Tuesday, December 18 Sydney to the Blue Mountains – Kelly and Dan arrive!

     KD day had arrived and we packed up our stuff, cleared out the small in-room frig, and transported it to the nearby parking garage where our LC patiently awaited. Diana had found reduced parking tickets, saving $10 off the $30 a day charge. Not a bad deal for parking in the city, I suppose. Still, the car alone cost as much as camping normally does.

      With a height limit of two meters, we couldn't load up the top carrier until exiting the garage, so we drove to a suburb on the way to the airport to wrap up our gear in a big tarp and bundle it onto the roof rack. An old lady in her nightgown walked out to the street to see what we were doing, it didn't look like a neighborhood with much going on.

    Finally we had space to fit two more people with all their stuff (Kelly and Dan are going to New Zealand with us for a month or so, then will continue on to Italy, France, Spain and Ireland for a total trip of around 5 months). We drove to the airport and repeated the scene of a few days earlier when we had picked up Ryan. Now our Down Under traveling contingent is complete. We sure wish David could be with us too! Oh well, other times, other trips.

Big smiles from Kevin, Kelly and Dan ...

... and why not, Kelly and Dan get  to stand up after 24 hours on planes,
more or less 

     Unlike Kristy and Ryan, who got their first several days of Oz in the city, we headed straight to the Blue Mountains with KD. Well, sort of. First, of course, we did have to do a little shopping first, but eventually we made it.

Four young Yanks in the Blue Mountains

Burt family portrait

Kicking a rainbow

Walking along a ledge at Wentworth Falls

      After hiking around for awhile we drove to a free campsite where we had stayed three months earlier, set up camp, and had Turkish meat balls, couscous and cucumber/onion salad.

Kevin at the stove ...

and Dan making a salad

C'mon Kelly, give me a grin

First Oz dinner together