Sam and E-J's Adventure

The 27th March was another Birthday for E-J. To celebrate, we all got up incredibly early to go to the Blue Mountains. As a special treat, E-J's parents had organised for us to all stay at the swish, luxury hotel, Lilianfels.

On arriving there, although our rooms were not ready yet, we were immediately made to feel welcome and the place looked like a country, state home, with lots of plush, comfy furniture in the lobby area.

We decided that we would do a walk straight away, so headed to Echo's Point to get the incredible, postcard photo of the Blue Mountains.

We were not disappointed and were also incredibly lucky with the weather, as it had said that it might rain, but something had been on our side and it was sunny. We started the walk going down the giant steps and this was more painful than we realised, but we were grateful to be going down them and not up, unlike some of the crazy, red faced people that we passed.

The walk was three hours in total and it took us all around the Blue Mountains and to the most spectacular look outs.

What also was very lucky, was that not many people had decided to do the same route as us, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves, which made it all the more special.

After the three hour walk, we were all pretty exhausted and thankfully retreated to our now, ready rooms. The rooms were fantastically huge and the hotel had very kindly left us a complementary bottle of sparkling wine for E-J's Brithday. Tiff then suprised E-J with a Brithday cake and we all sat around having cake, sparkling wine and watching E-J open her pressies. This was so much more than E-J had ever expected to receive on her Birthday and even more so when travelling. She felt utterly spoiled.

Then, Sam and E-J sprung a surprise on Tiff, telling her that she had a massage at the hotel spa in ten minutes time as an early Birthday present. Then Sam turned to E-J and said that she had a massage too, at the spa as part of her birthday present and then finally Sam and E-J turned to Nettie and told her she also had a massage in half an hour. All the girls were incredibly shocked by this as none of them had realised that they were having one, yet had been aware of the secret of each others. It was only Sam who had, had the game plan and finally, could enjoy an hour or so of peace, away from the chattering women and watch some good, old sport on TV in his room, Bliss.

The women all ran off to get into the appropriate attire and had the most wonderful massages and pampering session.

After the indulgence of the afternoon, we all got ready for supper which we had organised to have in the lobby area of the hotel. As E-J was about to borrow Tiff's dress for the evening, Sam surprised E-J with a beautiful red dress he had bought her for the evening. It was perfect and a wonderful present to end on.

The food was delicious and the waiters made an exceptional effort to make it a special night, with a complementary glass of champagne for E-J and a sparkler in her pudding! It was a fantastic evening.

We ended the night with another bottle of sparkling wine back in E-J and Sam's room. Though after a while, both Sam and Nettie had to leave the Boutwood sister's to it, as they couldn't quite keep up with their pace!

The next day we all had an early swim in the indoor pool, followed by an incredible breakfast of everything you can imagine. After this, we walked around the gardens of the hotel before heading to the Wentworth Falls.

As we were all quite stiff from the exertion of the day before, we all opted for the twenty minute walk to the first look out, which was perfect.

Appreciating the view and after much deliberation, the women finally got into the right pose for the picture...well, almost...

Thoroughly satisfied with all we had seen, we headed back to the City and stopped at the famous fish market on route. The fish market, is a place packed with stalls of fresh and delicious fish, ranging from absolutely everything. It does tend to pong a bit, but if you can get past that, it is a wonderful experience to wander around the place.

Having bought some fresh prawns we headed back to the flat and then Nettie, Tiff and E-J went for a walk along the harbour.

Sams Comments: A vast and beautiful part of Australia which starts to show how big this country is.

E-J's Comments: The Blue Mountains have been like the icing on top of an already very special two weeks with my family. What an amazing Birthday!