Koo-Koo-Katoomba

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On Saturday, we caught an Air New Zealand flight over to Sydney to meet Dan and Nat (on holiday) and Neil and Lisa (who still live there). After a quick stop at our hotel we met everyone at the revolving Summit Bar on the 47th Floor of the Australia Square building, for cocktails (and beer) with some amazing view over the city.

After drinks we walked across the city past the "Domain" where the 'Homebake' Festival was taking place. This was, predictably, being headlined by Crowded House, which we knew about, but tickets had sold out so fast a couple of weeks ago that we'd had no chance to obtain them. Instead, we listened to "Fall At Your Feet" as we walked past and Emma threatened to stand outside the fence for the rest of evening.

But dinner was calling so we proceed to Wooloomooloo and ate in a renowned seafood restaurant called 'Manta' (where we patiently allowed the waiter to describe the fish of the day, and then promptly ordered 4 steaks and 2 pastas...with chips). After eating we took a stroll along the wharf to see Russell Crowe's apartment and then caught taxis back to the city.

The next day, we headed down to Central Station, where we met Dan and Nat (eventually) and caught the train out to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. This was somewhere we had visited in 2005, but we were keen to go back again (and show the city slicker poms something of the majesty of the bush outside the city).

As we arrived, we were greeted by a tremendous hailstorm (Summer's just around the corner!) and took shelter in an Art Deco Cafe/Chocolate shop for lunch. Once the storm had passed, and we had stocked up on essential hiking suppliers (hand-made chocolates), we walked the kilometre or so through the town, down to 'Echo Point' for spectacular views over the valleys and mountains, and of course the famous "Three Sisters" rock outcrops.

Unfortunately, it was too late to set off on the walk we had planned (down the "Giant's Stairway" onto the valley floor and then trekking though the eucalypts to catch the cable car back up onto the plateau) and we would have risked being stranded, so instead we took the walkway along the top. We spent a couple of hours enjoying the late afternoon sun and spotting wild Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos and Crimson Rosella Parrots. After taking in the Katoomba Falls and Cascades we headed back into town, where we grabbed a quick pizza before catching the second-to-last train back to the city.

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Photos

On the train
The dog is happy to see his Uncle Dan again

Hailstorm in Katoomba
On arrival

Comments

[John Glennon]

Nickelback
Re picture "Bro n Bro" - Nickelback have let themselves go... Good to see they're still friendly and hiking together though...