Time for a road trip! We woke to rain hard enough to require an umbrella for me to visit the shower block. This wasn’t good! Being a tourist is really a dry weather activity as so many activities are ruled out when the weather is bad.
We had planned to go to Katoomba, Genolan Caves and Bathurst before were due to leave Sydney, so we thought that if we headed out that way we could stay overnight at a hotel and see the whole area in our last 2 days before we head North.
We literally packed a bag, made a picnic, showered and were out the door in 45 minutes. The rain was falling pretty heavily and we were keen to “head for the hills” where we had been told that the weather can be dramatically different in the Blue Mountains than what it was at the same time in Sydney.
When we reached Katoomba we were dismayed to see…nothing. The rain had stopped but a thick fog had appeared totally blinding us to any of the magnificent views. We did the short walk to the first of the famous Three Sisters rock formations anyway and managed to see one part of the Three Sisters. We looked at the other two Sisters on postcards inside the Visitor’s Centre.
It was pointless venturing further to the Scenic Railway and the Cable Car which I was really disappointed about because I was really looking forward to experiencing them, because we wouldn’t see anything. Instead we drove on for another 1.5 hours to the Jenolan Caves. We figured that the caves experience wouldn’t depend on the weather. We had our picnic in the car as it was raining and cold. I was reminded of family Winter picnics in Melbourne, where we would huddle around an open fire, our hands wrapped around mugs of coffee from a flask and stamping our feet to get some circulation and warmth into them. I was cold!
We got the last 3 tickets on one of the tours of the Caves (there are more than 10 to choose from).
The tour took us deep underground and the tour guide explained how the columns were formed from the limestone and water. Caleb always jostled to be up the front near the guide and she gave him the responsibility of making sure people didn’t go past certain spots. He took the job seriously and told a couple of tourists who were trying to squeeze past that they couldn’t. His arm went out in front of them, effectively blocking their path. I can just imagine what they thought of the cheeky kid telling them what to do!
After the tour we took a look at the blue lake which runs from beneath the caves. The water has undergone a chemical reaction from running through sandstone and so it appears very blue. While we were looking at it, we were very surprised to see a platypus swimming in the water. Both Ray and I have never before seen one apart from in captivity at a zoo. To see one in the wild was a bonus!
We had decided to stay in Bathurst for the night and still had over an hour to travel to get there. By the time we arrived, we headed to the Information Centre (which had 5 minutes til it closed) and asked about accommodation for the night. I had just got off the phone from the local caravan park who quoted $185 for the night in a 2 bedroom cabin. We thought that was a bit steep. I left Ray to organise it while I took Caleb to the toilet. Then it was into the car and on our way to our hotel…
Although as I was soon to discover it wasn’t a hotel or motel, Ray had rented a cottage for the night! At $130 I wondered what we might end up with but then we pulled up outside the most gorgeous little miners cottage.
We met the owner, Ron, unloaded and then before getting too attached to the luxury of space, Ray suggested (demanded) that we pile back into the car and head to Mount Panarama 3km away.
We did not one, but two laps around the race track. Ray was absolutely loving it, making me take photos of each stretch, turn and signage. Fortunately, you are only allowed to do 60km/ph around the track and speed cameras are set up to curb any temptations. The find for exceeding this is over $700 we were told.
Ray gave us a running commentary about each turn, pointing out where famous drivers had crashed and even died. I was so surprised to see that there are houses along the track and wondered how they went about their business during the Bathurst race season.
Ray seemed mollified enough after 2 laps but did mention a return trip tomorrow.
We picked up Chinese food and returned to our cottage. We wandered from room to room so excited about spending the night in a real bed and sitting on a real couch. We loved the period features of the cottage and discussed how we would make some changes if we were to live in it permanently. It was really wonderful being in a house again. We settled down to enjoy a perfect evening and when I saw that the Sex In The City movie was on the TV, my night was complete. Ray suffered through it all with me, refilling my wine glass and fetching tissues as required. Bliss!
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