18th Oct

18^th Oct 2014

We knew Saturday was going to be a nice day so the plan was to get up early and head up to the Blue Mountains, we may even be daring and have breakfast on the way to ensure we get away early.

So after breakfast and a load has gone through the washing machine we are on the road. One minute to nine, I guess that’s early seeing that most days we do anything it’s well after nine. Perhaps I’m just a cranky old bugger.

Initially it was a little overcast but as the sun warmed up it burnt the cloud off and we ended up with a beautiful day and just a nice temperature.

We took the usual hundreds of photos of the three sisters and all the other well photographed vistas, took the skyrail down into the rain forest and spent quite a bit of time enjoying walking through the rainforest area learning all about the substantial mining of coal that took place in the area around Katoomba many years ago. I’m sure I read somewhere that there was, or is, something like a 1000 kls of mining tunnels throughout the area. Apparently beneath the layers of sandstone and coal there are seams of oil-bearing shale. Wouldn’t it cause a stir if someone applied for a mining lease in the area.

Following the tourist route our return trip took us across Mt Victoria, through the village of Bell, Mt Tomah and the apple and stone fruit growing area of Bilpin where we stopped at a roadside stall to buy a cheap bag off beautiful apples and a homemade family apple pie. Our journey back to Lane Cove was quite slow as it took us through the western suburbs of Richmond and Windsor resulting in 60 kph and 70 kph speed zones most of the way. It was well after 7.00pm by the time we got back to the van but we all agreed it had been a great day.