Project 289 - Day 25 (Saturday 11 April 2009) : Vaguely Pornographic Hills

So what do you do when you can't find reasonably priced accommodation in the Blue Mountains on Easter Saturday? Take your cue from the Mountains' name (nothing like a colour-specific emotional response!), or book tickets tickets for Paris instead?

...... OR realising that your VISA won't stretch to that particular rich person's fantasy (or reality in fact), you decide "Dangnabbit! (Having a rare moment of American colloquial speak where your urge to sound like a complete yokel was deliciously realised) I will not yield! As God/gods is my witness (deep burgundy shades of Scarlett O'Hara there), I shall have my weekend away, but instead of a weekend, it will be a day!" Ignoring the face that one day does not equal a weekend (except in the USA, where every bit of time off is smaller than elsewhere), you make plans to get up early on Easter Saturday, hit the road and enjoy a wonderful day amid the grandeur and beauty of one of Australia's most stunning National Parks....

..... ONLY you sleep in (after a big day of wining and dining Friday), cuddle and chill, and only then hit the road, meaning you are wrapped in the warm embrace of Parramatta Road's bitumen mid morning, and not early morning, resulting in the inestimable joy of sitting in heavy traffic up in the Mountains (see the photo above), achingly close to Leura, your cute village-like tourist-trap (albeit a beautiful one that I adore) destination.....

..... SO thinking quickly, and ever grateful that your boyfriend spent 6 years driving back and forth over the Mountains to and from Bathurst (he occasionally let himself rest, which was sensible) and knows all the back roads (drive like a local baby!), you leave the highway, race like a rally driver (albeit one that fully respects the road rules at all times, naturally) down the back road, and arrive in Leura, just in time for some shopping (where miraculously you buy nothing despite there being a Christmas ornaments shop, a book shop AND homewares shops!! I even emerged empty handed from the ye olde lolly shop! I know!!!) and lunch at what use to be the post office but is now a gallery, a restaurant and goodness knows what else....

..... THE urge to shop satiated, it's off to Blackheath and a chance to get back to nature. Well the tourist-shaped, officially sanctioned bit of nature anyway over at Govett's Leap where you join many other people in taking a breath taking view. You even walk down a very steep set of muddy sandstone stairs (realising all too late that your fabulous shoes are simply not designed for mountain goat hiking darling!), do the "I'm the King of the World!" schtick from "Titanic" (and do it fabulously well, I might add!), ooh and ahh at the scenery one more time, and then die a thousand lung-rattling deaths as you climb the now insanely steep stairs back to the car park where you collapse into your car (OK a tad too dramatic; I slid gracefully but breathing well-challenged into it) before driving to shop for antiques (got my gorgeous man the fabbest present ever, alas in clear view of him, unavoidable since we were driving together) and buying some Logan Brae apple juice that tastes like...wait for it... actual apples!! I know! What madness is this?!

..... THEN realising it's 5.15 pm, and far too early for an idyllic mountain dinner (with 1000s of your favourite fellow tourists), unless you plan to start eating like you're retired 25 years ahead of time (no thank you!!), you hit the road, bidding a fond farewell to one of the loveliest place's in Australia, survive the traffic going home (where apparently it's Drive Like an F1 Driver Day and me without my leathers!! How embarreshment!) and though exhausted, have dinner with two wonderfully close friends, Peter, and Ian (see below), at Cammeray, where you laugh, talk, and enjoy the company of those you love, relaxed in the way only a holiday can do.

..... TILL you realise you still have to drive the last small section home before collapsing into bed, with nary a tariff to be seen (but also alas no chocolates on the pillows either), but also the warmth and snuggleyness (I am sure it's word really!) of your own place enveloping you..... so ends a day away, a day where you realise that the best things in life are simple and free.... well as long as you have VISA or Mastercard, a car, and a job to pay for them.... then they are so free.... yep free as a freakin' bird :)