people I was going to the blue mountaismountains.. so now it became a matter of eating my own words so I had to get ready and go..

The drive was wonderful... but the sun was shining straight in my eyes on the whole was... I reached Katoomba at about 4.45.. the sunset was at 5.02pm. So I rushed in the hostel and asked what was the best place to watch the sunset.. she pointed me to a direction which I couldnt figure on the map.. damn my direction dyslexia! So I picked the safer bet and drove down to the three sisters. The sunset wasnt really visible at that time.. because from that point it was already past.. but it was beautiful nonetheless.


The next morning I got ready to go and xheck3d out about 20 minutes begore the sunrise.. I thought that would give me plenty of time to drive there and set my tripod up... but I was wrong for two reasons:

1. My car was covered in FROST!!
2. By the time I got the frost off the windows and fot there, all the good spots were taken by keener photographers!


Oh well... I did get a few shots.. and my camera acted up again (so need a new one!). The scenery was heavenly! We were well above the clouds! The mountains looked like floating islands of green lands from some utopian futuristic alien planet like in Avatar!


I had to drive back early and couldn't wait for the sun to get up higher till it came over the horizon. I had signed up for a yoga instructor training where you pledge to provide free yoga training to people and spread the 'real' yoga as used by the ancient Indian sages around the world. The whole way back the sun was shining in my eyes again.. but the drive this time was on the scenic road and more winding and fun!

Yoga Camp at Liverpool

Today was beautiful. It started out waking up really early by an alarm clock.. getting hurriedly ready and then attending what I can only call as one of the most profound experiences of my life... sitting so close to the Yogaguru, Swami Ramdev, who has cured a number of people of their incurable diseases and someone who some people even consider as godly in India. (almost like in Melbourne last year where I was face-to-face with Doreen and Radliegh)

The Yoga camp is held at a basketball hall in Liverpool and is 3-6April.


The drive was nice too, mostly two highways (although at one point I realized I should've taken a turn to get off the highway too late and in my conviction that if I didn't make this turn, it was going to be the end of the world, I had my car at a 90 degree angle on the road taking up 1.5 lanes.. luckily it was too early in the morning for anyone to bother or cause any serious accidents).. lol reminded me when I was almost hurt when Clark said he was never getting in a car again with me.. but guess he wasn't so wrong.. I do drive like a total jerk... but who cares.. I love it!

Got there.. waited in the cold (made a mental note of wearing something warmer the next day because I was almost freezing and kept giving myself the pep talk that I'll get warmer as I do some yoga).. The gates opned later than the scheduled time.. and my borthers and sisters formed very crooked lines to get in.. It was a sea of brunos with only 4-5 non-subcontinental people. Glad I didn't invite Clark.. A. he would so stand out (..in a cute way) and B. most of what Swamiji spoke was in Hindi. oh and did I mention C.. he dumped me!

The meditation and the yoga part was very powerful. Like I said earlier, it was a profound experience. Many people were in absolute awe to be in his presence and watching their enthusiasm made me appreciate my position too. I"m looking forward to the next three days and hope I take this up as a lifestyle rather than just done once and forgotten thing.

The drive back was beautiful! It was raining and it was still early in the morning and foggy in some places. Just beautiful.

========== update 4/4/15 ===========

Today was less crowded than yesterday and I got a better picture of Swamiji.. tomorrow I might take the camera with me.


What's interesting is that one of the organizers/teachers who walk around and assist other people came over to me and asked me if I'd like to volunteer to be a Yoga Guru and I did.. so I've signed up for this Yoga guru from the UK to come back to Sydney in December and provide us with the instructions to become a yoga teacher.. woohoo!

The Royal Easter Show - Take 2

It was rainy again today... But I had to check the fireworks and the rides out At the Show.

It was funny that as I was walking out last afternoon from here.. super drenched, one of the booth-holders called out to me saying hey Lady.. do you want to try some hoops? I'll let you try for free? I grinned and gave it a few tries.. Anything 'free' always spikes up questions.. Was it just that no one was going to buy his game in the pouring rain or was it jsut to get a well endowed woman in wet clothes to try a few jumps just fun for them boys at the booth.. who the f cares.. anything to get my mind off the cold.. lol

So today.. I was ready with a pull-over so I wouldn't get too cold.. what I wasn't ready was that it started raining as soon as I entered the Show arena.

I was feeling a little down been just dumped by Clark and didn't really feel like trying any rides.. It wasn't yet time to 'Ridin' solo' as Jason Derulo would say it. Still being in the blue.. I headed strainght over to the eatery.. The first thing I had was Cheese on Stick.. hell who'd have think of that! lol

And then.. I was taunted at by a guy selling Ned Kelly wines and spirits if I was under 18.. hell.. no one undermines me like that.. so of course I tried some of his tasters... and I shocked myself at buying one of the particularly interesting red wine spritzer with lemon and orange. Now the bottle is sitting my cupboard and making me feel even worse for no one to share it with..

After that I walked back into the rain to stop myself from doing any crazy impulsive shopping.. I played a couple of games.. one was I think playing poker by sliding cue balls into holes.. Someone won the hand with 4 aces and a king.. I should've just known not to try my Luck seeing the state I am in atm.. fired, dumped.. lost in poker.. heh.. But.. I did win at shooting targets.. Target practice.. now that is something I can kick anyone's ass at! I won a giant inflatable sword.. lol who the f cared. winnig something was just the boost I needed.


The fireworks after the show were spectacular.. I hear them every night.. but don't get to watch them from my apartment.. The night did cheer me up a bit.. But the excitement or whatever made me unable to sleep most of the night.

The Royal Easter Show - Part 1

The first ever Show I'd gone to was the Royal Adelaide Show. I wasn't inclined to go to either the Canberra or the Melbourne Show.. because if you've seen one you've seen them all.

Anyhow. When I was new in Sydney, I'd made a cooky friend who took me to the Easter Show for the first time. She showed me how there is this peculiar way to get from Lidcombe to Sydney Olympic Park. And What's super funny is right after the Easter, I joined my last company which required me to use that route everyday. So guess I had a trial run to come here. Its funny how everything new seems intimidating at first.. simple things like getting public transport to work.. and once you get used to it, you could sleep-walk your way and take things for granted.

I went to the Easter show this year as well.. The first time, I went with a few of my friends, it was pouring! There aren't a lot of exciting photos I got from the first visit except these traumatized sheep which looked at us suspectingly when we took shelter against the rain in their enclosure... They weren't very happy to share.. plus all of us friends were scatterred in different parts of the Show and getting us all herded together was more of a priority than staying out of the rain.


The torrent was so bad that I was completely drenched making a dash between buildings... It sucks because I have poor tolerance for cold and the wet clothes + light breeze combination was not helping at all. My shoe laces came undone and while tying them I realized my fingers and toes had gone numb from the cold..  I had to bail on the buds and return home (which luckily is super close) got super soaked on the way back again. Its always super challenging when I"ve let things get as bad as my extermeties get numb... and from there getting my body temperature back up is.. well... scary. So glad my house was close.. I couldn't even peel out of the clothes with the numb hands.. After the boyleg hipsters were off with a lot of difficulty... the hot shower was like pure bliss... although.. at first it just felt scalding on the rest of my body while my hands and toes didn't feel anything at all... oh.. enough of my woes.. I'm alive and well.. even though I may be a drama queen about it. lol.

Stroll around Sydney Olympic Park

I have been holed up in my house mostly giving an excuse of the tiny surgery on my forearm. But really I'd been too depressed (strong word.. but totally justified given my current state of mind.. but then again, I always over exaggerate ;).

The dressing came off Friday so my mood's been getting better and better to be finally be able to do things and not cradle one arm. While holed up and having nothing much to do but

I can't believe I"m turning this blog into my ranting outlets too.. It was meant to be a straight up log of some trip.. lol I guess I make up for the lack of being able to actually speak to human company with this brain-retching.

So without further ado, I went on a walk in the neighborhood. This is my path. I didn't intend on this being a good circuit, but just kept going wherever my feet and the road took me (I'm super directions challenged and to make it worse I know that the Olympic park roads are built in rings so I didn't even bother to gather my bearings. Luckyili my apartment can be seen from miles so I'd never really be truly lost.


They say you notice new things about those that you've known forever if you just open your eyes and look... and I did.. who'd have thunk that the uber-industrial, drab steel-grey colored buildings would house something colorful, girly and cute thing as this:


The Easter Show is on at the moment and as I got closer to my apartment things got bustlier and I saw this cabbie trying to park in a place.. and then move on to the next.. and then to the next.. I love to watch people to reverse parallel park (because I suck at it big time) And was intrigued by this guy's attempts.. it turns out a couple of people had parked like jerks.. so I had to facebook this photo with the caption '... and I thought I was the only one that parked like a jerk'.


I just crossed my daily quota of 10,000 steps as I neared my apartment after a long time (and did the customary victory hand-punch). The walk kind of helped me try and get out of my blues. I should continue doing my weekend escapades even though everyday is a holiday right now for me. That way I"ll at least keep up with the day of the week and dates on the calender.

Bundeena: Three-Hour Guided Kayak Eco-Tour

Wow.. its been ages since I've blogged about my weekend escapades. I am not sure where to start now. So I might as well start with the latest one.

Location - Bonnie Vale Picnic Grounds Sea Breeze Lane, Bundeena, Sydney, NSW 2230
Cost - voucher $49, car travel - not sure (my 86 is not the most efficient when it comes to mileage.. but nothing beats her cutting the winding roads with the windows up, the stereo blaring and me grooving ;)

I had purchased a Groupon voucher for Kayaking a while ago. I hadn't thought much about it at the time of purchase but when I actually got to the venue.. it finally dawned on me that I was going to be in a tiny ass kayak with no harness and a big paddle in my hands (that can slip off into the water!! omfg! what would I do if that happened!!). I did have a kid-size swim vest on me (the size 'small' was a little too big for me... don't get me started on the bearing the brunt of the being the kid jokes there  -_- )

Drive to the place was super cool. I was disorganized as usual.. in fact I'd originally gotten all up and ready a whole day before the actual kayaking day (I forgot it was on Sunday and not Saturday.. I"d just begun my unemployment and when you're jobless.. pretty much EVERY day is a holiday.. the day of the week it is.. is.. insignificant). I was late and didn't have breakfast and didn't pack any food with me either.

I saw a lot of kookaburras that were screeching pretty loud as I got there just close to the 8:00am mark.

It had been raining all night and although I LOVED driving down there in the rain, when I got to the place and realized I didn't have a rain jacket on me... I was a bit scared of getting all cold and pruney in the kayak. The Tour guide, Keith, however assured us that we should all be pretty warmed up once we're paddling away.


The induction was simple and as is the case with all these activites, we had to sign a disclaimer that I was all cool if I died and they weren't responsible or some such stuff... what disconcerted me however.. was that it read something on the lines of 'you know how to swim'... uhhhh... should I have really signed that? doggy paddling does count as swimming, right??

Pretty much everyone had come in pairs.. Its always very sweet to watch couples that enjoy doing such activities together. I was looking around clueless and this goodlooking fella approached me with the intro and all.. I was too excited+anxious about the kayaking to be feeling friendly but I enjoyed the small talk to take my mind off of it. Let's call him Craig. This was his Chrissy present. I asked if he'd done kayaking before.. he said he had a few times but not at Bundeena before. I was paired with him because he was also here by himself.

Damn.. when will my Hercules begin joining me in my fun trips.. can't wait to find someone who enjoys doing these silly things and wouldn't judge me for being scared of water... because once I'm in.. I'm like buffalo (my dad used to call me that when I was a baby.. and acting up protesting against a bath.. but once in.. it was hard to drag me out.. lol.. I don't think I remember that.. but I do remember crying every time I was teased as a buffalo.)

When we were given a very brief intro of how to paddle and steer (which was too brief imo). And then we were off... There was one couple that took off before us. saw I was able to observe how to get into a kayak and start paddling... but still it was a bit freaky when it was my turn nonetheless. The taller person was asked to sit at the back and their responsibility is to sync with the one in the front and steer.. while the one at the front just paddles.

And we were off... as soon as we were slightly in the deep my first question to Craig was 'what happens if I drop the paddle' and he goes.. 'oh.. you go for a swim.'. Damn! what an insufferable moron! obviously I didn't tell him I wasn't so sure about that.. but made sure I had a death grip on the damn paddle.

All fears aside.. the kayaking was an absolutely awesome experience.

We started from the Simpsons Bay. It was high tide and so the paddling wasn't so hard. Paddled over Port Hacking to our first stretch of land and parked our kayaks for a bit for a breather. The first ones there had the kayaker in the back fall in the water.. we were second so I pretty much dragged the kayak well out of the water on land so Craig didn't have to suffer the same consequence (I almost felt like kissing my own bicep for that feat ;). I was called a life-saver by the tour guide after that for helping drag a fellow kayaker out of the water where one of her leg was in the kayak and the other out and her foot kept sinking in the water. The little finger of sand we were landed was too steep and the high tide didn't help either. So it was fun to watch the other pairs gather one by one.

We Paddled over to Lilli Pilli Point reserve.. had a wonderful morning tea (just hot water for me.. I'm not into tea or coffee). I did help myself quite generously with the choc chip cookies. Again where we'd set our picnic blanket up was a tiny finger of sand between a cess pool and the bay and the tide kept creeping in and we had to wrap our blanket little by little and we lost our piece of land just as we were done.

Craig found a pen that floated in with the tide and handed it to Keith who was a little disappointed 'I was hoping I'd get a message in a bottle, not a pen'.. to which I said 'perhaps this a sign for YOU to write a message for someone in a bottle'.

After the breakfast, we paddled leisurely around and were near Maianbar where Keith told us how the legend of the big giant hairy Yeti like creature (whose name evaded me) was born. I obviously can't mention it here as it's a part of the kayakers' code to keep it secret... you'd have do this tour to know ;)

He showed us many beautiful spots around the bays one of which resembled the Mayan pyramids.. lol.. He took us down the mangroves towards The Basin.. we didn't go under the bridge because paddling in would be a fun ride... but back from under the bridge would be going against the current and would take a lonnng time plus some serious muscle.. but something he recommended we all did anyway by coming back and just hiring a kayak instead of getting a tour.. because now we 'knew' all the spots worth exploring.

After we were done, I said goodbye to Craig (who was hoping to get my number) and weighed the time it would take for me to take a shower, pee and then get back home.. or jsut go back.. so I peeled out of the salty sandy clothes on the side of the road behind a truck.. and headed back with fresher clothes but the same old salty, sandy me. My 86 and Coco were both happy with my decision.

The drive back was just as exhilarating and uneventful. Something about driving when it's all overcast and slightly raining.. love it!

The experience was really cool and I would love to do it again.. what'd even be more awesome is if I can find a partner in crime who'd join me in the paddling.