Blue Mountains

We skirted around Sydney as much as we could, but still got caught in peak hour traffic on our way up to the Blue Mountains! Even from out here we’ve been marvelling at just how very BIG Sydney is.

Spent the following day having a look around the spectacular mountains. Parts of it had been burnt, and those walking tracks were closed, so we joined the hordes (and we mean hordes) at Katoomba and started walking there. There were buses and buses and buses of Japanese tourists there, the sheer numbers were astonishing! It was nice walking though, in amongst rainforest and trickling waterfalls and spectacular outlooks over the gorges.



One of the most fabulous things about Katoomba is how many buildings from the 1910/1920s remain intact. In the main street, the Paragon café really felt as if it had barely been touched since the 20s (with service to match). Out the back in the cocktail bar lit glowing red one could sense the ghosts of flappers past. We went a bit mad taking photos.




All around the mountains deciduous trees were putting on a fabulous display of autumnal colours. The ‘cold climate botanical garden’ near Bulpin had North American, Asian and South American collections as well as some Wollemi pines behind barbed wire.


Nic’s uncle John & aunty Lyn live nearby in Winmalee and we caught up with them and the rest of their family – Michael and Sasha, Angela, Michael and baby Oliver and Andrew, Amanda and Brooke. We had a fantastic meal and a great time catching up – it had been a long time between drinks.