Blue Mountains

We said goodbye to Daniel and Marina. Although we were going the same direction, their pace had to be faster than ours as their time in Australia was running out. Our path took us down windy roads, and through narrow valleys and rolling countryside. We stopped for lunch in Windsor, an old haunt of friends of ours. On our way out of town, we hit a small dip in the road which brought everything we owned (and we mean everything) onto the floor. Twenty minutes later, we made our way to Bilpin, Australia's apple capital. Craig was dying for a "free" camp and although there was one in Bilpin, we decided to purchase a "hot out of the oven apple pie" and forgo the rest area. This brought only smiles from Lynda. After another hour on the road, we arrived in Blackheath, in the middle of the Rhododendron festival. As we pulled in so did the celebratory steam train which resulted in complete chaos. Afraid of missing a life-changing photographric moment, Craig pulled over and jumped out with the rest of the hordes and tried to snap a "picky." It had been an exhausting day on the road and we were happy when we were able to secure a site at the caravan park for two nights.


One of the many interesting facts we have learned is that the Blue Mountains appear blue because oil dispersed from the blue gum euculyptus trees comes into contact with rays of light thus creating a bluish haze which is always present. The proximity of the mountains to Sydney makes them a popular weekend camping spot for Aussies and a "must-see" day trip for tourists. We extended our stay to five nights, but could have stayed longer as there are over 140 km of hiking trails, and we barely scratched the surface. Lynda will even go out on a limb and say that it has been one of her favourite parts of our journey so far. Of course, it was all good because of Craig and his handy tarp system which provided protection from the rain and shade from the sun.

We won't bombard you with all the details, but here are the highlights:

- walking the cliff top from Govett's Leap to Evans Lookout and back at Blackheath (in spite of the rain)
- navigating the windy, narrow road up to the Jenolan Caves and spending 3 1/2 hours underground looking at crystal formations within the limestone caves
- camping in the National Park at Black Range and Euroka, amongst the exotic birds and Eastern Gray kangaroos
- hiking a circular route from our campsite at Katoomba Falls to Leura and back. This took us along the cliff, by the famous Three Sisters, past numerous waterfalls, over the edge to the forest below and back up via the Scenic World gondola (no more steps, thank you)
- a walk to view the red ochre Aboriginal hand stencils on the walls at the Red Hands Cave (reported to be 1600 years old)
- reacquainting ourselves with the warmth of the sun (which only seems to present itself intermittently in New South Wales)

Now where? We have skirted the edges and are now within 60 km of Sydney, so we will venture forth for three days in the big city and then head south back to the beaches. We have less than a month to travel across to Adelaide and then down to Melbourne. Where has the time gone?

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