Update

Blue Mountains

I hadn't realised it has been over a month since I last posted. The last four weeks have whizzed by so quickly, I honestly don't know where the time is going.

We are still looking (in vain?) for an apartment/house/anything to purchase. I thought I'd found our dream house, but the auction was yesterday and it went for well over what we were told by the agent and anticipated.

Let's just say that it was a smidge under a million.

A million.

Yikes.

Add to that the value of the Aussie dollar isn't doing us any favours and you get the gist of how frustrating this whole process is becoming.

On a lighter note, we headed out to Blackheath in the Blue Mountains last week for a bit of R&R. We caught the train out on the Friday afternoon and in two hours we were there. The walk from the train station to the house we were renting was a good 15 minute brisk walk, which was certainly the pace we kept given it was absolutely freezing.

That evening we had dinner at the lovely Ashcrofts in town - J had lamb brains to start and I the pate (I love, love love pate, in all it's artery-clogging glory!). J said the lamb brains were delicious, and I took his word for it - I just couldn't stomach the thought of tasting it, let alone feeling the texture of it rolling around in my mouth...ugh.

For the mains I had lamb chops with a herb crust, and J pork with colcannon. J said his dish reminded him of Irish boiled ham with potatoes and cabbage - which is essentially what colcannon is, I believe; and was just what he needed on that cold winter's evening. My chops weren't very lamby in flavour, if you know what I mean, but by golly it was the most tender lamb I'd eaten in my life. I reckon I won with my choice, but J thought it was a tie.

We spent the next day bushwalking at nearby Govetts Leap, before heading to the local pub for a few beers in front of the cozy fire. My brother arrived that evening and we had juicy local steaks with baked spuds in the house.

My brother had gotten all his friends to chip in to purchase a telescope for his birthday earlier this month, which he excitedly brought with him to test out on the clear night sky. J and I only lasted about 20 minutes in the cold, but my brother very happily stayed out until the lens started freezing over. Ah you gotta love it!


Grand Canyon walk - Blackheath, Blue Mountains

We did a brilliant hike the following day with the Grand Canyon "walk". The tourist centre suggested it would be a three hour (which is was), medium (which it wasn't), hike. It certainly got our hearts pumping and knees groaning with all the climbing we had to do, and there were times we thought the trail would never end. But feeling all that fresh air in the lungs was incredible, and it was exhilarating when we finally finished. Something to be done again.

I guess we must have brought the cold back to Sydney with us as it has been very chilly this week. So tonight I'm going to attempt shepherd's pie again. I haven't made it in years, and I lost the recipe I had when my Hotmail account got disabled, so tonight, I'm going to do it purely by guesswork. Wish me luck!