Jim & Barbara Burton Travel: The Blue Mountains

The Blue Mountains,

Following another one of Peter’s wonderful maps through the back roads we headed off for the Blue Mountains, stopping in a little village called Kurrajong, for coffee and scones. After our respite we travelled along Bell Line of Road and were treated to the song of many bellbirds echoing through the forest. Their song is absolutely amazing, just like church bells ringing out across the land. From here we climbed higher through the narrow winding roads to Mount Tomah where we stopped to visit the Mount Tomah Botanical Gardens. These gardens were very beautiful with lookouts to the Blue Mountains. It was a gorgeous day with blue skies and the sun shining brightly. Our next stop was to view The Walls a magnificent cliff structure and then on to Leura via Mount Victoria.

Our resort The Leura Gardens was beautiful with a nice swimming pool and lovely gardens, with creeks and ponds. The gardens are named The Lady Fairfax Gardens. Our accommodation was very nice, with a wonderful cooked breakfast included every morning.

We woke up Wednesday morning, to yes, RAIN. Our balcony looks over the treetops and they were shrouded amongst the cloud. Not to be thwarted we drove to the village in Leura and strolled through the quaint main street with its beautiful boutique shops and galleries. After spending some time browsing all the lovely wares we drove to Katoomba the primary hub of the Blue Mountains. We were very disappointed with Katoomba as many of the shops were closed and half the town looked somewhat derelict. Not withstanding, The Carrington Hotel is beautiful, a very old, colonial style property. The rain worsened and after having coffee and cheese and tomatoes on toast, in a quirky café, called The Common Ground Café, we headed back to our resort to get ready for dinner.

We settled on Thai food after having a delicious Indian meal the night before. The food tasted great, I had pork but Jim opted for seafood and shortly after suffered a nasty case of food poisoning. This was the first time either of us had been ill since we set out on this amazing journey. Needless to say not much was accomplished for our last day in the Blue Mountains, but it rained hard all day so what the heck!