On Our Way To The Blue Mountains -Dec 6

After a quiet, rainy day the day before, we struck off to our next destination early.  Paul took advantage of the reltively calm seas and beautiful morning and had a quick swim while I finished the packing.  It was a good start to what promised to be a long day of driving.

Our next destination was Katoomba in the Blue Mountains.  These are mountains which get their name from the eucalyptus oil which hangs in the air giving them a bluish hue.

We opted to take some back roads and avoid the motorways.  This was fun in itself as we ended up on some twisty-turny routes through fum forests and pasture land with phenomenal views.

We also experienced the results of the recent flooding.  On some low-lying bridges the debris of the river was pushed up against the railings,.some roads were closed completely and the ones we were using were full of potholes yet to be filled.

The driving was a bit tricky in spots.

We also.saw our first goona in the wild...

We finally arrived at echo point, a huge lookout overlooking the deep Jamison gorge in the mountains.  The sun was low and the mist did indeed have a blue tint.

Ths gorge is complegely covered in forests...just beautiful!

At this spot there are also the Three Sisters-large pinicles of rock which are also very picturesque...

As we were leaving we saw a.beutifully coloured bird...a Crimson Rosella.

We checked in to our hotel/apartment which was older and showing signs of its age...and we were expecting limited tv service.  To our great delight they had a wonderful cable package and Paul was able to see the Monday night NFL football game...rounding out the day on a very good note!