Mudgee

After living in tiny rural New Zealand, Sydney Australia is quite an overwhelming shock of a city.  For one thing, as in most big cities, driving is stressful and frustrating, especially parking lots that charge $27 per hour.  But we had to see the opera house:

Beyond that, we found no reason to stick around so we headed north towards the Blue Mountains that held the promise of small country towns, free camping, and world class rock climbing.  Unfortunately, it was about 40 degrees Celsius and slightly humid, so it was basically unbearable to walk down the street more than a block or two.  We set up bank accounts, found a grocery store for a few basics, and then posted up in a coffee shop to use the internet and have a cold drink.  We set up camp and tried to stay cool while drifting off to sleep early.  In the morning we woke up to kangaroos in our campground!  We had seen signs warning about them on the road and heard horror stories of not being able to drive at night in Queensland due to the number of kangaroos jumping across the road all night, but this was the first time we had actually seen one.  They are so weird looking!  Large middles, huge feet, they sort of just lean forward to eat off the ground and they look as if they could topple over at any second.  Apparently I’ll get used to them, as the advice given to me from someone when I mentioned I was going to Western Australia was “look out for the kangaroos and the locals.”

After two mornings of climbing in the shade and splitting before the sun go too high and too hot, we headed up to Mudgee a cute little country town with apparently around 40 vineyards and wineries.

Luckily the house we were in had a pretty good cable set up so I was able to watch the 49ers beat the Falcons on their way to the super bowl.  Hopefully 2 Mondays from now at 7am I’ll be able to find a place broadcasting ESPN...

Mudgee is not such an exciting town… I pretty much know the entire “city” center, which I have walked around multiple times looking for something to occupy my time during the day while everyone is at work.  I have frequented the Mudgee Brewery for its free wifi, found a good coffee shop, taken a yoga class, gone for a jog, and that’s about all there is to do around Mudgee if you’re not wine tasting.

After a week in Mudgee trying to occupy my time and not melt, on Saturday night I had an energy drink and took to the road, headed back to Sydney to return the rental car and fly west.  I drove slowly because apparently kangaroos are worst at night, and also because there were thunderstorms and the rain made it hard to see very well.  I got to the city early so I pulled off for a quick nap before entering the airport vicinity, and then slept intermittently on what was one of the most uncomfortable planes I have experienced.  I’m looking forward to seeing Western Australia and especially Margaret River, which I keep hearing is beautiful with nice wineries… good thing I was able to fly half way across the planet to find such a place…