Apologies to my PBase community regulars, who I have been neglecting for a while now. Some of you may be aware that I had to spend some time preparing to deliver a talk for a conference that I went to the previous week. Then this week it was time to do a long weekend getaway for some de-stress and recuperation.

Setting out just before sunset (not the greatest of all possible ideas, but the only viable option) we made our first pit stop at The Coffee Club in Shellharbour for a light dinner, which on this occasion was accompanied by a live music performer.

Who, alas, most people ignored.

After that it was time to head south on the highway. In, by this time, intermittent rain. The highway which, incidentally, is being rebuilt on the approach to Berry resulting in a combination of line markings that run in random directions, water on the road, no roadside lighting, and the glare from oncoming headlights bouncing off said wet road.

That was the easy bit.

Our destination was one of four resort cottages in Kangaroo Valley, a quiet, rustic town of some 320 people which can be approached from one of two directions, both of which are narrow, winding, hairpin bend-laden paved goat tracks which are prone to having wombats on them. The main river crossing on the northern approach from the Southern Highlands is a historic wood and sandstone suspension bridge, built at the end of not the last century, but rather the one before that. It has only a single lane, and cannot have two trucks on it at once even going in the same direction. We took the other route which is just as exciting.

Still, we arrived in one piece then one of us set to work with a vengeance at getting the log fire started. But once it was going; a warm, well-furnished cabin in the bush with all mod cons, a humungous bathtub in a humungous bathroom and a log fire and some light rainfall; hard to get much more relaxing than that.

As for Kangaroo Valley itself; well, the number of eateries, you could count on one hand. The number of ATMs and banks; those you don't even need to count on a single finger because there aren't any. Frankly allowing for demographic distribution I have no idea how the tourist places are staffed with the population available (with a surprising number of young staff) although the census number above is probably for the town itself rather than the town plus surrounding lands.

But the place has a beautiful, tranquil feel to it. I would probably go mad living there but to visit for a battery recharge... well, it's a great place to do it.

The rain had cleared by the following morning, for the most part at least. But there was still a heavy mist in the early hours, which burnt off quickly once the morning sun got up high enough. In this shot you see the view from our verandah, looking over the lake just outside, a little before that happened.