The Blue Mountains, November 6 & 7

 November 6

     It was a gorgeous, sunny day with few clouds and into the mid 70s. 

Garden at Leura House

Garden at Leura House

     As usual, we got up early. We went down to the huge reception room in the hotel and made coffee and toast. No one was about. We talked with both Jecca and Nick on the phone.

View from "our" balcony

The Three Sisters

    Afterwards, we got an early start to see the Three Sisters, a huge rock formation in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. The Blue Mountains remind us of the Grand Canyon, a giant rift in the early, but this one is much greener. The three sandstone peaks are important in the Aboriginal culture. They are named Meehni, Wimlah and Gunnedoo. 

    We were there early enough to beat the crowds; as we were leaving, more busses were arriving.

     We had hoped to walk to Leura Falls, but it is closed due to landslides. So, we went into Leura and had coffee and a muffin at a cafe. We decided to take mid-day off as it was getting warm and we are tired - a reading afternoon.

 

   We had a truly wonderful dinner in Leura at Elysium. We shared an appetizer - popcorn cauliflower and shared a duck breast dish and a roasted lamb dish. Both were different and intriguing. Mark wanted to know the ingredients as they really were unique.

At Elysium Restaurant in Leura

    Our plan was to go back to the Three Sisters to see the sunset, but knew it would be crowded. The waiter told us to go to Cahill's Overlook instead, which we did. We got there when there were few people there, but, by the time we left, it was quite crowded with several bus loads. (But still way less than Three Sisters would have been.

    A lovely day.

October 7

     We got up early again today and this time we went to Katoomba Falls.

Katoomba Falls

Katoomba Falls

It was a little bit of a walk down into a rain forest with giant ferns with giant fiddleheads on them. We saw quite a few birds and heard quite a few others which we were able to identify. We stayed a long time looking for a golden whistler which kept singing, but never did spot it. 

      After that, we went back to Leura to the Leura Cafe for breakfast. Barbara had an acai bowl and Mark had fried eggs with Turkey bread toasted. Both were good and we may go back tomorrow before we leave here.

     Then, we went back to our room and chatted with Michael and Nancy for quite a while. Nancy had Achilles Tendon surgery yesterday. 

     We had reservations at Echoes Restaurant at 2 p.m. for late lunch/early dinner. It is where Alec and JuliAnn stayed on their honeymoon. It was quite posh with a wonderful view. Mark had wagyu beef with parsnips and broccolini. Barbara had sea trout (which looked like salmon) with charred kale, onion jam in a cilantro sauce. It was a prix-fixe menu where you had to order two items. Mark's appetizer was roasted beet and Barbara's was prawns. 

Sulphur-crested cockatoo

Unsure - King Parrot, Rosella, a Lorikeet?

     We went back and had a tour by Elsa, the young Dutch woman who is the sole caretaker of this hotel. She told us the history of the house. It was built in the 1880s by a coal magnate. Later, it became a convent with a schoolhouse next door. In 1957, a huge bush fire consumed much of Leura including a huge hotel right by this one. But, this one was spared, credited to the Virgin Mary. It is now a protected site with the statue of Mary in the garden, where it was during the fire.  While the sign says it is a bar and restaurant, it only has 11 rooms and a rentable cottage on site. 

Echos 

Echos

        We then went back to Katoomba Falls to see if we could spot more birds, which we did, but never did glimpse the elusive golden whistler! But, we did see two black-faced cuckooshrike which felt like an accomplishment.

          Then we walked the Main Street of Leura and called it a day.