Back on the road again
We picked up the new car which is much smaller than our previous one so we have things piled up on the back seat. It has the same problem as the other one though -the windscreen wipers and indicators are on the wrong side so when you want to turn a corner you generally turn the wipers on. We drove up to Trawool last Monday and spent a couple of days staying with Heather’s sister and her husband, Gerhard not to mention their dog, Black Jack. They live in a lovely valley and have a beautiful house which they built a few years ago. They keep some cattle on about 100 acres of land which includes a stretch of river. They made us feel very welcome and it was great to have some home cooking and some nice comfy beds. Although that part of the country is a lot greener than other parts of Oz that we have visited they have been suffering from drought for a long time. We had some walks in the hills near their place and there were some Highland cattle in one of the fields – just like home! The dog found an echidna so we have been able to tick off another species. There were lots of wombat holes around as well but we didn’t see any wombats.
On Wednesday we drove up to the Mount Buffalo National Park where we should have been able to camp but the campsite in the park wasn’t going to open until Friday. So we camped in a place called Porepunkah just outside the park. We had time in the evening to go into the park and do an interesting walk which involved scrambling down a steep gully with a ladder on a short section. The next day we did the Big Walk which is about 11.5 km one way – we had to do it both ways as we had left the car at the bottom. It is a superb walk, climbing about 1000m through a variety of terrains. The views were great.
During the night it absolutely poured with rain – the heaviest we have had since we set out. Hopefully, some of it fell on Carolyn and Gerhard’s place as well. We had intended to drive to the Snowy Mountains next and do some walking there but the weather forecast was not good so we decided to abandon the walk and just drove through the mountains and camped at a place called Jindabyne on a huge lake. The drive was most enjoyable and Katie tackled her first hairpin bends. On the way we stopped off at the Snowy Mountains hydro electric and irrigation scheme visitor centre where we had a very interesting guided tour and learned about the construction of the scheme. It took 40 years to complete and is huge. On Saturday we continued on to the Blue Mountains, quite along journey. We arrived at Katoomba in the late afternoon in thick fog but eventually managed to find the campsite. There was another huge storm in the evening and night with torrential rain. Katie decided to sleep in the car but I kept faith with the tent and didn’t get wet at all. The following morning was bright and sunny though windy so we decided a walk was in order. The campsite is only a short walk from the cliff top trail which runs for several kilometres. Katoomba is on the edge on the escarpment and there are spectacular views across the Blue Mountains as you walk along the edge. We started out early and had it all to ourselves for a while until we came to a place where coaches can drive up to a lookout. This was of course teeming with Japanese tourists. From the lookout you can see the Three Sisters, three columns of rock on a ridge. We then parted company with the other tourists and headed off down the Giant’s Staircase. This was very step and there were lots of ladders on the steepest bits. We arrived at the bottom of the cliff and found ourselves in temperate rain forest. There were lots of tree ferns and huge eucalyptus trees. We wandered along for several kms before doubling back on a different path until we reached the bottom of the scenic railway which takes all the lazy people up and down the cliff. It is the steepest such railway in the world and was originally used to as transport for the coal mines which used operate in the area until 1945. We climbed to the top of the cliff via steps and ladders and had good views of Katoomba Falls on the way up. I now have lots of photos of waterfalls! After lunch we went back to the campsite and left several fleeces and our waterproof trousers behind as he weather now looked settled. We then had another good walk which visited a place called Lyrebird Dell – but alas no lyrebirds were in residence. This brings us up to yesterday (Monday) when we had a bit of a false start as the trails we originally wanted to use were closed.It also started to rain just as we were about to set out so we had a coffee until it cleared a bit. We had another good walk through the rain forest – a more challenging walk than the previous one both in terms of terrain and navigation but we did see a lyrebird. In the evening we decided to go out for a meal having had enough of camp food for a while. We found a good pub in Katoomba that did food upstairs. We had a pizza and salad but we didn’t realise that the accompanying chips and potato wedges were both enough for 4 people so we rather over-ordered. Oh I nearly forgot – Katie picked up a couple of small leeches in the rainforest so we are now equal in the respect!
Today it has rained again.We went to the nearby Botanic Gardens which would have been really nice on a decent day but was OK. It has continued to rain on and off all day: another night in the car for Katie I think! Tomorrow we are going to the limestone caves at Jenolan and then on Friday we hit Sydney.
kt_m_white