Blue Mountains

Australia 2013 Backblip #6

We were up early for pickup from our hotel for a two day Blue Mountains tour. 7.10am, and we're on the roads around Sydney in a truck minibus thing, picking up various American tourists (and a pair from Rochdale). Our guide for the day was Bob, a local. We drove the Great Western Highway out over Sydney Harbour Bridge and inland. We took a slight detour to drive through the Sydney Olympic Park and then ventured further inland. 

Our first stop was Euroka Clearing where we saw some Eastern Grey Kangaroos and experienced bush toilets (or is that a dunny?). We then went up to the top of the cliff for a view over the Jamison valley. Our next stop was Eagle Hawk lookout with a view of the three sisters rock formation. 

We then drove up to Narrow Neck lookout but didn't stop as it was cloudy. Govett's Leap was our next stop before we returned to Katoomba for lunch, which was really dinner. They had some lovely thin strips of fish!

We left the group at this point (the rest of the people on the tour were doing the one day version - we split it doing the morning part today, and the afternoon part tomorrow) and Bob took us up to our five star luxury spa at Lililanfels. 

We were suffering slightly from the early start, so opted to have a game of snooker in the games room. Sharon won by potting the pink, but to be honest there were only 41 real points, and 99 fouls. We were a bit rubbish, although Tim claimed a prize for potting two balls in a row.

We then took a walk out the back of the hotel, and down 50 or so steps to the cliff top, where we walked along Prince Henry Cliff Walk to the lookout at Echo Point. This was a massive lookout, but as it was late in the afternoon it was quite quiet. After taking lots of photos (including the blip) of the Three Sisters from here we then carried further on the cliff to other lookouts and the top of the 900 steep steps to the valley floor. We then walked back to the hotel along the same path as it was beginning to get dark. 

Dinner in the hotel was, er, posh but very tasty. Sharon's fish and chips were served on a slate. Lovely surroundings!