2018 – Part 14 – Three States in One Day

Somewhere in a prior post, I mentioned that one part of our trip plan for Australia was to minimize the amount of back tracking, or taking the same route twice.  Today was a result of not wanting to travel the same road.

Continue reading “2018 – Part 14 – Driving 1,000km in one day”

2018 – Part 11 – Journey to Canberra, the scenic route

Departing Katoomba

Filled from another buffet breakfast we packed up and checked out of the Carrington Hotel. While I was checking out, a fellow guest chatted with Amber where he remarked the placed had changed since he was here for his wedding, in 1947! I overheard the conversation and he remarked that after World War 2, things were taking time to get back to normal given all the demands of Australia to supply people and materials in the war effort. We wished him well and continued our drive on the Great Western Highway toward Bathurst.

Continue reading “2018 – Part 11 – Bathurst & Mount Panorama”

2018 – Part 08 – Journey from Sydney airport to Blue Mountains (Katoomba)

We need wheels!

Our rental car was offsite, and once we found our pick-up location the shuttle arrived in 10-15 minutes. Although it was breezy, for 11am it was warm, over 20C. I could take the challenge to see if I could handle this kind of weather.

Once we arrived at the rental car location we were assigned a Toyota Camry, and could have any colour so long as it was white. It was fairly new as it had a back up camera and both USB and Bluetooth connections for the stereo. Once we remembered that the driver’s side was on the right side of the vehicle, we filled up the trunk with our luggage, and began our trek to our first stop, a mall!

Continue reading “2018 – Part 08 – Drive from Sydney to Blue Mountains”

AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND 2018 – PART 3

an afternoon in Amsterdam

Arriving early, we had just around 9 hours before our flight to Kuala Lumpur & Jakarta. Once off the plane we headed towards “Holland Boulevard” as the terminal map I downloaded indicated airside lockers were available. Upon arrival though the map was correct, it was out of date.

Continue reading “2018 – Part 03 – 9 hours in Amsterdam”