The Many Adventures of Krissy and Chris - Part II

There we were, an hour outside of Sydney, on the shoulder of the M4. Cars and trucks were whizzing past at 110 km/h, and we had a flat tire. We had borrowed a car from a friend for a day, and after taking a moment to try and wrap my brain around driving with a manual transmission (It's been 5-6 years!!), then another to come to grips with shifting left-handed, we set off for the Blue Mountains. The trip had started off so well - despite having a lack of relevant maps (we had at least 4 maps, none of them seemed to be very helpful however) we had managed to wind through the city from Bondi Junction, straight out onto the M4, in what somehow seemed to be perhaps the most efficient route possible.

I hit the emergency flashers, set the hand-break, checked and double checked to make sure I wouldn't be run over, then hopped out of the car. A few minutes of poking through the trunk yielded a pleasant surprise, the elusive full-sized spare! Along with a lug-wrench and a jack, it looked like we were going to be back on the road in no time! I quickly got to work while Krissy gave our friend a call, to inform her of our little mishap with her car. Before we knew it, I was cranking down the lug-nuts (uhhhm, dear, the car seems to roll quite a bit when you push on that...) and preparing to re-embark on our journey!

Then I hear Krissy's voice ring out - "Uhm, Dear, should the car be leaking quite that much?" Yikes! There was a large puddle of something under the car, near the front passenger side wheel. And it was dripping at a rather alarming rate. Deciding to head to the nearest gas station where we could more safely evaluate the status of the car, we threw the flat into the back, hopped in, and turned off the emergency flashers. I set the clutch, and turned the key to start up and get back on the road and... the battery was dead. Apparently those quick few minutes of running the flashers had been enough to put the poor thing over its limit. Now this was a sticky situation. We were on an up-hill grade, and traffic was flying by mere inches from us. The road wasn't steep enough to roll backwards on, but steep enough to make it impossible for Krissy to push us up the hill so I could compression start it the car. Krissy can't drive a stick, and we decided that here and now on the side of the highway wasn't the time, or place to learn to compression start a car with a manual transmission, so me pushing was out of the question.

It seemed that the only option we had was to have Krissy push against traffic (Did I mention it was mere inches away? At 110 km/h?!?) backwards and down the hill, and hope to gain enough speed to start the car - still in reverse. It seemed that finally some luck was on our side! The car fired up, I managed not to smash in the oncoming traffic, and we set off again for the Blue Mountains!!

As soon as we reached a town, we went into the aforementioned gas station to evaluate the situation. While sitting there in the parking lot, we decided to take a quick break and eat some of the food we had packed for the day in order to get our spirits back up. That's when it happened.

Right next to the parking lot there was a tree, and in this tree were two parrots. (lorikeets? Krissy loves to see whatever they are, colorful and happy, it always raises her spirits) As we gazed, there was a sudden flapping, and next thing we know... they were getting it on. This was some serious discovery channel action, bouncing along with tail feathers fluttering to the rhythm. It was unmistakable, those parrots were shagging. We had a good laugh, as they parted themselves, and went back to looking innocent. Right as we were turning back to the car, round two began. After thoroughly exhausting themselves, and our spirits considerably raised, we decided to risk the car, and hit the road for the Blue Mountains!

The rest of the day turned out to be amazing. We weren't sure of what to expect at the mountains, but we hiked the 6 k National Pass Trail, around Wentworth falls. The first hour, and last half-hour of the hike there were tons of people around, but for 2 hours or so in the middle we didn't see another soul. Just one striking view, heart-thumping lookout, or stunning waterfall after the next. At the end of the hike we stopped to take in the last views and enjoy a cold drink, then headed back into Sydney. The little car? It got us back home safe and sound!