Following Joyce & Paul's Travels in Retirement

Thursday we headed out for a few more views between the towns of Katoomba and Leura. We went to Echo Point to see the Three Sisters. It was beautiful – clear, sunny and warm.

The path was multiple levels of lookouts.

We headed to check out another lookout, but most of it was disappointing. The view was not as dramatic and not nearly as popular.

By mid-afternoon we went back to the Three Sisters for a few more pictures with the sun on them.

The colours showed up nicely in the sun.

Can still see the blue haze in the distance.

Fun find at Echo Point – This is a heritage-listed antique Australian pillar post box, specifically a Bubb type manufactured around the 1850s to 1890s. It is still in use on some areas of Australia.

Friday morning we headed to our next overnight so we would be closer to downtown Sydney to return the car on Saturday morning. It was a short drive, just over an hour and we were in a suburb of Sydney.

Saturday morning we had an early start, finishing up some more of our groceries before we got on the highway to downtown Sydney. We first went to our hotel for the next 3 nights to check in. Since it was so early, our room wasn’t ready, but we were able to leave our luggage there and then head to drop off our rental car.

We had just over a 1 km walk to our hotel. It was beautiful and sunny. Part of the walk was through a street that had been closed to cars and only open to pedestrians. There were some music entertainers and we sat in the sun enjoying being outside for some time.

We’ve seen pay phones in a number of towns. These are free!

We also picked up some lunch from the local supermarket before we headed to our hotel where we found our room was ready. We have 2 more days before we get on our cruise ship for home.

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.

It’s an amusement park including mini golf and escape room. We didn’t bother to go at the end of our first day’s drive.

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.

Apparently there was a government incentive the other year to move to this technology.

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.

From the Duke and Duchess of York lookout over the Blue Mountains.

We also saw a bit more vegetation at this stop.

This beautiful little flower is Rock Sprengelia.

Very unique – Banksia serrata tree, also known as Old Man Banksia in Blue Mountains National Park

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.

We had a steak, bacon and cheese pie to share. It was excellent! Still trying to get used to no plastic utensils though 😉

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

The last bit I opted not to go up – Paul did but I stayed at this level to enjoy the view.

Paul’s view looking down where I stayed.

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.

Looking down to the valley from Hargraves Lookout.

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