Day 252 Katoomba Thursday 14th February 2013

Hi All,

Today was a typical autumn day, although it is still officially summer. The air had that autumn crispness and the sun that delicious warmth without being hot. We worked steadily at our allotted tasks, Simon finishing off the wall washing, and lopping down some branches with the chain saw. I attended to a myriad of smaller jobs, pruning, sweeping, window washing and helping organise items for Saturday’s garage sale. I even managed to pick up some bargains, books and puzzles.

Simon and I stayed “home” with Freya while Emily and Chris went to watch Orlando’s soccer game. This gave us an opportunity to talk more about our ambition to walk the Heysen Trail. Simon had to admit he was wrong and I was right about the length 1,200 kms. The guide information from the Friends of the Heysen Trail suggest it takes between 55 and 70 days to walk. We are allowing 120 in our calculations. We certainly know we can walk 10 kms a day and have regularly walked more, but this is without a pack. If we are serious, we will have to kit up and practice!

Dinner was minestrone soup made by Chris and a soufflé type of fruit desert made by Emily. After tea we played cards Octopus a new game for us, which Simon won, and “mix up” a game taught to me by the Taiwanese boys in Imbil, a fun, crazy, no skill game, which I won. Don’t take that to mean I am only good at non skilled games!

Tomorrow window washing and painting. We have decided we will stay until Wednesday with a sightseeing day on Tuesday, then hopefully to Canberra to visit my niece.

Night 

Susan

Day 251 Katoomba Wednesday 13th February 2013

The Three Sisters

Hi All,

The day started with some uncertainty as to whether we would do jobs or take the day off. Last night dad Chris arrived home to much excitement from the children so it seemed appropriate to have the day off and leave the family to some together time. Chris works away as a builder for lengthy periods.

Near Gordon Falls

We started out late, not unusual for us, after examining the tourist maps and decided to drive the scenic route along the escarpment and visit as many look outs as we could. 

The first stop was Sublime Point which has a reverse view of the three sisters. To get to the lookout one travels through the suburb of Leura and past some impressive homes the “rich quarter” many home have book leaf stone fences, impeccably laid, my father would like them.

We drove on to Gordon Falls and then to the cascades, by which time my hunger pangs were becoming acute and I didn’t think I could do the 1km walk on an empty stomach so we headed for the Common Ground which was recommended by Emily. The food was healthy and delicious, but most impressive was the decor.

Closer view of the Three Sisters

After lunch we braved the Echo Point look out and the Three Sisters, the tourists were there in their hordes. A spectacular view! We had a quick visit to Scenic World and decided not to travel the cable car mainly due to the late hour. The steepest railway in the world is closed for upgrade reopening later this year. It looks a bit too scary for me.

We finished the day with a drive down Narrow Neck past the “Landslide”

The Landslide

Common Ground

Artwork at The Common Ground

Blotched blue tongue - alpine variant

Head shot

 Cheers

Susan

Day 250 Katoomba Tuesday 12th February 2013

Hi All,

Another grey soggy day. Simon continued wall washing and gutter cleaning. I painted doors and scrubbed the bathroom and made vegetarian lasagne for tea.

Simon disappeared into town to purchase a charger for his phone the previous one destroyed after being closed in the car door to many times, and a new pair of shorts as his good shorts have migrated to work shorts and are looking pretty shabby. The summit shop where he purchased his shorts also make their own brand of hiking back pack fitted exclusively. This has sparked our conversation once more about walking the Heysen Trail. Looks like some concerted research over the next few weeks. We have both talked about taking 3 months to do the trek.

Tomorrow a sight seeing day if the weather stays grey. Maybe a train trip to Sydney or just the local scene, we will decide in the morning.

Cheers

Susan

Day 249 Katoomba Monday 11th February 2013

Hi All,

A rather grey and soggy day in the Blue Mountains today. Emily headed off early leaving us with our main job over the next days to de-cobweb and sugar soap the house in preparation for painting of the windows.

An artistic shot of the back of the house

There were plenty of those ugly black spiders that live on houses, I have encountered them at a number of hosts' houses, guess this means I am something of a professional de-cobweber now. Simon did the majority of washing and I toodled after him rinsing, job was uneventful, although the constant dripping of raindrops eventually took its toll and we finished up about 1;30.

After lunch we pottered a bit, a few more minor jobs were completed before Emily arrived home. We headed to the shops to get some provisions for tea and then went out again to gather some tourist brochures.

After tea we played Monopoly, Simon was encouraged to play which was a mistake, as he ended up bankrupting all of us and owning all but one property, and just to make a point he counted his winnings! There was then a game of Calisto with Freya which he didn't win, although he did catch on to the strategy and cleaned me up in game 2.

Tomorrow night UNO.

Hopefully the day is a brighter tomorrow, not hopeful though.

Simon in his cleaning gear

Showing his best side

Night Folks

Susan

Day 248 Katoomba Sunday 10th February 2013

Hi All,

Well it was a pack up and travel day today, not that we needed to travel far, about 120kms. We headed out about 1030 after a leisurely breakfast. We did have a couple of anxious moments as 8 fire trucks came down the road, and we were wondering how many we would need to dodge on the road out, luckily none.

We arrived in Katoomba just after midday and decided to have a drive around, listening to the talking book which was at an exciting chapter. We ventured to the Three Sisters, which was crawling with tourists. Not being able to find a park we drove around some more and ended up in the bus layby at the Honeymoon Lookout, where we ate our lunch.

Katoomba looks very picturesque with plenty to see, there is s sky rail which I am tempted to brave having survived the one in Kuranda in 2010. Tomorrow we will get some brochures from the tourist information centre. Along the main road to the Three Sisters there are many large and quite ornate guest houses, telling of a bygone era when this was the top holiday destination for Sydneysiders.

About 1:30 we arrived at Emilys and met Freya and Orlando and set about getting acquainted. We had a delicious dinner of chicken, rice and vegetables before playing Calisto and doing jigsaw puzzles. There were a couple of heavy rain/hail showers in the late afternoon, hopefully these will clear to allow our tomorrows jobs.

Wheeny Creek in the morning light

Cheers

Susan

Day 247 Wheeny Creek Saturday 9th February 2013

Hi All,

Good morning wave from Simon at Boggy Swamp

Today's blog starts last night upon retiring, it was the hottest night we have had for a while and our decision to make up the swag with our usual 1 under 1 on top sleeping bag configuration was overkill, we couldn’t bear a cover on top. Not only was it hot but humid as well, by morning however we did find ourselves with the cover on top. It was a most satisfactory sleep under the stars, reasonably sound with only a couple of awakenings with heavy truck traffic and what sounded like a falling tree in the distance.

The cafe

We stopped for coffee at a cafe in the middle of nowhere one of those "If you build it" places which was certainly working, the road Putty Road appears to be a favourite motor bike ride, judging by the myriad of signs advising how to corner safely. It is a very windy road, narrow and scenic. The cafe hosts biker events and is obviously a favourite stop with more than 50 bikes there this morning, thankfully we arrived before the rush and had our coffee/chai before the onslaught. Unfortunately by mid afternoon Simon was paying for his coffee and chewing Mylanta tablets.

We found our way to Wheeny Creek fee camp via Colo Heights Road a back dirt track that had all indications of being a somewhat hairy route, except for a passing of six 4WD’s in convoy on a very narrow section of road there was no problem at all. We could even have avoided the convoy if we hadn’t taken a wrong turn!

At Wheeny Creek a number of camping areas were closed off, due to fallen branches and water on the ground, that hasn’t stopped campers though. We set up on a dry verge under only small branches. A paddle in the creek was refreshing, and welcomed as the humidity is oppressive, though it looks like rain, in some ways I hope so, to help control the mossies which promise to grace us with their plague like presence tonight.

On the road to Wheeny Creek

Taking a paddle in the shallows

Night folks

Susan

Day 246 Boggy Swamp Creek Friday 8th February 2013

Greetings,

Beautiful people

Today was pack up day, and whilst we are now quite proficient at this task, we are no quicker. We usually manage to pack up/unpack with minimal conversation each doing the bits we do best. Unlike many couples we have seen on our travels who seem to shout at each other constantly during the process. I also cleaned the cabin in preparation for the next guests. 

A little bit crazy

We had actually got up at the normal time, although we were instructed to sleep in, we had wanted to say farewell to the kids who had early school buses to catch. This gave us an opportunity to put a few more pieces into the jigsaw puzzle, a
mistake really as we became a bit absorbed, it wasn’t until our stomachs groaned that we got back to the task at hand – breakfast and pack up. Andrew in the meantime finished off the last bit!

We said another goodbye to Anna and Andrew and were given a few farm goodies for our journey, eggs, gingerbread bees and honey BBQ sauce. We hit the road about 2pm, stocked up with some food in town, said farewell to some locals we had met and turned on the talking book. Unfortunately we had to turn it off as there seems to be some corruption on the DVD, the corruption was also on the computer copy as we later discovered.

Finished puzzle

The trip down the highway was uneventful, we turned off heading towards Singelton, which of course we did not want to arrive at as it would have added 50 kms extra to the journey, in time the appropriate adjustment was made to the GPS and we headed towards Boggy Swamp Creek free camp, to give it the once over. 

The drive was very pleasant along a windy well treed road in the afternoon sun. A notable feature on the drive was a huge chrome sculpture at a burnt out Halfway Roadhouse, and gallery of Dave Thurston. We stopped so I could take a few happy snaps. 

It was 6pm when we got to Boggy Swamp and we decided to stay for the night, as the next stop was an extra 100kms down the road. The spot was quite pretty there were two downsides the first being the proximity to the road; some big trucks road past all night, the second was the rubbish, this would have to be the most littered free camp we have ever seen. The 3 don’t litter signs have no effect whatsoever. 

Woman

Man

 

Views of Honeycomb Valley

Night folks

Susan