We were actually pretty organised for the start of our Mini Road Trip with the Priests. Having done most of the packing the day before, we wandered around at a leisurely pace, thinking we had all the time in the world. Then … we tried to put the bike on the bike rack. A fair amount of huffing and puffing from Gaz ensued, but no way could we work it out. Finally, a small adjustment to the bike seat and all was sorted … except Gaz had put the wrench in an inaccessible spot so if we needed to tighten the rack on the way we would be stuffed. No problems! We just made a quick stop at Auto One and we now have two wrenches in case the thingy needs tightening. Spoiler alert – it did not need tightening.
Finally getting on the road about 10:30am, we had a dream trip on the freeway, heading to Blackheath, our first stop. The new tunnel that bypasses Pennant Hills Rd is AMAZING and stripped at least 20 minutes off the trip as well as reducing road rage opportunities for a nervous passenger. (I was driving.) We were well up into the mountains at the 2 hour mark though we were getting a bit peckish as we had missed our usual Thornleigh Maccas stop. I was considering what a great business opportunity there is for someone somewhere along the M1, M2, M7 or M4 or any of those Ms to build a service centre.
No worries we thought – there’ll be a Maccas somewhere. Well there finally was one just off the highway at Blaxland so we made the turn gleefully to be treated by a line of traffic snaking out from the Maccas car park. I’m not kidding – the traffic jam that would have been on Pennant Hills Rd was now at Blaxland Maccas! Suffice it to say we “did a Dubbo Zoo”* and drove on without stopping.
*Family and friends remember the famous Dubbo Zoo story of 1996 where we drove from Canberra to Dubbo to go to the zoo, only to have Gaz declare the line was too long and we drove back to Canberra without viewing a single animal.
The Blaxland Maccas debacle turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we powered on to Blackheath and feasted at The Ivanhoe Hotel bistro – very tasty … and filling … which is just as well as our booking tonight for dinner at some posh restaurant is 8:15pm! Gaz had vegetarian risotto and I loved the butter chicken and rice.
Upon arriving at the caravan park we waved to Kev & Maz who had set up their van having arrived an hour or so before us. This was the point where we discovered that they hadn’t brought their bikes so I was the only one who has brought a bike. “I told you we shouldn’t have bothered,” I told a grimacing Gaz.
After unpacking, Gaz took off to the shops and Kev, Maz and I wandered around the park across from where we are – what a delight. Lots and lots of rhododendrons on display – the Rhododendron Festival (or a COVID version of it) ends this weekend and that was one of the reasons we scheduled a return to Blackheath. The other reason is golf – we’re hoping to get a hit on the weekend some time as we missed out in March due to fog and rain.
We had a lovely happy hour or two before we headed off to what turned out to be a fabulous meal at Cinnebar Kitchen Blackheath – would thoroughly recommend! It was share plates and we chose really well because of the 8 dishes we devoured there were no duds – all were spectacular. It was 7 degrees when we came back to the cabin so the boys warmed up with a muscat while Maz wrangled the air conditioner into shape.
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