Lithgow High Street The Groom's HarleyMet my first ‘real ozzie’ at breakfast today. The restaurant was very busy as many of the wedding guests had stayed the night. I shared a table with a guy in his late 50’s who admitted to being the bride’s uncle. He had driven over 600 miles to come to the wedding from his cattle station in somewhere unpronounceable. He was very interesting. Won’t go into detail about him but here are a few quotes.
“The kids don’t have a clue, all they want are computers and mobile phones. They’ll be no bloody good if the genny breaks down.”
“This country’s full, we can’t take any more of those boat people and refugees”
“I’ve seen the world, I was in the air force for 5 years before I settled down, and I don’t want to see any of it ever again”
“Sydney is full of poofters and foreigners”
“The government want to send me some of the unemployed, I’ve got plenty of work for them”
“The Blue Mountains, they’re not bloody bush, they’re suburbs of Sydney”
I have to say he was very interesting. He was very concerned about what will happen to his cattle station that he inherited from his father. All of his kids have left for the city and have no interest in the cattle station. He also manages his neighbours station. She lives 45 miles from him and is an 80 year old woman who has been on her own for 5 years since her husband died. She has no children or other living relatives and he thinks she will leave it all to him, but what will he do with it?
Anyway he got me going fairly early so I was off to the Blue Mountains. Arrived at Katoomba (renowned for its spectacular views of the Jamison Valley) in thick mountain fog at 9:30 am. The locals said it would burn off by noon. So I got back in the car and headed over the mountains to Lithgow. From Sydney to Katoomba it didn’t feel like real Australia. The Great Western Highway is a string of ribbon developments each with its own fast food restaurant and Holden dealership. But west of Katoomba was a different matter altogether. The settlements seemed to consist of a few houses and a large hotel (ozzie for PUB!). Most also had some kind of liquor store and a petrol station doubling as a car repair shop and supermarket. From Mt Victoria to Lithgow was stunning mountain road with great views and little civilisation. There was supposed to be a place called Bell on the way, I saw some signs and a cross roads, but no houses.
Lithgow was like something from a 1960’s BBC/ABC joint production. The quaintness was helped by the fact that it was Christmas Fayre Charity Sunday and the main street was full of tombolas and bric a brac stalls. There was an excellent display of classic cars. After walking round the stalls I headed back to Katoomba to see if the fog had gone. The route back included the climb of Mt Victoria where the road goes from 300m above sea level to 1370m above sea level. Would have been more fun in the Subaru or a Land Rover but the Toyota hire car did the job.
“The kids don’t have a clue, all they want are computers and mobile phones. They’ll be no bloody good if the genny breaks down.”
“This country’s full, we can’t take any more of those boat people and refugees”
“I’ve seen the world, I was in the air force for 5 years before I settled down, and I don’t want to see any of it ever again”
“Sydney is full of poofters and foreigners”
“The government want to send me some of the unemployed, I’ve got plenty of work for them”
“The Blue Mountains, they’re not bloody bush, they’re suburbs of Sydney”
I have to say he was very interesting. He was very concerned about what will happen to his cattle station that he inherited from his father. All of his kids have left for the city and have no interest in the cattle station. He also manages his neighbours station. She lives 45 miles from him and is an 80 year old woman who has been on her own for 5 years since her husband died. She has no children or other living relatives and he thinks she will leave it all to him, but what will he do with it?
Anyway he got me going fairly early so I was off to the Blue Mountains. Arrived at Katoomba (renowned for its spectacular views of the Jamison Valley) in thick mountain fog at 9:30 am. The locals said it would burn off by noon. So I got back in the car and headed over the mountains to Lithgow. From Sydney to Katoomba it didn’t feel like real Australia. The Great Western Highway is a string of ribbon developments each with its own fast food restaurant and Holden dealership. But west of Katoomba was a different matter altogether. The settlements seemed to consist of a few houses and a large hotel (ozzie for PUB!). Most also had some kind of liquor store and a petrol station doubling as a car repair shop and supermarket. From Mt Victoria to Lithgow was stunning mountain road with great views and little civilisation. There was supposed to be a place called Bell on the way, I saw some signs and a cross roads, but no houses.
Lithgow was like something from a 1960’s BBC/ABC joint production. The quaintness was helped by the fact that it was Christmas Fayre Charity Sunday and the main street was full of tombolas and bric a brac stalls. There was an excellent display of classic cars. After walking round the stalls I headed back to Katoomba to see if the fog had gone. The route back included the climb of Mt Victoria where the road goes from 300m above sea level to 1370m above sea level. Would have been more fun in the Subaru or a Land Rover but the Toyota hire car did the job.
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