July 2, 2018
I woke up this morning at 6:30 a.m. and my back is killing me. It hurts so badly that I can hardly move. You would think with the two massages that I have gotten in the last 5 days, maybe that would have helped…or maybe that’s the problem, since my back pain is new. It hurts to move, it hurts to sit and it hurts to lay down. I can’t bend over, my lower back is completely messing with me right now. I bet it’s all of the different beds, which means this will probably be a recurring theme during our travels, ugh!
I finally woke Rich up at 7:45, because I was dying for coffee, which I really needed this morning. We headed to breakfast, where I started a discussion about how it feels like we have been at this place (Wolgan Valley) forever and the time here is just too much, it is too long of a stay. Nothing feels real here, it all feels manufactured and fake. The trails aren’t real, they are all man made, the atmosphere is rustic with cabins in the mountains, yet they are trying to pull off fine dining at dinner, and they are doing a very poor job of it, if I might say. There isn’t enough to do here for 3 full days, we needed to just come visit for a day to see the mountains and leave. It doesn’t help that the weather is not good today, it is spitting rain and very dreary out. We decide that we will try for a second spa trip and maybe that will keep help my back and make me feel better.
Unfortunately, the spa is booked today, probably due to the weather, so we decide to tough it out, dress for the cold weather and go do a hike. My back is feeling a lot better, I think it is just really stiff when I wake up and after a couple of hours of moving around it starts to relax.
We head out on our hike, there is a spot that Rich saw on our bike ride that he wanted to go back and check out. We walked for awhile and the photography was amazing. There were kangaroos everywhere, it was quite fascinating to see them all in the wild, especially when you aren’t used to it. I stopped about every 10 seconds to take pictures. We finally made it up to the top of the “mountain” (more like a foothill) to the landing where they had a platform for a lookout. There was a nice little set up with a table and some bench seating, so we sat down and took it all in for a bit. The views were amazing. After being there for about 20 minutes a jeep pulls up and two guys crawl out of the back with a picnic basket. I guess our time here is done. Some things just lose their appeal when you have to share with others. We head back down and back towards the cabin. The entire hike took us about 2 1/2 hours. I was super anxious to see if I got any good kangaroo pictures!
After dropping the camera and backpack off we headed to lunch, or our daily dose of torture that these meal times have become. Just like the previous days, the lunch service took forever and they forgot Rich’s smoothie. I really don’t get how hard this is, but I have learned to just smile and realize that if they were rocket scientists, they would be working for NASA.
We headed back to our cabin to see if they had cleaned yet. Before we left, we opened the “dirty” drawer with the trash in it and the dirty cup with the used tea bag to make sure that they would get it cleaned up this time. We open the cabin door and notice that our bed was made, so the cleaners had been here and I go straight for the cup drawer. I open it up and what do you know, the trash and dirty cup and tea bag are still in there! Unbelievable! I am flabbergasted, what a bunch of lazy @%&*@! Breathe, I just have to remember to breathe. I will not only be leaving a bad review, I am going to be complaining to the travel agency that booked us here. They need to know what kind of place they are sending clients too. I guess that is the best that I can do for now, we are leaving tomorrow anyway and I can’t wait to get out of here!
I spent the next few hours trying to plan a trip to Hawaii in August, I need to get tickets before it gets any later and I would rather do that than sit and watch tv, so I occupied my mind and time planning more travel! I should really be a travel agent, I am a pro at finding and booking the most complicated travel plans. This time I was trying to get my Mom and I there at the same time from two different locations, which proved to be tricky out of the tiny airport that she lives by, but I did it! It always puts you in a better mood knowing that you are going to Hawaii.
By this time, it is dusk and we don’t have long before dark and since it is our last night here, we decide that we should take another walk and enjoy the Blue Mountains one last time, because I don’t think that we will ever come back. We went on a 2 mile walk and it was very pretty with the sun going down behind the mountains. The wombats were out and it was very peaceful. It was time very well spent.
After our walk we went to dinner and true to form, it was a hot mess. The staff was super friendly, to the point of being ridiculous and just not real, that is so annoying. I just want something here to be real and that would help everything! Dinner took forever like usual and we finally got up after our entrees and left again without saying anything, because once again, I was falling asleep at the dinner table. This dinner seriously took over 2 1/2 hours and we only had our entrees. We got back to our room and finished packing up, because it was going to be an early morning. Our ride was picking us up at 6 a.m. to head back to Sydney to the airport.
