This day was dedicated to the Central Coast where we spent a lot of our childhood years. There are four different schools we attended and about six different houses. The highway took us through Wadalba and so it was the only one we visited. Little Sister also wanted to visit one house here in Hamlyn Terrace where we lived when we went to Wadalba Community School. Wadalba is growing. There’s a pretty new Woolworths near the school now but the Coles that went up while we were living there is still there. All of the construction around there has gone up too. Like a little village. There was a huge hill we used to walk up to get to school (probably not that huge to adults) but it was removed for the Woolworths carpark.

We were pretty excited when we saw the Tongan flag out the front of it (because we got them Polynesian genes). We had lunch at the park we used to play at and mused about our adventures into the storm drains and wished we’d stashed something in there to look for. We liked the idea of memory capsules but never stayed in one place for long enough to make us feel it was worthwhile.

After that we just cruised on to our next campsite… which turned out to be a walk-in so we ended up heading down to our next campsite in the Blue Mountains. Up in the Blue Mountains, it was winter. Summer by the calendar but winter. It was incredibly windy as well and the road to Perrys Lookdown Campground was long and bumpy but it was worth it.

We pegged the tent down properly this time because we were afraid the tent was going to blow away. There was a little lookdown not far from the campsite that was really nice to view the mountains from.

I took a lot of pictures of flowers while I was on the road trip. I wanted to capture as much of the native and natural environment as possible. Especially out in the bush. I find I get a lot of writing inspiration from these kinds of things, especially during the winds and rain. Like something is talking to me.

Perrys Lookdown Campground says there are only five sites but there’s plenty of space for more than that. The toilets are compost but they have a metal-type-screen-door which made it a little less appealing than the others. It also ran out of toilet paper really quickly so lucky we had some. It’s always a good idea to carry toilet paper on you (biodegradable). No water, no electricity and limited reception but free… and you’re up in the Blue Mountains. There are also a lot of little birds (and magpies and crows of course) but my fingers with the camera were too slow to get any pictures.

That night it got to 6ºc so make sure you take an extra blanket (DO THIS). Even though it was the beginning of summer, I was freezing every night from the Blue Mountains onwards. It caused bad sleep and so hiking and walking around a lot took quite a bit out of me, especially because my legs were so cramped from the sleeping bag. After buying another blanket, it was so much better.

That was Day 3.