Monday, November 5

Shaun and Leanne have graciously loaned us the use of a car to get around the local area. Thank goodness Drew is OK with driving on the left, because I am definitely not!

We went to Katoomba, up the road about an hour, where I had stayed before.  It kind of reminds me of Nelson, kind of hippy-ish, a bit.  We drove around the town, getting our bearings, and then had a bit of lunch before going out on a couple of walks.

Our next stop was at Echo Point, which is a large viewpoint for the Three Sisters.  Here we are!

 

We walked a bit on the Prince Henry Cliff Walk, and thought we would leave the big Giant Stairway climb down for another day.  Afterall, this was only really Day 1 of vacation, and we were both still feeling a bit dehydrated from the plane trip.  We picked up some Gatorade-like drinks and sunscreen, and headed off to find a nice park to relax in.  We ended up nearby at Leura Cascades, where we had a nap on the grass before a walk down to the actual Cascades.

It was nice and cool in this bit of a valley.  After being in the cool, almost rainforest environment, it was a surprise to emerge at the end of the path to this vista:

It was literally breathtaking.  The cockatoos in the valley below were flying up to the falls beside us to take drinks.  Soon we had a whole flock of curious birds entertaining us. 

The fellow behind me is one of three young men that we saw earlier that day at the lookouts near Echo Point.  They were doing the whole cliff walk, while we drove between points.  We all enjoyed watching the cockatoos, and taking each others photos. 

The hike back up wasn't nearly as much fun as the hike down, so we decided to call it a day and head back to Blaxland and the Casa Demmitt.  After another perfect supper on the veranda, Drew watched around 50 cockatoos come into the valley to roost.  He figures there was more that he couldn't see, and judging from the noise, I'd say he was right!  By the time I came to look, though, they were no where to be seen.  Probably tucked away for the night.  I had a swim in the pool with the kids, Drew and Shaun were chillaxing on the big sectional, and life was good.  We spent some time tonight trying to figure out logistics for getting to Melbourne and beyond, sometime next week after our Canberra excursion.  Oh... there was a bit of lightning tonight, and a brief rain shower!

In hindsight, today probably would have been a good day to do nothing, as neither Drew or I were much up for any hiking.  Oh well... it was a great day nonetheless!