Day Trip from Sydney - Mangrove Mountains to Wiseman Ferry

Mangrove Mountain to Wiseman Ferry route

I decided to kick off ANZAC day with exploring some new roads near Sydney and trust me it was a great decision. I plan to cover Mangrove Mountain to Wiseman Ferry; the road is 50+ kilometres  and need approximately 1.5 hours of drive time; however if you live in North of Sydney a round trip will be approximately 180 kilometres and 3.5 hours of driving.Click here to see the route in Google map.

I along with my kids head off north along with F3 and took exit at Calga after approximate 50 minutes of drive. We than progressed on Peals ridge road for approximately 20 minutes to reach Mangrove mountain. The drive was pleasant and one can observe lots of farm life, fresh fruits and vegetables on the way.

Rusted Engine at a Farm

Beautiful Country Side

We soon started on our journey from Mangrove Mountain to Wiseman Ferry. For the first few kilometres the road was rough but soon it has improved. The journey to Wiseman Ferry includes few very twisted winding roads, they are exciting and fun for driver. At times your driving skills will be tested if you are trying to keep the car on top end of speed limits. I'll definitely not recommend the trip the people who get motion sick very quickly. Soon, the road runs next to a river and you can see the mangroves all through the way. The scenery and beauty on the both side of the roads is unmatched.

We soon reached Spenser, a small village where we break for lunch. It was a small village restaurant plus bottle shop. It has almost everything you look for a small trip, including beer, wine, chips, ice cream, ice etc. you name it they have it. We enjoyed lunch, sitting next to the river. The ambience was calm soothing and pleasant. 

View from Spenser Village

 We soon head back to road and started enjoying the views and drive and came across this beautiful spot below :

Mangroves

Directions from Wiseman Ferry

As you keep driving you will come across Wiseman ferry, please see the map on right. The ferry operates 24 x7 and will ferry your car. As

you cross the ferry there is a beautiful park with all the facilities. It is a fun place to pass the time and enjoy with family before you head home. While driving back to home one should not miss Hawkins lookout  it a beautiful view of the river below.

View from Hawkins lookout

Please try out the route and provide your comments and feel free to add your experience as well...

Day trip to Glow Worm Tunnel and Pierces Pass

Last Friday, I was looking for an opportunity to break away from my busy work and all of a sudden I noticed a beautiful picture on my colleagues desktop. I did not waste a second to ask him the details and I was set for my next adventure.

History of the tunnel

We planned a day trip to visit “Glow Worm tunnel’ at Wollemi National Park, near Lithgow. The tunnel was originally part of Wolgan Valley Railway, the line opened in late 1906, while the last regular train ran in the 1930s, the line was dismantled in 1940. The tunnel is approximately 400 meters in length and curves through almost 180 degrees and therefore it is very dark and a small creek runs through it creating ideal conditions for “glow worms”.

There are couple of ways to reach the tunnel, we travelled to Lithgow through magnificent Bells Line of Road. From Lithgow we followed Inch street and then turning left to Atkinson street and following approximately 30Kms of gravel road. It is not advisable to travel this road of a night. We left our car at the parking area and had an easy and enjoyable 5 Kms walk to the Glow Worm Tunnel along the original railway formation. During the walk we passed through unusual rock formation.

Sign Post to tunnel

Beautiful rock formation

The tunnel was dark as Egyptian night and one should be careful as creek was flowing through the middle of the tunnel. We were carrying our flash lights, however we have to switch off the flash lights to see the glow worms. It was a stunning formation resembling the milky way in no moon night; thought bit extra bright. It was a marvellous experience.

Glow Worm tunnel entrance

 Look at the picture above a bit carefully to see the glow worms:

Glow Worms

We headed back to Sydney through Bells lines of road. While passing through Mt. Tomah Botanic garden we decided to take a break at Pierces Pass. The entrance to Pierce pass is on the right of bells line of road.We left our cars at the parking and walked for 1.2 Kms. The views of the Grose Gorge from the top are incredible  Pierces Pass leads to the Grose River and eventually to the Blue Gum Forest.

Track from Pierces pass

Grose river vally 

Views from Grose Gorge  

The round walking trip from the car parking was two hours and worth every bit of effort. The local area is also famous for its apples, fruit stalls, galleries, craft and antique shops.

It was a great outing for us involving healthy forest walk (bush walking), stunning rocks, exquisite glow worm formation, and finally beautiful panoramic view.

Southern Highlands - Take a day trip or short break

The southern highlands is a great place to relax, escape and unwind with amazing gardens, magnificent lookouts and many natural wonders to explore. It is only a 90 minute drive from Sydney and makes a fantastic destination for a short break or even just a day trip.

I decided to head to the Highlands to take a break from my daily routine and spend some time with my son. On a side note I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone and have fun in my new toy Skoda Fabia VRS135. A brilliant car or shall I say, a small rocket!

My new toy SKODA FABIA VRS 

We travelled to Mittagong from Sydney and visited the Information Centre. As usual, the friendly staff helped us to map out our itinerary for the days adventure. We started with the lookouts at Mt Gibraltar.The view of Bowral and Mittagong was breath taking not to mention the beautiful drive as there.

Views from Mt Gibraltar.

Lookout at Mt Gibraltar

We then made our way to Bowral, a very unique and beautiful town. Bowral was the home town of Cricket legend Sir Donald Bradman so of course we started at 'International cricket hall of fame' . This is a must visit for anyone who has any interest in Cricket. We stopped off for lunch at Kookabar Cafe, a great friendly European style cafe with peaceful ambience and delicious food.

We were fortunate enough to be in Bowral during spring, also known as tulip time in the region. Corbett garden is the home of tulip time and it presents a beautiful landscape filled with many varieties of tulips.

Corbett Garden, Bowral

Tulips @ Corbett Garden, Bowral

Corbett Garden, Bowral

Tulips @ Corbett Garden, Bowral

Of course, as with any short trip, we ran out if time. We said goodbye to the sea of vibrant tulips and fresh country air and made our way home. If you happen to start your trip a bit earlier in the day or if you are travelling during Summer be sure not to miss Fitzroy falls, at Moreton national park.

Tandem Sky Dive- The adrenaline rush

A few weeks back when my office colleague asked me if I would like to sky dive and I told him ‘why not?’, knowing  not in the least what I was up for. This ex army lad is quite capable of doing things out of this world and I am sure many of you have already experienced it. I believe Mark is quite effective in getting people to do things differently as soon my other colleagues and I discovered after realising we had signed up for an adventure of a lifetime. 



Jumping from plane



HA HA HA; for a minute remembering God

It was quite amazing to know that all of eight divers were diving for the first time. Each one of us had a different reason to dive today, it was an anniversary for a couple, 50^th birthday for another person and we also had a banker with us who declared quite openly that he was there because his 16 year old son was diving and he didn’t want to appear chicken.

My first glimpse of the plane we were to be travelling in was rather unsettling. I had never flown in a one engine plane before.  My instructor told me that due to age and only one engine, they could not fly during strong winds, thunder or any of abnormal conditions. As well as this disturbing fact I also noticed that even the pilot was wearing a parachute! This was somewhat disconcerting but I felt it was too late to back out now! Albion airport has no traffic controller and all the planes (most of them are novice pilots following their hobby) communicate on the same radio frequency for use of runaway strip for landing and take-off. Therefore, after a few unsettling starts and stops eventually our plane was on the runaway, taking off successfully.

Once we were off the ground and relieved from this uncharacteristic take off I started to focus on the beauty outside. Wollongong and its sea line is truly blessed with natural beauty, it was so wonderful to see the view outside. Within the next ten minutes, we were at a height of 14000 ft and the pilot announced that we would be diving in the next five minutes. We all looked at each other pretending to be cool and reassuring each other that all was well. Meanwhile my insides were telling a different story and I realised that we had no control of the situation anymore.

Finally the pilot announced the jump. I was the fourth person to jump and I watched with horror as I witnessed the other three going down and the expressions on their faces. A true Kodak moment!

My turn finally came and Tom took me to the open gate where he took his jumping position while I was hanging halfway out the plane like a terrified little Joey!  After a few very long seconds on the gate we made the jump. Whooosh!!!! What an experience, falling down at a speed of approximately 220 Km/ hr. For a moment I was blank, but very quickly started to enjoy the fall. I do not have words to describe the experience. I can’t compare this with any of my previous experiences and maybe that is why you should try this. The free fall lasted 60 seconds but was long enough to really feel it and enjoy it. The best part of the dive was crossing the thin layer of clouds and witnessing the beautiful coastline below. Soon after, the parachute inflated and we started sailing downward at a leisurely pace.

Wind Pressure make you look funny

Beautiful view of Wollongong coastline

View of Wollongong coastline

My diving partner then allowed me to control the parachute for the next few minutes before he took back control in preparation for landing. It was a great feeling to swing the parachute in different directions and it gave me a feeling of controlling my own destiny. One thing I must say is that I could not take my eyes off the breathtaking view.

Landing was easy enough and fortunately, it was on my diving partners legs.I really admire the planning and preparation of Sydney Beach sky dive team, the whole event was executed extremely well.

Bilpin – Apple picking experience

It was a boring Sunday morning after a dull Saturday. I was itching for some activity and something different, however too lazy to plan anything.  It was than my son 'Aryan' who pursued me to move out of home. We both didn't knew the answer to next obvious question where? And again Aryan recalled a place, we drove through during our last visit to Dubbo.  'Bilpin', A pretty little hamlet located on the Bells Line of Road. As we vaguely remember the place was on hills and famous for Apple orchards and great apple pies. Sounded like music to my ears, an opportunity to drive for couple of hours and apple picking sounded like fun. 

Royal Gala

After some web research (Goggling) we started for Bilpin, it was 90 minutes drive from our home at north shore and was just after Richmond. A beautiful drive once you cross the Richmond and drive through Kurrajong heights. Kurrajong is the aboriginal name for ‘shade tree’, which grew in abundance in the town. From Kurrajong Heights, you can see the orchards, the beautiful rolling green hills intermingled with the rugged bush covered rocks and views of the Grose Valley. It was sunny and even more beautiful as autumn season was setting in. 

Apple Farm

Aryan having fun

Catch one

Our first stop was The Bilpin Fruit Bowl, one of the numerous charming coffee stops featuring homemade apple pies, jams, local honey, Bilpin Apple Juice and Apple Cider Vinegar. We had our breakfast and discovered that the apple-picking season is almost over and only one orchard is still open. We rushed to Shields orchard to try our luck. To our disappointment apple picking was only allowed through pre-booking , which we obviously did not have. It was just than our luck turned and a family called up for last minute cancellation, allowed us a slot.

Humming Bird

Humming Bird

Shields is a large orchard with mainly three types of apples Royal Gala, Pink Lady and Granny Smith. One of the orchard employee explained us the map of the orchard and gave us the directions to find different type of apples. This was end of the season, so we really don't have to worry a lot about picking the ripened fruit. Most of apples were ready to be picked. We spent couple of hours selecting and picking plenty of apples. The apples were good, definitely tested much more fresh and juicy than our local supermarket. My son tested an apple and said ‘it is really fresh as if I have just picked it from tree’ and we all laughed. He has actually just picked the apple. The orchard was also the home of lots of beautiful humming birds, lorikeets and singing bellbirds.


While coming back from shields orchard, we stopped at a place called Tutti Fruitti, famous for its real-fruit ice creams. If you happen to drive through this area, don't miss out the Tutti Fruitti ice cream of this place. The ice cream is freshly made with fresh fruits, picked the same morning and blended with berries of your choice.


Overall, it was a great day out and a good fun with kids. I will highly recommend visiting Kurrjong Heights and Bilpin.

Dubbo Visit

[Credit to my daughter Anchal for helping me write this log ]

We were speeding through the traffic now. For the last 20 minutes we could not have moved more than 10 cm. We still had 5 hours of driving ahead of us and sitting in traffic for 20 minutes had already tired me out. Despite the fact that we raced out of the house at 6am to avoid the traffic, our good intentions were outmoded when it seemed like everyone else had the same idea. Not the best start to a peaceful weekend away.

As we entered the city, I looked in the rear vision mirror to find our kids fast asleep in the back seat. The views were not that far away now. My hope for this trip was to get far away from the city, to have a nice peaceful time in a small town with a tranquil environment. We were headed to Dubbo, a beautiful town north of Sydney. It was the perfect place, boasting a large zoo, and observatory which was perfect for the kids as well.

Lithgow Station, 1987

The views outside the car were magnificent. Acres of lush farmland expanding over hundreds of kilometres while the sun peeked through the clouds like gold pouring out of the sky. That beautiful sight must have made my ride because I can’t recall the next 4 hours of driving. Chatting with my family and playing atlas was all I must have done until I realised that we had reached our destination.

We checked into our hotel and decided to take an afternoon walk to explore the town, which turned out to be extremely impressive.

The next morning my family and I went off to the morning zoo tour. A tour specially designed to see the main attractions of the zoo and experience the animals without the crowd around. There were only a few other families on the tour so It was essentially us and the animals and of course the guide. 

Our Guide

Not only neck my tongue is also long 

Watch out for tall shed

As we were led through the zoo, some of the animals really stood out. The first enclosure we encountered was the monkey enclosure. The loudest monkeys I have ever seen. They can be heard 5 kilometres away from anywhere, and standing meters away was not pleasing to the ear. We saw some gross stuff as well… like the hippopotamus rolling in its own poo to get warm. I was very grateful that day that I wasn’t born a hippo. 

Sleeping in Poo keeps us warm

We didn’t get to see the whole zoo as it is so large so we decided to return after a trip to the observatory. Unfortunately when we arrived we discovered that the observatory was closed due to bad weather conditions. Upon our return to the zoo we decided to hire bikes because it would be much quicker to get around. We jumped on our bikes and began our 8 kilometre ride around the zoo.

The zoo offered numerous entertaining and educational shows, which I made sure we did not miss. The kids were very engrossed as well. I appreciated that all the animals were kept in their natural habitats, which for a photographer is an excellent opportunity.

Riding around, I saw my favourite animal; the Indian elephant. It was feeding time and they ate their grass leisurely allowing me to get some amazing snap shots. I also got some remarkable photos of the cheetahs, giraffes and lions. These were very rare opportunities but thanks to the beautiful open grounds and amazing animals, I was lucky enough to capture them. Despite being an adult, I enjoyed my zoo trip, riding around and watching the animals really did entertain me.  

A very old tortoise

Indian Elephant

It was the Lions's 10th birthday

Before we knew it, it was time to head back to Sydney. The two-day holiday had a magical effect on my family. They were happier and I personally felt very connected to them.

Heading back home, we came around the world’s second largest canyon. The views were stunning. Trees covered the mountains and while I was standing there, I saw a dazzling sight; a flock of birds soaring in the sky as one. They were too quick for me to take a photo but I was still able to enjoy their beauty.

Captree Canyon: World's second largest canyon

I would definitely recommend taking a visit to Capetree and Dubbo. This trip re-energized me  and it isn’t often that you stumble upon the kind of natural beauty that these two places have to offer.