I hope this is in the right place... Help a Murican plan a trip to 'Straya

Our Bathurst 2 day trackside+paddock pass tickets should be in the mail. We'll purchase the airfare in a couple weeks I think. I'm debating waiting untill closer to October to see if it goes down any, but I doubt it will.

A sincere thanks for all the good suggestions. I wish we were going for longer. Like a month at least.

If they are operating when you are there .. reopens late 2019? I do like to see it when they have the steam locos going... but it has been a while.
https://www.zigzagrailway.com.au/

Yep Mt Tomah - along the Bells Line of Road...
https://www.bluemountainsbotanicgarden.com.au/
That looks expensive to eat at - bring your own, they do allow it .. they have free electric BBQs. Costs to park your car there IIRC.

On the six foot .. mountain bikes on some sections would be ok. http://www.wildwalks.com/lists/six-foot-track/ But there are many walks that can be done with views and shorter walks.. http://www.wildwalks.com/

I'd do an afternoon sunset on these after visiting Jenolan Caves, good on your way back to Oberon.

That is the road from Bell to Mt Victoria, "The Darling Causeway"... if you do the Bells Line of Road out of Sydney, you travel long it to get to Hartley, then Oberon ... I think that is a good way to get there, scenic (at least once you leave suburbia). 'The Walls' lookout for instance - off Pierces Pass Road
Map .. https://goo.gl/maps/Z1PCNy9WZ3w
Note - Mt Victoria has a good pub -stop for lunch? Unfortunately google does not have it - that is why the memorial park is mapped there. The pub is across the road.

It has been 'restored' a few times. Unfortunately the walking track at the back is disused ... lots of tree fall some blackberry. There is not much else there other than the Hydro itself.

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For Bathurst you want a small day pack, some food, water, sun hat and wet weather jacket... If your both going to do some walks then you probably want the same for both of you.

No, that's the main road north of Mt Vic township. He was suggesting going south from town centre to look off the cliffs.


Speaking of the Darling Causeway and the Zig Zag Railway... If you catch the train from Mt Vic (or further east) towards Lithgow, it travels along the Causeway to Bell and then passes through something like a dozen short tunnels down to Zig Zag, which is just an unmanned platform. You used to be able to get off there, and then you had to literally flag down the return train. Not sure if you can still do that since the bushfire, you might have to go all the way to Lithgow which isn't that much further. Great stuff if you are in to trains!

I would skip visiting Kanangra Walls in a rental car in your tight time frame. Long rough dirt dead-end road to get there. Plenty of similar-enough views closer to the urban areas of the mountains. Several in Katoomba alone.

I would recommend the Undercliff-Overcliff walk at Wentworth Falls. Do as much or as little as your interest and capabilities allow.

There are a number of view points .. possibly Mount Piddington (has toilets and shelter)? But Pulpit or Sunset Rocks look better lookouts to me (nothing but the lookout).

Yep. Unless you have the time and can wash the car before return. Rental companies don't like there vehicles used on dirt roads much.

Fairly good views to be had from the Jenolan Caves Road back from Jenolan Caves to Duckmaloi Road.

One can get more information here than at any travel agent.

Local knowledge!

I lived there for several years, and spent ten years exploring the Blue Mountains caving, canyoning, hiking, biking and often a mix of them. My ex-wife (then gf) worked at Jenolan Caves House as night manager. I'd work late in western Sydney, ride out to her place in Lithgow, have dinner with her and then ride home when she went to work. Often I would ride out to JC and back just to have dessert after she started at 9pm.

My brother lives in Blackheath, so I get back there every few years. He's a climber, so it's been perfect for him. I absconded to NZ because the caving and motorcycling is better over here.

So we're not doing dirt roads?

Lockleys Pylon is out than. Bugger.

Have a great trip ..lots of info there dont get overwhelmed by it all..drive safe on proper(?) Side of road..

So I just realized that we will be there over your Labor Day weekend/week. Since we were considering not making reservations for most of the time we'll be there, are we going to find ourselves SOL with everything sold out on Oct 7-11th?

Here in the States Labor Day is a big vacation weekend/week, and expecting to find accommodations without prior reservations could be very difficult if it is in any touristy area.

Had a great night and an especially good feed at the old gaol at Sofala a while back, recommended.

Only on the weekend, probably. However it is in the middle of the NSW school holidays, 28 September 2019 Sunday, 13 October 2019, which does put some extra demand on things, but shouldn't be a big deal. The Christmas/summer holidays is another matter though, especially coastal.

Depends on where you'll be .. in Sydney there should not be any worry. Give a hint at where you'll be around then and you might get more of an idea? 5th and 6th will be the busy ones. The other factor to consider is traffic ... outwards fri night, sat morning. But worse is the inwards on Monday afternoon/night.

We won't actually arrive until Monday with the flight time and date change. We should be in Sydney until Wed, and then start heading in the direction of Bathurst.

Time zones and the dateline really mess with your sense of time when traveling. It takes 2 days to get there, but on the way back we land in LA 4 hours before we depart Sydney.

Warning: I'm drunk as I type this...

In person I'm normally quite reserved and a bit shy. I would love to have a conversation starter.. Would wearing a USA flag shirt or something equally rediculous to Bathurst get me killed or get people to talk to me? I really enjoy talking to locals when I'm out my home country.

I just dont want to get my ass kicked for crossing the line...

There are 2 kinds of people in bathurst for the race.
Holden (GM) people (red) and Ford people (blue). There will be a bit of banter between most of them. Don't get in the middle.

Yer .. I'd not identify myself with our governit, I don't know how you feel about yours but there will be a few that view MAGA as stupid or great. I'd rather not have that conversation. May be a NASCAR hat if you have some knowledge of it and don't hate it.

We're actually pretty good at picking accents. Just say you're from Canada ...

Just wear your favourite taxi driver team hat, find someone else with that hat and start talking.

Most people will be more then happy to fill you in on the touring car racing, Moffat & Bond's 1-2 finish, Dicky and the rock, Why Holden fans are a bunch of knuckle dragging neandarthals, why Bathurst race goers are a pack of arseholes and why Jimmy Richards is the greatest.

Calling a cunk an American is like calling a kiwi an ozie. FYI.

PAVLOVA IS AUSTRALIAN!

Airfare booked!

Side note, any of you ever had any experienced good or bad with renting a car through rentalcars.com? They appear to be be a broker like Priceline, Travelocity, etc and are offering a car from Tripz for a GREAT deal. Like sounds too good to be true deal.

TLDR
Are Tripz car rentals and rentalcars.com decent companies?

Anyone who has been to Bathurst before, do you have any tips for parking? We will be coming from Oberon which is SE I think. Just follow the signs for parking or try to park in town and catch a bus? I would like to be able to park as close as possible so we can leave a cooler in the car with some food, or a folding chair etc and not have to carry it all day.

What time should we plan to get there Saturday and Sunday?