Blog 9 - from Canberra to Sydney Sat 13th October

After another early-morning, but abortive kangaroo hunt in the surroundings we picked up a hire car and followed Adrian and Jenny as they drove out to their daughter's 'cottage' in Kangaroo Valley (half way to Sydney). This took us through some beautiful scenery, hills covered magically with the pernicious Patterson's Pest, a deeper purple than bluebells but the same effect. Still no kangaroos though. En route we collected some real Aussie pies from the 'Best Pie Shop in the World' - not to be confused with all other Aussie pies which are apparently almost indescribably nasty (quoting Adrian here). The valley itself is spectacularly lovely and the cottage a very comfortable bungalow with lots of character and views all round, set in a very pretty garden. The land goes down to the stream/river and up to the surrounding wooded hills and is truly idyllic (if it were not for the wombat that seems to have taken up residence beneath the property. The name seems appropriate - they are about a metre long and tough as anything and no joke in the garden.) We tore ourselves away to continue on to Sydney, stopping off half way to get to know the small town of Kiama by the sea rather better than we planned. The first third was to enjoy a drink and a stroll and the second to rush round all our previous steps and the police station looking for Richard's missing wallet and the last third trying hard to find a way out once we discovered the wallet in my handbag! We finally got to the hotel, having dropped the car off at the airport and were pleasantly surprised to find it pretty stylish and conveniently near Darling Harbour - so no long walks to get to places. Not so good was the next discovery that R had mislaid the case key and of course mine had been locked in the bag. We went for a tasty Indian take-away (taken away to a seat overlooking the harbour) and meanwhile a metal cutter was found back at base. Hey presto - clothes again! Followed by a good sleep.