Blue Mountains

Our trip “down the coast” towards Sydney resulted in not a lot of ocean views. First off, we had rain and fog a fair bit of the time but second, even areas on the map that showed we’d be on the coast still had quite a lot of trees between the road and the water so we didn’t have much to see.

We had two nights along the way. The first was at Coffs Harbour where we saw the Big Banana.

The second night, was at Raymond Terrace. It wasn’t the best motel, but it was only for a night. We grabbed a picture of the water heaters outside. We’ve seen these a number of places in Australia. They operate like a heat pump.

Finally we arrived in the town of Leura in the Blue Mountains where we had booked a one bedroom condo for 4 nights. We had rain the first day after arrival but we do go out for a bit of exploration later when the rain had stopped.

The Blue Mountains are thus named due to the blue tinge the range takes on when viewed from a distance. The tinge is believed to be caused when incoming light with shorter wavelengths is preferentially scattered by particles within the atmosphere imparting a blue-greyish colour to any distant objects, including mountains and clouds. It is thought that the abundant eucalyptus trees in the Blue Mountains emit these particles which affect the incoming light, therefore causing the blue haze for which the mountains were named.

We also saw a bit more vegetation at this stop.

The Blue Mountains cover a range of mountains, extending about 96 km. A number of towns are along the ridges of these mountains, which range up to 1100 m in elevation. Unfortunately we were not able to make a loop drive as we had hoped due to a major road closure in both directions. There was a 200 year old bridge that had been discovered to be unstable just before we arrived. Initially they had made it one way only which would have allowed us to make the loop. However, the day we arrived, the road was completely closed, as engineers felt it was too risky for any traffic.

On Wednesday, we headed out for a day of sightseeing. We had a couple of nearby towns to get to in order to see some more views. First we stopped in Blackheath where we had a bit of a walk for some amazing views. We had a beautiful day too! The park visitor centre was an excellent resource to help guide us where to go.

We also made a stop in the town of Blackheath for some lunch. We found a beautiful cafe called Bakehouse on Wentworth where we stopped for a meat pie and danish.

After lunch we drove to Anvil Rock Lookout. It was a bit more challenging walk for me, partly because of some of the heights.

On the way down I saw a neat flower…

Paul took one little side trip to the Wind Eroded Cave. Quite amazing sandstone erosion.

Our last side trip for the day was down to the valley. It was a very steep drive with hairpin curves and narrow roads down through the rainforest to the valley floor.

Tomorrow we have one more day to explore. The weather is to be good. Check back for a few more pics.