thewills\’wanderings

After a hectic few days in Sydney we headed for the hills and stayed put there for 5 days. After sleeping in only sheets for the past 6 weeks we were shocked to find that we were cold at night. So we stopped at Blaxland, a little town in the Blue Mountains and bought sleeping bags in the local op shop.

We set up camp in the caravan park in Katoomba, where Tim spent hours with his nose in the Blue Mountain rock-climbing guide planning our adventures. He investigated all the possibilities, including him finding a climbing partner and going off for the day, which would have been great. He inquired at one of the climbing shops about finding someone to climb a 7 pitch classic climb with in the area. It was very amusing when he was given “Nadia’s” phone number. He joked about how he was going off to climb with this exotic European climbing chick. He phoned her and she was just a regular old Aussie Sheila who couldn’t fit in a climb while we were there. Never mind, as it worked out he took Michaella on a big climb and she was fantastic. It’s so nice to have these adventurous girls up for anything. Already they are far more gutsy than I ever was!We spent a couple of days all together at Mt York, a popular climbing crag. The girls loved climbing on real rock and did so well. Charlotte fossicked around the bottom and did her own little climbing of the little boulders around the place. It was awesome to be at the stage where we can all go out on a day’s adventure. Even though I’ve never been a serious rock-climber I did attempt to crawl up a climb(well half of it anyway) but I’m loving seeing the girl’s develop their skills. There’s nothing like reliving your youth through your children!

The next day Tim took the 3 big girls on a canyoning trip. He sussed it all out at the climbing shop where they run canyoning trips. Tim hired wetsuits and helmets and off they went! Charlotte and I walked in to the get-out point which was an adventure in itself, with steep stairways and drop-offs. We got to see them all do the 30 metre abseil out of the canyon. Man, were they buzzing when they got out! The bonus was that while they were in the canyon Charlotte and I got to have a coffee and a baby-chino and play ladies for an hour while the others were freezing down below in the canyon. All in all that was a fantastic day. I hope the girls realize how lucky they are having a Dad who can take them on such great adventures!

The next day, Tim took Michaella and Ashleigh climbing by themselves where they did a multi-pitch climb in preparation for the big one Tim wanted to do with Michaella the following day. All went well and Tim decided Michaella would be able to handle the big one the following day.

On Sunday off we went to church in Katoomba. We’re trying to get to church whenever we can while we’re away, actually we’ve been to church more often over here than we managed in NZ. We’re really enjoying going to different denominations in different locations. Last Sunday we went to the Katoomba Anglican church, which held a gospel soul service as part of Blues and Roots Festival which was happening in town that weekend. It was great and they even had a kid’s programme, not that girls enjoyed that very much. They said no-one talked to them and they were bored. Still I think that’s good for them to learn the importance of being friendly and welcoming people.

After church Tim and Michaella headed off on their big climb while we all kicked back at the caravan, reading and playing in the playground. They arrived back after about 4 hours buzzing from the big climb. Tim might write all about that for those interested in the climbing details. Tuesday came and we packed up and headed west. Once again as the car pulled off we all sang in unison,” On the road again, I just can’t wait to get on the road again” .This has become our little theme song and we were highly amused when we were talking to some of the many other caravan travellers we meet along the way and they all sing it too! What an awesome week we’ve had.

I’m starting to feel sad that our caravanning will soon be over.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, March 21st, 2009 at 3:59 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.