...we were blown onto the roads less travelled.

From Ballina we went southwest, to the tiny town of Bendemeer via Grafton and Armidale along the Waterfall Way. We crossed a considerable amount of road blockages (no, Rita is no 4WD, but she can fit under, over or around fallen trees and cross water of surprising depth) while going through the badly damaged forests of the Guy Fawkes River National Park and turned off the highway for some spectacular waterfalls in the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park. The little campsite we stayed at for the night turned out to be the wise choice when we witnessed a flash flood down at the local river that flooded the whole free camp area to the level of the toilets' roof in a matter of minutes the next morning. That's when we decided to venture even further inland, away from the storm that was raging over the coastal regions. 
So we went on to Coonabarrabran. Along the way we visited a huge golden guitar at Tamworth, Australia's capital of country music, and we went Koala spotting on a bushwalk in Gunnedah that claims to be the world's  Koala capital. Unfortunately it was badly hit with bushfires just a couple of weeks ago and many a koala might have felt the heat from a little too close. We didn't spot any Koala and since the burned bush wasn't necessarily the nicest environment for a long hike, we didn't look for much longer.

From Coonabarabran, we planned on venturing into the huge Pilliga Nature Reserve - but this also largely burnt down and the reserve was therefore closed. It didn't matter much, we wouldn't have wanted to go there just to see the big old black nothing a fire leaves behind. Instead we went back a few kilometres to the outskirts of the Pilliga and took a bush hike that lead us to beautiful sandstone caves. Some of the caves have ancient carvings from the local aboriginal people that show footprints of emus and kangaroos and markings from when they made their stone weapons. These markings are over 12000 years old - to imagine that people lived in that harsh environment that long ago is pretty cool.

From Coonabarabran we went south to the wine region around Mudgee and further on to Rylstone. This small town used to be home to the tasting room of a certain local olive oil production, run by Jens' uncle. The farm doesn't belong to the family any more but we still wanted to see where Jens' relatives spent many years. Rylstone has its charms considering its sandstone buildings with historic flair and tuscan gardens. It doesn't offer much for travellers, though, so we went on to Clandulla, a tiny village, and visited the 'Lakeland Olives' farm. The remote setting (you only get there via dirt road), the humming bush around the farm and the natural beauty of the surrounding area make you feel a little overwhelmed and lost in this place. We couldn't get on the actual plantation site, but standing at the entrance gate, thinking that other people from little Buende had actually lived and worked out here was quite the magical feeling.

We left Clandulla and went further on towards Sydney into the World Heritage listed Blue Mountains National Park. The scenery took our breath away! It felt like stepping into another world. After days of red earth, sparse bushland and eucalyptus we found ourselves on top of sheer cliffs that open up into endless valleys of dark green wilderness, running streams and deep gorges. Because of the latest storm that calmed down just the day before we arrived, the hikes into the valley were all impassable, but we could hike along the clifftop for a couple of hours, which afforded fantastic views of the valleys, a myriad of thundering waterfalls and the sheer cliffs that tower above it all. After the hike we went for a scenic drive to a couple more viewpoints before staying the night at Blackheath. From there we went on early the next day to Katoomba, home of the iconic Three Sisters and the Giant Staircase. When we got there, the whole valley below us was filled with clouds and only the cliffs and mountaintops were rising out from the mist like from the sea. After a while it started to clear up and the clouds gave way to a beautiful fresh morning. We made use of it and went on a couple of shorter walks to explore the Echopoint, the Three Sisters, Wentworth Falls and the Leura cascades. Climbing up and down tons of stairs, walking below dripping cliff overhangs and balancing along muddy waters that flood the pathway paid off in so many ways - we got to see more spectacular scenery, could bath our feet in cool mountain rivers, got showered under thundering waterfalls and got a really good workout - all before breakfast!
Of course the Blue Mountains brought us smack bang back to the much travelled roads. And that's where we'll stay now, in the vicinity of big and beautiful Sydney.