Friday 21st September - to Sydney
Wild Carol does Australia
John and Fiona Fraser
Sat 22 Sep 2018 11:00
33 50.235S
151 14.346E
A longish drive today, one of the longest we’ve done in this van, around 540 km which should take about 6-7 hours. We said our goodbyes to Grenville and Grace and were on the road before 8am. A quick stop at the banana stall at the south side of Coffs Harbour to get some fresh bananas and strawberries and off we went. One coffee stop and a fuel stop later and we were in Sydney, having driven through some of the most stunning scenery on the northern approaches to the city. We got our first glimpse of the famous harbour bridge but we didn’t cross it as our Airbnb is in Mosman on the northern side of the harbour. We were there before 3pm.
After emptying the van into our very nice little apartment we took around hilly Mosman, checking out the location of the ferry wharf and then up into the village to find something for dinner. Mosman is like a village, with a feel very like Stockbridge in Edinburgh, some beautiful and quaint houses, many of them with fantastic views over the harbour from their perches on the steep hillsides. Obviously an expensive neighbourhood!
The next morning we cleaned the inside of the van, dumped three bags of rubbish and unwanted clothes in a skip at a BP station, bought 2 Opal cards for the trains and ferries, and drove to the car rental place right at the other side of Sydney near Botany Bay, where Captain Cook first landed in Australia.
We weren’t too sad to leave this van, although, like the Landcruiser an age ago, it had served us well and never gave any problem. But the Landcruiser was more fun!
We did 3,707 km in the van plus 10,280 in the Landcruiser, making a total of 13,987 km or 8,742 miles in our 3 months in Australia.
Being so far away, our trip back into Sydney involved a bus trip and a train trip, both perfectly on time and seamless. We got out at Martin Place station and walked through the business district to Circular Quay to begin our short stay in Sydney...
Bye bye van!
