Valley deep, Mountain high.....

Interesting fact number one. The Blue Mountains, (2 hours west of Sydney) are so called because of the Blue haze created by the oils evaporating from the eucalyptus trees and mixing with the mist in the valleys.

We have literally just returned from two days in the Blue Mountains (very busy due to the labour day bank holiday weekend). It was extremely windy and biting cold compared to what we have been used to, but also extremely beautiful and as blue as the postcards make them out to be.

The days consisted of bush walking and the nights of boozing and playing pool. Interesting fact number two, or rather highlight to mention, was that myself and the lovely Karen Wells smashed James at pool after having consumed two bottles of wine with dinner. Booze or no booze we were the better team - rock on girls.

So since climbing the bridge we also visited the Hunter Valley, one of Australia's premier wine regions. Interesting fact number 3; American oak is now so expensive, that wineries are using alternative methods to 'oak' their wines to avoid having to store them in pricey barrels. One of the methods involves brewing in a metal vat and dipping a bag full of wood chippings into it to give it the oaky taste. This is also referred to as 'tea-bagging'.

The Hunter Valley tour basically involved visting four boutique wineries, one cheese and one chocolate house and basically getting unavoidably tipsy....oh and buying lots of lush wine.

Kayaking, surfing and a farewell dinner tomorrow... expect to see pics of me effortlessly riding the Australian waves whilst James struggles to stay afloat shortly.

Next stop - Melbourne.