Lyre Lyre (bird)

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On a glorious Saturday, we caught the bus back into Sydney central station and took the mountain train to Katoomba. For about the first hour, we were treated to the not-so-nice outskirts of Sydney, followed by some rather worn looking surrounding towns, but eventually the train began to climb into the mountains and the terrain started to look more like we expected of Australia. When we alighted from the train we were reminded what winter temperatures (around 6 celsius) really feel like!

Katoomba itself sits high on a plateau, right at the edge of the breaktaking Blue Mountains national park. The mountains appear to 'glow' blue (hence the name) due to a light effect (the same effect that makes the sky appear a different blue) which is enhanced by the eucalyptus oil vapours released by the vast forests of eucalypts. This effect is quite eerie.

We took in natural wonder sights such as "The three sisters" (natural limestone stacks), "Orphan Rock" (another stack) and "Echo Point" as well as visiting the neighbouring quaint town of Leura. All around we were surprised by the multitude of parrots, cockatoos, cuckoos and other as-yet-identified birdlife.

The strangest thing about this area, at this time of year, is that all the shops, restaurants and hotels are preparing for 'Yulefest' - a winter time celebration of Christmas in July and August - originated by a local hotellier who thought that the traditional suncream-and-sausages December Christmas dinner BBQ on Bondi Beach just didn't seem right. We have been expecting snow all week but sadly it wasn't to be. Santa didn't turn up either...

Yesterday we ventured down "The Giant's Stairway" (900 very steep steps) in order to walk deeper into the national park. Here we saw our first Lyrebirds, the famous mimics. We spent all day amongst the trees and rainforest areas before joining the tourists for a cable car ride back up onto the plateau (we just didn't fancy the 550m ascent after a day's walking).

We also just discovered that you can get Gin and Tonic ready mixed in a 750ml bottle for 6 bucks and it went really well with our pizza last night.

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