Campervan: Newcastle to The Blue Mountains!

Newcastle

After a very late night (early morning) last night, we did wake up in time to check out of our cute little Lucky Hotel in Newcastle and were happy to see our Campervan survived the night in the car park. We spent a little time checking out a few areas of Newcastle and I tricked Rob into a (very yummy) Momo’s vegetarian cafe for breakfast 😂.

Pacific Islanders Festival

In our wanderings today we came across the Pacific Islanders/Polynesian festivals! Since we were so recently in Hawaii and French Polynesia, it felt like a treat to come across this and watch their Polynesian dancing and music. They also had some tasty treats and beautiful costumes.

Nobby Lighthouse

Being a large coastal town, Newcastle has a huge port that hosts freighters, cruise ships, and other giant ships. Got to watch this beast of a freighter coming in with the guide boats and sailing past their lighthouse, Nobby Lighthouse.

Bogey Hole

I have a new favorite sight/activity for this leg of the trip! The Bogey Hole is a hand-carved swimming hole in the rock cliffs of Newcastle created by convicts under the command of Major James Morisset, in 1819 for his personal use. The pool was originally referred to as the ‘Commandant’s Baths’. Basically this rock ledge sits right in the cliffs next to the ocean. And when the crashing waves come in, they spray up as they hit the rocks and keep the pool filled. They even carved out a little drain area into the rocks. Despite the sordid past, it’s pretty fascinating and a beautiful spot to watch waves crash and swim safely in sea water overlooking the ocean but not IN the ocean. I fell in love with this spot instantly and would put it on my “definitely want to go back” list.

Newcastle to Katoomba Falls

We left Newcastle to make the 3.5 hour drive to the Blue Mountains in early afternoon. We hit some ugly rain patches and some traffic, so our drive took us longer than expected, but we did see some interesting sights as we drove:

Destination: Blue Mountains!

We arrived tonight at our campsite in the Blue Mountains, surprised to find that the area where our campgrounds is located (Katoomba Falls) is actually a decent sized small town. So, while we are walking distance to beautiful mountain views and hiking paths, we are also walkable to shops and restaurants. Win win!! We are getting pretty good at setting up the camper stuff now. Each campground has been so different in terms of cleanliness, views, and amenities, but all have been fine overall and all have had bath houses and hot showers and community kitchen spaces (for those crazy people that like to cook!). The one we are at now also has laundry facilities, but I learned they only take coins, which I don’t have enough of. Most every place we’ve been since arriving in Australia has accepted credit card, so we have been using it for everything. Our bank gives a good exchange rate, too. Wet clothes and towels from yesterday’s rain may have to sit a bit… 😫

We decided to go for a walk on the paths near our campsite, which had a lot of beautiful overlooks of some of the more well-known Blue Mountain sights. Sighing with happiness…