Camping at Mt Arapiles

Last week when I got back from road tripping I shared photos of the city portion of our trip, and now I'd like to show you guys the camping... We were hoping to camp the whole time, but bad weather forced us to change our plans and in the end, we only camped for 3 nights. But it was just enough time outdoors to re-charge, and come back to this bustling city we call home feeling better. We spent our days climbing the incredible cliffs around us, and at night we read our books and star gazed. I love camping.

We only saw lots and lots of wildlife, and one of the highlights was when I reached the top of the cliff we were climbing and husband said, "I have a surprise for you." I was hoping for chocolate, but instead he pointed down toward the field below us where I saw a mum kangaroo and her 2 joeys who were having an afternoon siesta. On our drive back to Sydney we were also lucky enough to see a wild emu. I had never seen one in the wild before, and it was so cool to just watch it prodding along slowly.

What you do when you're in Australia: grab a cup of tea, bite the corners off of a tim tam and then suck the tea up through the tim tam. Delicious! In fact, it's almost as good as smores, which you can't make here because graham crackers don't exist.

I LOVED this book so, so much.

Other people climbing

I made that toque! A.k.a. "beanie" if you don't speak Canadian.

What we climbed.

camp

An EMU!

I love country shops like this one.

I would just like to point out that these last 4 photos were all taken at a gas station, can you believe it? Beauty can be found in the unlikeliest of places.

Mountains, finally!

my lunch and handsome husband

breaking in my new climbing shoes (yay!) and husband rappelling down a climb

check out that giant water dragon!

First off, I apologize that this is the second day in a row of me posting crappy iphone photos. Note to self: be a better blogger and stop forgetting camera. Moving on... Today's crappy iphone photos are from yesterday, when husband and I managed to get away to the mountains and spend the whole day together. It had been a while since either of us had climbed outside, so we went to an area that we know and love, and took it easy on some moderate routes. When it started to pour later in the afternoon we headed back to Katoomba for a hot chocolate. It was a perfect end to our day in the mountains.

Sydney love: the Blue Mountains

Top 2 photos from my first trip to Sydney. Photo on the left was taken by my friend, Ness.

I'm afraid you're going to have to bear with me on this edition of "sydney love" as there are going to be a lot of photos because the Blue Mountains are a very special place to me. That's because it's where my husband and I started spending time together, which eventually led to a relationship, a move and a marriage. But first, let me backtrack a bit... The first time I ever went to the Blue Mountains was when my friend and I were living in Sydney for the summer. I had hoped to find someone to rock climb with, but no such luck. We had also hoped to actually see the Blue Mountains, but again, no such luck. It was incredibly drizzly and grey when we were there. Shortly thereafter I met a handsome Aussie at the rock climbing gym in Sydney, and I kind of invited myself up to the mountains with him. He took my friend Vanessa and I, and we all got along so well that the three of us spent all day climbing, and then all night pub hopping. The Aussie and I started climbing together regularly, at the gym and in the mountains, and eventually all of that climbing led to us dating. And then all of that dating led to us thinking that we should get married. So we did. Sydney has been home ever since, although the mister and I love the Blue Mountains so much that we sometimes think of moving up there. I mean, just look at these photos, it's a pretty special place.

photo by husband

Me resting in the sun, in the middle of winter. I love Sydney. Photo by husband.

Photo by husband.

Photo by husband.