A weekend in the Blue Mountains is always a weekend well spent. There is always a bushwalk, always a log fire, always great food and wine, always a search through some antique stores and always a reluctance to leave. This time there was also some close encounters with unusually large-sized native animals (modern-day Mega Fauna) including a blue tongue lizard, a wombat and yabbies that made us think there must be something in the water. On a search for the glow worm tunnel, we did not find any glow worms, or a tunnel, but came across some suprisingly named "ruins"- really just the remains of a not-so-old shale mine near Lithgow. More exciting than the ruins (thank Christ) was the drive that day. On perhaps Australia's most corrogated unsealed roads we took city cars to their limits, cringing and bracing with every bump. It was too hot not to have the windows down, but doing so almost certainly meant the interior of the car became filled with dust, making it impossible to breath. The Moo game, a great game, happily started forcing us to take our minds off the conditions. The aim is to moo so loudly outside the car window that resident cows look up from their grassy meals. The number of cows you can get to turn their heads from all the mooing decides the winner. Genius.
Thank you, as always, to Niel for inviting us up to his beautiful Blackheath home and no-longer-so-secret garden.
