The Drive to Sydney – 12/26/2012
Dec 28th, 2012 by admin
Boxing Day dawns with a bright, sunny morning, perfect for a long drive up the motorway to Sydney. We have breakfast at the hotel, pack up and leave.
By the time we get on Princes Highway, the overcast is starting to block out the sun. That’s actually a good thing. It’ll make for more comfortable driving.
We’re just a few kilometers up the road and the traffic in the opposite lane is starting to build up. It’s the start of the Boxing Day mini-holiday that runs til New Year’s Day and the citties are emptying to the coast and it’s resorts, campgrounds and beaches. Fortunately, for us we’re going against the traffic.
By the time we get to Berry (where we stopped for the night on the way down from Katoomba), the traffic is a steady line. We get on the M1 to Sydney and the southbound traffic is now bumper to bumper and moving but moving slowly. Our northbound side, though, is wide open and we make good time.
As we pass Kiami, Barbara remembers that this is the site of the famous Kiami Blow Hole, a hole in the coast rock face the blows a geyser whenever a sufficiently large wave hits the wall of the rock face. We didn’t stop on the way south because the wind was blowing from the west on to the water and there were no waves to speak of. No waves, no geyser. The wind today, however, is just perfect for the blow hole.
We’d already passed the turn off for the small town of Kiami so we have to get off and retrace out route south to the Kiami exit. That, of course, means that we have to travel with the bumper-to-bumper south-bound traffic. Luckily we only have to go one exit and we’re soon in the town on a two lane street with bumper-to-bumper traffic. Apparently, we’re not the only ones wanting to see the blow hole.
Parking is a problem but, surprisingly, as we get closer to the blow hole parking area there seems to be plenty of parking. Out of the car and a short walk to the lookout for the blow hole. We look over the rail and nothing.
Well, not nothing. There’s rocks and there’s a hole but no geyser. And the suddenly, whoosh and a fountain of sea water bursts up through the blowhole. The geyser, of course, runs in cycles that match the waves goming ashore that come in “sets”. We’d looked over the edge during a lull between the sets and were then surprised when the set finally arrived.
We watch for a while and then head out on the rocks to watch the waves crash in. It’s overcast and windy but the view is still beautiful. Bu back to ther car and on the road north again.
A couple of hours on the M1 and we’re passing Port Botany and the Sydney airport, still 12 kilometers from down town. Through tunnels, over bridges, left, right, left, straight and the GPS drops us into the late afternoon traffic on Elisabeth Street. We have a clear route to the hotel but the traffic is very slow and every time we try to make a turn we have to wait for the crosswalk to clear. Sydney is Australia’s largest city and there are just masses of pedestrians, reminiscent of Manhattan in New York City.
But we get there to the hotel. Check in. Park in an adjacent underground garage (yea!!). Up to the room.
By the time we unpack and clean up, it’s time for dinner. The desk staff at the hotel recommends a steak house down a few blocks on Darling Harbor. We walk over and find the harbor, home of the Maritime Museum, Imax (now showing the Hobbit long sold out) and the obligatory Hard Rock Cafe which is just to the left of Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville. (No wonder so many people dislike the US.)
Dinner is good. The wine so-so. We walk around the harbor and then head back to the hotel. We’d see a chocolate shop on the way over but it’s closed by the time we come back. Probably a good thing. We’ll go there tomorrow.
A long but fun day.
Obi-wan