Tuesday, November 6

This morning we did alot of relaxing again, which is pretty darn easy to do with great friends, good scenery and non-stop lattes!  After a leisurely lunch, we went off exploring a bit.  Our destination was Lennox Bridge, the first bridge built on the Australian mainland.  We (I) thought this would be a bit of a hike, so once we reached the parking area, I pulled out the gps to figure out where to next.  The signs, most of which were vandalized, were pretty ambiguous.  Then it dawned on me... we had just drove over the bridge!  So much for a big hike.  We explored the bridge a bit, but because the stream was absolutely dry, there was no point in walking down to the falls. (We didn't take a picture, so this one is scavenged from the Geocaching cache page).

This bridge is important in the area as it was not only the first bridge built on the mainland (we wonder if there is an older one in Tasmania), but also because of the huge engineering feats of putting first railroads, then automobile roads through the Blue Mountains.  We drove along the original highway pass road, which took us to an area called Knapsack Park, which is where the original Great Western Highway used to be up until sometime in the 90s.  There was a giant cairn in a clearing that was dedicated to the fellow that oversaw most of the railway construction in the area, and we found a geocache near the old ruined stationmasters cottage.

Like old rail lines, they turned it into a park area.  we walked down the wide, wide trail to a pretty impressive big sandstone bridge.

We took a side trail that climbed up and gave us some pretty good views of the area, and took us past an old railway platform abandonded in the bush, and past an old quarry from the old railline.

 

Easy walking, but warm.  We saw a big lizard on our way back, just hanging out on the path.  Hopefully it wasn't deadly.

Drew was very excited to see a VW pickup parked on the street as we drove by.  He discreetly got a couple of pictures:

I had a swim once we got in, enjoyed a lovely lasagna dinner, and then  ran an errand with Leanne.  We drove into Penrith, and drove along the Nepean River, with beautiful parks.  When we got home, I went into trip planning mode, booking our hostels for the Canberra trip. I put some tentative plans together for the Melbourne trip on or around the 18th, but Drew was more interested in talking airplanes with Shaun, rather than planning his own vacation.  So Leanne and I decided to go to Melbourne, and leave the boys home.

Pictures tomorrow. We are having a bit of a time coordinating all this technology... and i hate typing on this tablet keyboard!