As a result of working over part of the Easter weekend, a “day in lieu” was available so we decided to make a long weekend of it. Unfortunately we overlooked “Mother’s Day” so our long weekend would only be Friday and Saturday.
For sometime now, “She” has wanted to have a security door added to the motorhome so this weekend provided the perfect opportunity to have a door fitted by Winnebago on the Friday and then to continue on for a night away in the Blue Mountains.
Arrangements were made to visit Winnegabo Industries at Penrith NSW “first thing” on Friday so we were on the road just after 7.00am for an 8.00am arrival at Penrith. The door was fitted and after spending some money in the Winnebago shop, we were mobile just after 10.00am. The “Roam Safe” door is totally up to expectation and our early impression is that the addition will be well worth the investment.
We stopped in at the new Sydney RV outlet in Penrith to “say hello” and then spent a fair amount of time having a look at a new Esperence. After departing Sydney RV, we stopped to look at some awnings and were finally climbing into the mountains at 1.30pm. We stopped for lunch at Bulls Camp at Woodford which is a picnic area with toilets. This is noted in the “Camps” publications and is probably the last free camp site heading towards Sydney from the west.
We stopped at the Katoomba Caravan Park (booked out) and then headed to Blackheath where we secured a camp site.
The weather on Friday afternoon was sensational and we finished the day late in the afternoon with a walk in Blackheath Park where the colours from the onset of autumn on the trees and bushes were magnificant. The night was cool and that provided perfect conditions for a good sleeep.
We awoke to another magnificant day on Saturday and took the edge off the low temperature inside the motorhome courtesy of the diesel heater. After breakfast we commenced our journey back towards Sydney but took the opportunity to visit Cahills Lookout at Katoomba (Cliff Drive), a lookout that we had no recollection of visiting in the past. We spent close to an hour there taking in all the glory of the Megalong Valley and the distant Kanangra Walls as the cloud cover slowly lifted from the valley.
We arrived home early afternoon.
The most significant event from the weekend was the average fuel consumption for the trip. We refuelled at Lawson on the way up the mountains and when finally returning to the start of the M4 at Pentrith, the average consumption was down to 11.21 litres per 100k’s and still dropping. 40 kilometres later when arriving home, this had risen to 11.61 litres per 100k’s. This is the best fuel consumption we have had since owning a motorhome and proves that they can be very econimical provided that you travel around the 80 kph mark, do NOT use cruise control and drive the vehicle in MANUAL mode.