The Blue Mountains...

---

From Nimbin we said goodbye to Matt and Carly, then drove to the Blue Mountains.

About 300km south of Nimbin, the Blue Mountains are one of Australia's natural wonders. Stretching for over one million hectares were an mix of rainforest, canyons, tall forests and heathlands, combining eight individual conservation reserves - Yengo, Wollemi, Gardens of Stone, Blue Mountains, Nattai, Kanangra Boyd, Thirlmere Lakes and Jenolan Caves Karst Reserve.

It is a nature lover's paradise with plenty of colourful bird and animal life, the greatest concentration of eucalypt diversity on the continent, and landscapes ranging from rainforest to heathland.

We drove into the park from the North (most come from Sydney) via a beautiful windy steep road, our van almost burned out several times. We eventually arrived in a small village called Victoria - cunningly situated on Mount Victoria! We we’re fairly tired from the drive, so decided to go to the Victoria Hotel for a few swills. Once inside I noticed a few pianos and asked if I could play…the response was: “of course, actually, would you like to play for some dinner guests tonight?”…

We stayed at the hotel for two nights at no charge (otherwise it’s $130 a night!!). I played piano for about fifty dinner guests, whilst Ally chipped in doing washing-up in the frantic kitchen…I definately got the better deal! We ate whatever we requested for breakfast; anything off the lunch menu, and dinner: Rabbit, rack of Lamb, Chicken, etc, etc..

They were a really friendly bunch of people, the owner was cool, we had a wicked time there.

The Three Sisters

We visited the main lookout points from in and around Katoomba, it is here that the most famous view within the Blue mountains NP is located: ''The Three Sisters", which is basically three eroded rock formations situated amongst a vast canyon...it were gert lush!! We also took THE STEEPEST train in the world down to the subtropical forest floor - where we walked around various tracks through thick vegetation. Again, gert lush!!

From Katoomba we left for Sydney...

---

Photos

Cooking at Blue Mountain rest area
...check out my herb collection..Herb I up!

Ally at Mnt Victory Hotel
...doing washing up! haha!