Visiting the Greater Blue Mountains Range was the most enriching part of our trip to Australia.
Although, we were without a credit card, all the three motels that we stayed in – The Active Holidays Big 4 Nepean River Park, The Lithgow Valley Motel and the Kurri Motor Inn held rooms for us, for which we had to pay on arrival. We were asked to arrive by 5pm at the Lithgow Valley motel as the cash facility would be closed post that.
Since this trip was on a budget, we managed to keep our costs low by surviving on Indian Ready to Eat packaged foods by Gits, MTR, ITC all of which were available at supermarkets like Woolworths, Coles and Aldi.
A tidbit on Woolworths or Woolies as it is more commonly referred to: F.W.Woolworths was started by Frank Woolworth in the US which became the first brand to go global, opening stores across the world. Infact, in its heyday, its shares were the gold standard of the New York and London Markets. However, in the late 1900’s, this very company saw a massive fall and is now better known as the Foot Locker Incorporation. The Woolworths supermarkets in Australia have nothing to do with the Woolies of the US. The company in Australia was earlier known as “Wallworths Bazaar Limited”, however, in the 1920’s, when the entrepreneurs of this entity realized that the name Woolworths wasn’t registered or trademarked in Australia and, since they had no intentions of opening retail outlets beyond the shores of Australia, they changed their company name to “Woolworths” thereby capitalizing on this name of great renown. Bitter legal battles ensued between the two Woolies, but nothing could be done and the Australian Woolworths were to stay.
Besides, we also carried with us a microwavable bowl and the basic cutlery and crockery. Except for the Nepean River Park, the other motels had a microwave and a basic kitchenette facility within the room. The Nepean River Park had a separate well-equipped, clean kitchen for the studio rooms; the kitchen had a small dining area too.
Armed with basic information from the internet, some maps in hand and the GPS which Don so generously lent to us, we were ready to explore this beautiful place. However, what we were not prepared for was the empty roads and the nearly isolated points! There were times we drove for a couple of hours without another car in sight, most of the times, it felt wonderful to be alone on the roads amidst the greenery, but sometimes, it did feel eerie (blame it on the kind of scenes from movies that occur on isolated roads)!
Having said that, we were packed, excited and ready to embark on our ‘learning through exploration’ on the various driving Discovery Trails for the first time in a foreign country.
Although, we were without a credit card, all the three motels that we stayed in – The Active Holidays Big 4 Nepean River Park, The Lithgow Valley Motel and the Kurri Motor Inn held rooms for us, for which we had to pay on arrival. We were asked to arrive by 5pm at the Lithgow Valley motel as the cash facility would be closed post that.
Since this trip was on a budget, we managed to keep our costs low by surviving on Indian Ready to Eat packaged foods by Gits, MTR, ITC all of which were available at supermarkets like Woolworths, Coles and Aldi.
A tidbit on Woolworths or Woolies as it is more commonly referred to: F.W.Woolworths was started by Frank Woolworth in the US which became the first brand to go global, opening stores across the world. Infact, in its heyday, its shares were the gold standard of the New York and London Markets. However, in the late 1900’s, this very company saw a massive fall and is now better known as the Foot Locker Incorporation. The Woolworths supermarkets in Australia have nothing to do with the Woolies of the US. The company in Australia was earlier known as “Wallworths Bazaar Limited”, however, in the 1920’s, when the entrepreneurs of this entity realized that the name Woolworths wasn’t registered or trademarked in Australia and, since they had no intentions of opening retail outlets beyond the shores of Australia, they changed their company name to “Woolworths” thereby capitalizing on this name of great renown. Bitter legal battles ensued between the two Woolies, but nothing could be done and the Australian Woolworths were to stay.
Besides, we also carried with us a microwavable bowl and the basic cutlery and crockery. Except for the Nepean River Park, the other motels had a microwave and a basic kitchenette facility within the room. The Nepean River Park had a separate well-equipped, clean kitchen for the studio rooms; the kitchen had a small dining area too.
Armed with basic information from the internet, some maps in hand and the GPS which Don so generously lent to us, we were ready to explore this beautiful place. However, what we were not prepared for was the empty roads and the nearly isolated points! There were times we drove for a couple of hours without another car in sight, most of the times, it felt wonderful to be alone on the roads amidst the greenery, but sometimes, it did feel eerie (blame it on the kind of scenes from movies that occur on isolated roads)!
Having said that, we were packed, excited and ready to embark on our ‘learning through exploration’ on the various driving Discovery Trails for the first time in a foreign country.
When we were last there instead of a car we saw the biggest kangaroo we had ever seen bobbing down the road! Paul
ReplyDelete