1. Mike and I are now settling into our second house sitting gig on the Mornington Peninsula. Mornington is a popular beach getaway for Melburians so we are pretty excited to be here.

2. I’m working on changing this space up quite a bit so if anything goes funny, sorry about that!

3. This actually happened awhile ago and I just kept forgetting to mention it. Battered Suitcases was named a finalist for Best Teaching Abroad Blogs of 2012 at Teacherport. Since I haven’t actually taught for nearly a year, it’s a bit funny to me. But I do appreciate that they took the time to dig through my archives to find the teacher bits. There are plenty of great blogs on the list so if you’re interested in teaching abroad be sure to check them out.

xo, jill 

After two days of travel, we finally arrived in Hillston. Hillston is a small town (pop. 1,054) situated on the banks of the Lachlan River. It’s essentially in the middle of nowhere. The nearest city, Griffith, is a good hour’s drive away. Of course, that’s not really too remote in Australian terms, but we definitely felt isolated.

Shortly after our arrival we signed paperwork to pick cherries. Cherry picking, however, is a big ol’ story on it’s own. I won’t get into that just yet.

In all, we spent 3 weeks in tiny little Hillston, picking cherries and living in our tent. It was surprisingly comfy and cozy. I actually looked forward to crawling into our tent each night.

The town is comprised of a few short blocks of local businesses and surrounding houses. As you can imagine, there wasn’t much to do. One afternoon we walked over to the lake…only to find no water in sight! When we weren’t cherry picking, we spent a good amount of our time at the library, shopping for groceries at the only market, and relaxing at our campsite.

One of the biggest challenges of staying in Hillston was adjusting to small town store hours. The market was only open 3 hours on the weekend, while we were in the orchard. If we didn’t buy the food we needed on Friday, we’d be pretty hungry until Monday rolled around. The lack of refrigeration made it even trickier.

Still, it was nice to experience a bit of small town life.

xo, jill 

After visiting Portland and still on our way to Hillston, Mike and I needed a place to sleep for the night. We decided to swing into the small town of Forbes. I’m so glad we did. Forbes is gorgeous. I felt like we were walking down streets 60 years in the past. In a good way! I loved seeing all the small businesses and the meticulously groomed park grounds. Clearly, the residents of Forbes take pride in their town.

If you ever want to visit Forbes, I recommend visiting during the annual nearby Elvis Festival. Just make sure you make your arrangements a year in advance!

xo, jill

After leaving the Blue Mountains, Mike and I headed further into the interior. Our final destination was Hillston, but we hit a few stops along the way. I mean,  as someone from the Pacific Northwest, if you see a sign for Portland you gotta pull off the road, right? I was excited to do a little comparison.

Population:
Portland, OR = 593,820
Portland, NSW = 2,095

Elevation:
Portland, OR = 6.1 meters (Downtown waterfront)
Porltand, NSW = 925 meters

And well, that’s about all the information I got off the sign. But as you can see from the photographs, population and elevation aren’t their only differences. (If you’re not familiar with what Portland, Oregon looks like, click here.)

We didn’t do much more than walk down the street and duck into a few shops, but it was a fun little detour.

xo, jill 

We couldn’t leave the Blue Mountains without getting a closer look at the Three Sisters. The Three Sisters are rock formations on the edge of the Jamison Valley (at Echo Point). They are also probably the best known site in the area. When you see tourism advertisements for the Blue Mountains, you’re looking at the Three Sisters.

From Echo Point we hiked down the Giant Stairway to the sisters. (Their names are Meehni, Wimlah, and Gunnedoo.) At this point you can take the stairs down to the valley floor to connect to a longer hike, but we were out of time.

Thus concludes our visit to the Blue Mountains.

xo, jill