We got up
early and headed to the Blue Mountains. It was supposed to be a little over two
hour drive from Umina Beach but we hit rush hour traffic on the outskirts of
Sydney and it turned into three. If we lived in Austalia, it would probably be
in this area. The undulating horizon often reminded us of our own
beloved Smokies. Must say we were surprised at the development along the
southern stretch of the drive. You only knew you were leaving one town and
entering the next by the welcome signs. More horse farms and wide open spaces
along the northern route--which, as always, was peaceful and calming to our
souls.
The towns
were quaint and appeared to be healthy economically. Lots of small shops and
eateries; few big box stores which translates (to me) into much personality. I
swear, we tried to support as many bakeries and grocers as we could along the
trek!
Our
goal for the day was to experience the varied terrain via a couple of bushwalks
(hikes) but there was a rain system threatening to dampen our efforts.
Greg said that our morning jaunts would only qualify as micro-bush-strolls.
At Three Sisters you could park next
to the lookout, but not us. We parked closer to town and ignored the fact that
we walked downhill to view the magnificent vista. Then we hiked a portion of
Prince Henry cliff walk...again, down hill. Coming back up our shins reminded
us we had ridden bikes a couple of days prior. Just stretching for later.
At
Leura Cascades we hiked to the Upper Falls. Again, just a mini stroll. When we
got to Wentworth Falls, we were ready for a real bushwalk and decided to
hike all the way to the top of the falls. We got to Fletcher's Lookout and saw a wall of rain headed
our way. Our twenty minute hike back (up hill, again) had us in the car as the
rain hit. Fortunately it was a fairly quick moving system that didn't keep us
from doing anything else we wanted.
We'd
been told that kangaroos were about as common to see in Australia as moose were
in Alaska. Well, no 'roos spotted yet. Of course we've also been in populated
areas. I got online and found a post suggesting Euroka
Clearing outside of Glenbrook as an
end of the road, remote, densely wooded, grassy spot where 'roos were often
spotted. AND since it was also a camping area, they were fairly acclimated to
humans. Good news! We just happened to be in Glenbrook. Plotted the gps and
away we went. Rain petered off about the same time as I spotted the first momma
'roo. We must've spent a good hour walking around and just enjoying these
funny looking creatures all to ourselves.
And
then we were off to find our last destination of the day: Govetts Leap. Of course we stopped at "Pie
in the Sky" along the way. Roos, pie, vistas...does it get any better?
Wow.
These canyons weren't anything like the Blue Ridge! We were lucky enough to be there in the afternoon to see
the light, shades, and shadows move across the canyons--just beautiful. We did
a bushwalk (finally) to Barrow Point.
Birds here don't sing and chirp. They chatter
and cackle. The woods were alive with sounds. I gave it my best college try to
get a picture of one of the dozen or so massive yellow tailed black cockatoos
that flirted with us on the fringes of our walk.
Greg
went to the Australian Reptile Park today while I washed, read, and had some
down time. Oh, dear. It wasn't just reptiles...he got to pet a koala!
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