Day 286 - Wednesday 11 October - Blue Mountains

Day 286

Wednesday –

11 October 2017 

Vineyard – Wentworth – Katoomba

The drizzly rain was set in when we woke this morning. I stayed in bed reading for a while, but we were both up just after 8am and into breakfast. I loaded some things on the net that I had wanted to do last night but time and tiredness got the better of me.

By 9.30am we were heading out for the Blue Mountains. It was good to be heading in a direction that wasn’t clogged with traffic, however it was clogged with cloud cover.

We wound our way up the mountain becoming socked in with the white fluffy stuff that meant we weren’t getting to enjoy the view. We did eventually make it Wentworth, a small Blue Mountain village. 

We found a place to park and then followed the Charles Darwin Walk to Wentworth Falls. The walk was 6km return and took us through the forest and beside a stream. There was plenty to check out along the way with wildflowers, paths and spots by the creek. 

It was great to be back in the bush after some time by the beach and in among the metropolis. Thankfully the weather had passed and the sun was beginning to burn through the cloud cover. Mind you we were thankful for the cooler conditions while we were walking. 

The walk eventually spat us out at the Wentworth Falls trail that we followed to check out the view from a few different spots. The views from the lookouts were impressive, looking out over the Blue Mountains and the rugged landscape. 

After taking our photos we began the trek back, following back over the path before returning to town and our car. 

After all the walking and given it was after 12, we were ready for our lunch. We returned to a small park to devour our salad rolls and then continued on to Echo Point in Katoomba.

We found a place to park that thankfully didn’t require us to pay up for the privilege and then we followed the crowds towards the Echo Point viewing area. Like the 12 Apostles, this was Chinese heaven. Large tour busses were trucking them in and we had to dodge them to avoid being swept up in the wave. Thankfully we were able to find some quiet spots to take our photos of the three sisters rock formation. 

After managing to take a few shots, we then took off on foot to complete the Prince Henry Cliff Walk. When we were here in 2003, we didn’t complete this walk between Echo Point and the cable car station so I was keen to get out an do it this time. 

The sun was well and truly out for this part of our walk an we found ourselves peeling off layers as we followed the path and enjoyed the views. At times we had views back to the three sisters, other times it was over the Blue Mountains that really are blue. 

We followed the path down a series of stairs to a small cascading waterfall and then popped back out on the road. By now we were feeling quite beat, so opted to return to the car, rather than venture down into Jameson Valley. I wasn’t perturbed, seeing we had done that part along with the cable car and train ride before.

We climbed the hills back to our car thankful Perth is not hilly like this. We were both over it. Once back at the car, we drove the short distance in to Katoomba town centre, parked and then did a walk up the main street before falling in to the closest pub for a thirst quenching drink. To Paul’s utter delight it was a craft beer venue and they had Katoomba Brewery on tap. His interest was then piqued wanting to know where this brewery was to be found and of course when I drinks were done we were off in search of the brewery and here I was thinking we would have a brewery free day.

 

We followed the directions to the brewery and made enquiries at the deli, but unfortunately they were closed. We then made our way back to the car and it was on the road and heading towards home.  School traffic caused a bit of a hold up, but for the most part it was smooth sailing and we were back at the van by 4.15pm.

We noticed the spa was in operation and as Paul had complained that it wasn’t running the other day, we felt compelled to use it today, so it was straight into the bathers and down to the pool area.

The spa’s jets may have been working but the heater certainly wasn’t and while Paul was happy to take the plunge, I only managed to sit on the edge and dangle my feet in front of a bubbling jet.

 We watched the goings on of others in the pool before finally jumping out and heading back to the warmth of the van. I set about working out our train journey for tomorrow so that we could hit all the places we wanted to get to. I was also able to work out a journey to Marrickville for Saturday so we wouldn’t have to drive.

Paul began putting a salad together for lunch and I cooked up the salmon. He rang his Principal to let him know about his deferred salary form being sent to them and give his class preference for next year. I just sent mine by email.  He also rang Jaden to give him some information and spoke to Bear at the same time.

After dinner, I worked on the photos for the day and loaded all the necessaries onto the net, but it wasn’t long before I was looking to head to bed to read my book.