So, after almost five weeks in Australia it was time, with rather heavy hearts, to say goodbye and start to head home. Considering the last properly long haul flight had a William Danger Rating of almost Catastrophic we were fairly apprehensive but, as it happened, Wills was brilliant!

This time we were staying on Hong Kong Island itself rather than Kowloon as previously, so as to get a different perspective on things! We met up with an old friend, Simon, who now lives in Hong Kong and he took us on a great child friendly tour around some of the sights that we hadn’t already seen the first time we visited which was a great distraction from feeling sad about having to leave Oz.

“Child Friendly Tour of Hong Kong” is a fairly loose term, however, as HK Island isn’t the most pram friendly of places to go – the roads are so steep that most have steps on the pavements (meaning lots of carrying of prams) and there are hardly any drop curbs or easy places to cross (meaning quite a bit of dodging of traffic). Strangely, there seem to be children’s playgrounds on almost every street corner, so quite how parents get around on a day to day basis I’m not sure!

We started the day off by visiting the Man Mo Temple which was really interesting but very smoky from all the incense being burned – William insisted on lighting some himself before going outside and having a play on the playground opposite! After this, we had a walk through the antiques district, another play on a different playground and then hopped on a tram into the central business area. One of the strange phenomena of a Sunday in Hong Kong is that it is the day that all the predominently Filipino housekeepers/nannies get off. They all congregate in the centre of the city to go to church, socialise, chat and eat and the central square outside and underneath the HSBC building was absolutely packed with people!

Our child friendly tour of Hong Kong continued into Hong Kong Park and the Botanical Gardens where we had a lovely walk through an enclosed aviary, had some more time on another playground and saw orangutans, racoons, bearded capuchin monkeys as well as two very vocal siamangs.

After lunch in a delicious veggie Chinese restaurant we got a taxi and then a metro train out to the Chi Lin Nunnery, a Buddhist temple complex about 30 mins away in Kowloon. William hadn’t been to a playground for about an hour at this point and kept on asking, and asking, and asking to go to one! So, we got a fairly crazy minibus ride over to the other side of Kowloon to the area around Simon’s apartment complex where there was a large playground. After being in Australia and their very adventurous playgrounds, it did make us chuckle a bit that the playgrounds in Hong Kong had 4 foot high slides accompanied by signs saying “designed for children aged 5 to 12”!

We had a bite to eat with Simon and his wife Lisa back in their apartment a dizzying 48 stories up (including fireworks from Disney World in the distance), before a brief trip to the amazing kiddies soft play in the basement of their apartment complex. After that, we got a cab back to our hotel and went to sleep very tired but all quite happy  after having a great child friendly tour!

We’ve cheekily extended our stay here in Sydney by a couple of nights (why come this far and not make the most of it!), but this did mean we needed to unfortunately change hotels. So, while I took a taxi ride across the CBD with all our bags, Mel and Wills set off for the kiddies park in Darling Harbour again. After an hour or so we met up again and trotted over to the maritime museum where  we had a clamber over HMAS Vampire (a decommissioned war ship) and HMAS Onslow (a submarine). Wills was very good and on best behaviour – he had great fun pressing all the buttons and counting how many beds there were in the submarine!

The weather forecast had said all week that  it was going to rain so we had always planned to go to the aquarium. We’ve quickly learnt here in Sydney though that you shouldn’t believe the forecasters and it was probably one of the sunniest and hottest days we’ve had! After a bite to eat we still went to the aquarium but to cool down! It’s a very good one and has recently been fully refurbished… We think Wills enjoyed it but he spent most of the time running through it from room to room!

We started our last full day here by having breakfast in a lovely little French Patisserie in the middle of The Rocks, the oldest part of Sydney. After a bit of shopping we then took a trip up the Sydney Tower to get some amazing panoramic views of the city and Port Jackson followed by a ferry ride back out to Manly for a wander around and a final trip to the beach. Unfortunately due to a tired boy and an early start the next day, our final meal ended up being room service!

So, after four weeks of travelling around Australia, we’ve made it to Sydney, the place where we met when backpacking almost 11 years ago. Then, after four months of living and working here, we set off on a bus up the East Coast which started its journey over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It was only fitting, therefore, that our return to the city was over the very same bridge but in the opposite direction – we weren’t expecting to arrive in a massive thunderstorm, however, with lightning all around us!

We’re staying in an apartment hotel just off Darling Harbour, one of the main entertainment and nightlife areas – very touristy but quite fun all the same. It’s also a spitting distance from Pyrmont, the suburb where we lived when we were here previously so it’s been great, if not a little strange, to be back on our old stomping ground.

Sydney itself doesn’t seem to have changed much apart from some pretty major building work going on – it’s still a fantastic city with lots to see and do. After checking into our apartment (and dealing with a slight issue with the car hire drop off – Hertz Sydney shuts at 4pm on a Saturday and we didn’t know about it – whoops), we went for a bit to eat around Darling Harbour. By this time the rain had stopped and it was buzzing with people. This being Australia on a Saturday, there was also the obligatory free firework display across the harbour!

We’ve packed a lot into the last couple of days – we’ve been to the beach in Manly (Wills absolutely loved it), had breakfast in the café outside WakeUp!, the hostel where we first met (hasn’t changed a bit), discovered a fantastic kiddies park in Darling Harbour (with water fountains, massive slides and climbing nets), been on lots of ferries to and from different bits of the city, got soaked attempting to watch the St Patrick’s Day Parade, visited the Sydney Fish Markets (and saw giant tuna being landed with Wills asking questions about every different type of fish), revisited the apartment block where we used to live (we’d forgotten what a lovely area it was) and wandered through the Botanical Gardens. I’ve also managed to sneak out for a few beers to catch up with an old uni mate who now lives out here!

Only three nights left in Australia, but we’ve still got lots left to pack in to our time here!

On the way into Sydney, and after our Wentworth Falls walk we stopped for a bite to eat at a café within the Blue Mountains National Park.

As soon as we got out of the car William ran around to the boot and said he wanted his buggy. We thought it strange and pointed out to him that the café was only about 10 metres away and why on earth did he want his buggy?! After trying to reason with him we picked him up and carried him – cue almighty tantrum saying how much he wanted his buggy. This went went on while we sat down and he was so noisy it made a couple near us move seats!

Up until this point he had been in an exceptionally good mood so we just didn’t understand why he was playing up. After a while, and in order to keep the peace, stupid Daddy actually went and got the pram (aka buggy) out of the car. But still Master Walker was not happy, insisting he wanted his buggy!

Tensions were starting to rise somewhat and as a last resort we asked him what his buggy looked like… so he said “green and with wheels”.

We finally realised that he meant his Octobuggy – a cheapy plastic thing from the cartoon Octonauts that came free with a CBeebies magazine ages ago!

One more trip to the car and the Octobuggy was retrieved. As soon as he had this he was happy and went back to his chirpy self, calling it his “favourite green buggy” and flirting with some French students behind us!

For the last couple of nights we’ve been living in a quirky place called The Old Dairy on the outskirts of Leura in the Blue Mountains. It’s a modern development but 95% made out of recycled materials – we’ve been staying in their “Buttercup Barn” – a cozy little hideaway.

The Blue Mountains are about an hour and half’s drive outside of Sydney and I visited them when I was backpacking 11 years ago. Mel never made it, and Wills never existed!

Leura itself is a sweet little village with some quaint and quirky little shops and cafés with leafy roads and beautiful colonial-style houses. Since Melbourne it’s probably the busiest place we’ve been to, but it’s actually quite refreshing to be somewhere with a bit more going on!

The main attraction in the area is obviously the mountains themselves and there are lots of walking tracks in the area – not something immediately accessible with a toddler, however in Katoomba, the next town along, there is the rather cringely-named Scenic World. It’s not actually a naff theme park but is an attraction built around the Scenic Railway which, as well as being the world’s steepest railway, was originally built to haul coal out from mines at the bottom of the cliff face that runs along the length of the towns in the area. It has now become a tourist attraction taking people up and down into the rainforest at the foot of the cliff and Wills absolutely loved it. Once in the rainforest, there was a lovely board walk which took us to a cable car which, in turn, hauled us back up the cliff – all with spectacular views of the Three Sisters rocks. Another cable car carried us along the cliff face from where we had a short walk to the Katoomba Cascades – William thoroughly enjoyed having a clamber around on them with his daddy!

After leaving Leura and heading into Sydney we thought we’d stop and walk the Charles Darwin Walk in nearby Wentworth Falls. We’d been told beforehand that it was a nice walk for kids to do and were expecting something in the same vein as the Kid’s Garden in Melbourne, but in fact it was a proper 5 km walk to Wentworth Falls themselves and back – all along a small stream and out to the falls themselves which were quite hairy with a steep drop. Very pretty but quite hard in parts with a little boy on your shoulders and not the easy little stroll we were expecting!

As one drives around Australia, you periodically see signs indicating the current bushfire risk in the area that you’re in – the so called Fire Danger Rating Scale. This ranges from Low/Moderate through to Catastrophic or Code Red. However, as we’ve driven around Australia, we’ve devised our own complimentary scale using the same rating levels.

The William Danger Rating Scale (or Will-o-meter) indicates the success of a car journey or meal out and uses a complex formula including, but not limited to, number of toys thrown, decibels of shouting from the back seat, time spent sleeping, amount of dinner eaten and general grumpiness.

We had a short three hour drive to the Blue Mountains today but, despite this, the first hour or so of our journey was rated Very High/Severe with much shouting and throwing of toys.

After feeding the goats and alpacas (again), we left the farm and set off driving up the wiggly road out of the Kangaroo Valley. We stopped after the first hour at a historic pretty village called Berrima – parts of which could be lifted straight out of the Cotswolds. It’s one of the earliest settlements in NSW and was apparently once a much more important town – this can be seen with the large courthouse and old gaol that until recently was still a prison. The town also has a very good children’s playground and Wills had great fun on the swings, slide and his first go on a zip wire – this, combined with a cake with a smiley face on improved his mood immensely!

The next two hours in the car therefore went fairly smoothly with Wills fast asleep for most of the journey around Sydney and up into the Blue Mountains. Danger rating scale Low/Moderate!

Anyone who tells you that all of Australia is red, dry and barren needs to visit the Kangaroo Valley. The whole valley is green and lush and today we discovered why!

We woke up to a light drizzle by English standards and, after a couple of hours it was clearing a bit so we trotted out for a coffee in the village and then drove to the nearby Fitzroy Falls – a fairly spectacular waterfall with beautiful views from the edge.

After a picnic lunch, we returned to the farm to chill out for a bit before dinner – think more swings, slides and feeding of the alpacas and goats (especially the goat that William has dubbed ‘greedy goat’). At this point ominous dark clouds appeared on the horizon and the heavens properly opened – fairly strong winds, thunder and lots and lots of rain! Because it’s still warm here though, we were able to stand outside, under the veranda watching it all until the wind started blowing the rain in our faces!

An hour of rain and Australian Kid’s TV later (mostly UK imports so Wills was happy), and the weather eased enough to pop into the village for a quick Thai meal before bed – a nice change from the normal rural-Australian pub staple of Chicken Parmigiana and Chips!

William has decided to start waking up at his normal (i.e. early) time, but it did mean that that we were able to see the mist come across the valley as the sun came up – a quite magical view. After breakfast William had a good play on the slides and swings just outside our little cottage – it’s amazing how his confidence has grown over here on their playgrounds  which are definately more challenging than those back at home. – he’s now going down slides forwards, backwards and upside down!

The farm really is a beautiful place – once we’d managed to prise Wills away from the slide we went for a little walk around. After feeding the goats and alpacas (again), we went to check the Chook House to see if the chickens had left us any eggs that we could have for lunch (two of them). We then wandered down to the creek at the bottom of the farm and through the meandering grass pathways that Frank the farmer’s mowed through the fields and meadows – every time we’ve seen him he seems to be mowing, but then they’re preparing for a wedding at the farm this weekend – what an idyllic place for it!

The day was turning into a scorcher, so we cut our walk a little short and drove into Kangaroo Valley village for lunch and a mooch around. There are a few nice shops and old buildings in the small village as well as the fairly impressive Hampden Bridge. Our relatively lazy day was finished off nicely with a BBQ and a couple of glasses of good Aussie wine…

Our roadtrip  along the Princes’ Highway continued today and after a couple of nights in Merimbula we were quite sad leave. Unfortunately the kangaroos weren’t initially around for William to say goodbye to which meant sad faces all around. However as we were driving down the drive to go, they all popped out which then meant happy faces all around!

Today was our last proper long driving day (around 4 1/2 hours), but the scenery seemed much nicer now we’ve crossed the border and it seemed to go faster and more smoothly all around. For the previous few days we’ve been tending to go through a lot of forests and woodland which, while very lovely, has tended to get fairly monotonous after a while. Today, however, we were treated to spectacular vistas of beautiful hills, rolling green countryside, pretty little historic towns such as Tilba Tilba and some beautiful coastal scenery.

Whichever way you drive into Kangaroo Valley it involves a drive along a fairly  narrow, wiggly road that switchbacks up and up before dropping down again into the valley below. It’s well worth it though as it’s probably the prettiest place we’ve been to so far on our trip. We’re staying at Minimbah Farm in a beautiful little cottage and, to rip off their own marketing, it has “views to live for”. There’s a great Play Fort for Wills to run around on and alpacas, goats and chickens to feed.

We popped into Kangaroo Valley village to have a bite to eat at the local pub and then were looking forward to a nice glass of wine on the verandah while Mstr Walker nodded off in his room. He, however, had other ideas and it took him a good two hours to get to sleep, by which time we were exhausted and ready for bed!

Over the last few days we’ve been putting down some good miles driving around the Victoria coastline and have now crossed the border into New South Wales.

After leaving Phillip Island, we stopped for lunch on the Wilson’s Promotory, a peninsula and national park that is mainland Australia’s most southerly point. It was beautiful, with lovely sandy beaches and one, called squeaky beach that literally squeaks as you walk on it – this is to do with the rounded quartz in the sand apparently.

The last couple of nights we’ve been staying in Metung, a small little village on the edge of the Gippsland Lakes. It’s very nice but very sleepy and not a whole lot to do in the area apart from boating and fishing so we went out on a boat trip yesterday when we saw a seal, black swans and other birds, but not the dolphins that sometimes come into the lake system from the coast.

A slightly shorter drive today, around 3 1/2 hours in total, with a couple of stops, but it still didn’t stop our darling son from having a rather large meltdown about half an hour from our destination… which is just outside Merimbula at the Woodbine Park Eco Cabins. On arrival here we were greeted by the resident ‘chooks’ as well as the semi-tame ‘roos – Wills was given some feed for them which straight away improved his otherwise grumpy mood. Can’t wait to explore more tomorrow – we’re on the edge of a national park and about 10 mins walk from a beautiful beach.