Jervis Bay National Park

A few days later ... Jervis Bay National Park

I am writing this blog while sitting in our car. It has been a few days since the last update but little has changed. We are a few hundred K’s south of the Blue Mountains and the rain has not yet ceased. To be perfectly frank, I am tempted to find a man called Noah and see if he is building an exceptionally large boat. This much rain can only be a punishment from the almighty.

An early start and a beautiful sunrise

I’m certain that the Blue Mountains are splendid and well worth a visit, but after 5 days of thick mist, angry black rain clouds, wet clothing and temper tantrums we have decided to move on. Fortunately we were able to go off-road and make good use of the 4 wheel drive and Ju even gave it a go. Jolly good fun too.

Breakfast, Brit style

So we are now in a beautiful National Park, camping by a blinding white sand beach with perfectly still and crystal clear waters... apparently. We have not seen it yet. As I said, we are in the car, taking shelter from the perpetual and unrelenting artillery barrage of heavy rain drops. Even the sound of Goldfrapp playing on the laptop isn’t enough to drown out the rain. So we are trapped in this tin sarcophagus with nothing but cheap Jonny Walker whisky (I’m more of a single malt, 20 year Bendromach man myslelf but it was a gift so it must be drunk), cold baked beans (I have a slight preference for slow roasted lamb shanks, but unfortunately no lamb to hand) and an empty plastic bag to keep us amused.

On the plus side, we did stop off at a place that claimed to serve the ‘best pies in the world’ and they were particularly tasty. The pastry was deep gold and it came away in small, light flakes when touched and the chunks of beef were tender, the gravy thick and spicy and the aroma mouth watering. Was it the best though? Close but not quite. The best is still from Sanderson’s Butcher Shop in Edinburgh. I did, however, have the best milkshake I have ever had the honour to drink. It was old style chocolate flavour made with malt. It was not too cold and the size was generous. It was not too thick but creamy enough to go down well. Not too sweet so the flavour of the malt came through and it allowed itself to be sucked through the straw, into my mouth, down my throat before ending its journey into my grateful belly with alarming ease. Meat pie and milkshake, nice.