It Just Isn't Done That Way - Sydney and the Blue Mountains - TR Complete #284.

[PrincessInOz]

Oh, sounds like my first thought was more accurate then. Maybe a cross between the Dandenongs and the Darling Scarp in WA? Although the Darling Scarp doesn't have any of those massive cliffs either. I guess I'll just have to go and see for myself

You'll never never know if you never never go.

 

[zanzibar138]

You'll never never know if you never never go.

Wait, are we talking about the Blue Mountains or the Northern Territory?

 

[PrincessInOz]

Wait, are we talking about the Blue Mountains or the Northern Territory?

Either way.....it's Australia.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Wentworth Falls





The Great Dividing Range, or the Eastern Highlands, is Australia's most substantial mountain range and the third longest land-based range in the world. The range stretches more than 3,500 kilometres (2,175 mi) from the northeastern tip of Queensland, running the entire length of the eastern coastline through New South Wales, then into Victoria. The width of the range varies from about 160 km to over 300 km.


After European settlement in 1788, the ranges were an obstacle to exploration and settlement by the British settlers. It wasn't until 1813 when Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and William Wentworth found a way across the Blue Mountains, reaching what is now Wentworth Falls. For those wondering, this passage eventually led to the founding of Bathurst, Australia's first inland settlement.



It's not surprising that a number of towns and features are named after these 3 explorers in the Blue Mountains. Our next destination was one of those features.


Wentworth Falls is named after William Wentworth. It was initially known by the very unromantic name of The Weatherboard, after a weatherboard hut built here in 1814 by William Cox while he was building the first road over the Blue Mountains. The name was eventually changed in 1879 as, let's face it, Weatherboard really isn't a very inspiring name, is it?



Whilst there is the township of Wentworth Falls, we by-passed the town and headed to the Wentworth Falls Reserve.

I snagged this from DH's collection. The main parking lot is to the right of this picture.







There are a number of decent walking tracks from here. If you wanted to, you can spend all day and all week walking in this area.







We opted for the walk to Princes Rock. The helpful person at the Echo Point Information Centre had advised us that this was her favourite lookout for a view of Wentworth Falls and the Jamison Valley.



For us, it was a moderately easy walk. But do NOT be fooled by any of the walking path signs which say this is an easy walk if you have any issues with steps.






Seems like DH took more pictures of me on the terrain than I did. But there are a lot of steps to negotiation on this 'easy' walk.






It's not the Grand Canyon, but it does go down the escarpment. We're definitely walking downwards and you do have to head back up this way.







But it really wasn't far. It took us about 15 minutes to get to the lookout. The total height of the waterfall is 187 meters.









When the wind blows, the spray goes everywhere!







We kept going and headed in the direction of the top of the falls.

Somewhere along the way, we hit another lookout. The view of the falls was definitely not as good as the Princes so I cast my camera in the direction of the Jamieson Valley.







Can you figure out where Princes Lookout is in the above picture? Can you figure out where Princes Lookout is in the above picture? Check this one out and you should have no problems.






We kept walking and decided to take the loop towards Weeping Rock Falls.







I have to admit that I'd seen pictures of Weeping Rock Falls before and it was high on my list to go-seek.







It's not a big falls and you get really close to it. You get to walk down the side.







I stole this from DH's collection as it shows how close you can get to the shiny water.







I'm so glad that we came round this way. All of us were very happy to stay and watch the shiny falling water here.






If you are walking this area, it is worth the 5 minute detour.








I promise you. You won't be chasing rainbows on this detour.







The rainbow told me we were getting close to the top of the Wentworth Falls. Another turn and we were there.







To the upstream side of our view, there's another pretty shiny falling water spot.







A number of fatal accidents have resulted in that barricade being put up. Cross it at your peril. That's the top of the Wentworth Falls right there.







We could have kept going for a bit longer along this way. We would have headed down towards the National Pass. The National Pass is considered to be one of the premier walks in Australia. It's a 3 - 4 hour one-way trip on the National Pass and if it hadn't been so cold and windy, this would have been the trail that I would have made the boys walk. It's definitely on my bucket list to walk!



On the way back, we headed down to Fletcher's Lookout.







Another one that I stole from DH.







My camera was on the falls.







You can head down a little bit down another short flight of stairs at this lookout and get a panoramic view of the Jamieson Valley. As Australian landscapes go, the Blue Mountains are very pretty.






This is where I got DH to take that picture of me.








From this point, we just made a bee-line back to the parking lot.







All in all, we spent a couple of well-worth walking hours here.







(Continued in Next Post)

 

[PrincessInOz]

In Search of Leura Mall





For those of you that live outside of Australia, you may not be aware of the long standing rivalry between the cities of Melbourne and Sydney. The rivalry probably has its roots back to when sheep roamed the countryside and has to do with matters of trade. This rivalry was the reason why neither Melbourne nor Sydney was chosen as the capital city of Australia and led to the formation of the Australian Capital Territory and Canberra holding the honours.


Whatever the cause and effects, as a migrant to the country, I've always found the rivalry to be amusing and occasionally irritating. But as a Melbournian, my allegiance falls on this side of the border and I only play when it suits me.


So, it may be surprising to find that I do have close friends that live in the state of New South Wales, where the Blue Mountains and Sydney is located. No rivalry involved! And despite the occasional joviality on the matter, my friends and I have long worked out that we love Australia as a place to live, irrespective of what state you live in. And we all agree.....Queensland is the place to be!


When I mentioned that I was heading to the Blue Mountains to them, I was told that the shopping is better in Leura Mall and I should definitely make it a point to go here.



What do you think what the word "Mall" is mentioned?
I think of a shopping mecca with a bunch of shops all in a single building with air conditioned comfort.



Did I follow up and google Leura Mall? Absolutely NOT!
Afterall, on this vacation, I was deliberately doing as little research and planning as possible. It just isn't done that way, right?


So, after we finished walking Wentworth, DH and I thought it would be fun to go find the Mall.


Leura is one of those little villages you'll find up in the Blue Mountains. With a population of about 5,000, it's a cutesy little place completely catering for the tourists. The village isn't very big and we drove up and down the main street in search of the fabled Leura Mall without any success.


Silly us!

Turns out the Main Street of Leura is CALLED the Leura Mall. And if I'd done a little bit of googling, I would have known that! D'oh!



Let's find a parking and walk down Main Mall Street instead.







The streetscape is rather charming. You'll find that this main street is divided by a wide grassy median strip planted with lovely deciduous trees. I bet it looks fantastic in spring time.







I'm always interested to look for street art.







This one was rather lovely.






It didn't take us long to check out the shops in the Leura Mall. There were plenty of little boutiques and trinket shops but we weren't here to shop. Besides we were starving and being blown about in Leura.
We were here to eat! For a Sunday afternoon, the Mall was bustling with people and every food shop was packed.



So, mindful of DS' complaint the previous day, we picked the closest one to us.







It's not very large, is it? So we were lucky to find that it only took 10 minutes before a table was available. The group that walked in after us were told a 25 minute wait for the next table.






Service was decent enough and they did warn us that food would take about 20 minutes to appear. But it was worth the wait!

DS had a toastie with cheese, tomato, feta and basil.







DH had a warm pumpkin salad.







My dish was the pick of the day.







The chicken pot pie was absolutely delicious and the perfect way to warm up.







After the mains, both DS and I decided we needed to check out the hot chocolate. Afterall, this place was meant to specialise in chocolate.







The hot chocolate was chocolate overload. Especially when we teamed it with the OTT warm chocolate brownie.







We'd come in search of the Leura Mall. We found a charming little village with lots of shops to look at and delicious cafes that hit the mark for our lunch!






(Continued in Next Post)

 

[PrincessInOz]

Blue Mountain Chocolate





Not very far from our villa, there is a house that has a very interesting signpost.






We'd driven past a couple of times and decided we needed to stop in and check it out. On the way home from Leura, we did exactly that and bought these goodies home.

This was DH's choice.







The marshmallow stick was DS' selection. The two pieces of chocolate were mine. Peppermint filled truffles.







Nice; but I wouldn't be rushing back for more.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

As far as I was aware, the only times it's a BIG no-no where you can get into real trouble is going into WA or Tassie. The other borders are too hard to control with so many road crossings. You'd usually see signs advising when organic matter is not allowed in. But I'd say not taking it on any flights is a good rule of thumb

You can now bring fruit across the border but in the bad old days there used to be a check point between Qld and NSW. Now the fruit fly zone is this big circle encompassing Broken Hill down to the Riverina district around the Murray (Mildura etc) and all along the border of NSW and Victoria. I know as on a road trip we had to stop at a roadside and I scoffed a whole Rockmelon that was delicious and we didn't want to have to throw away. You also can't bring any fruit into South Aus and I believe there are restrictions as you say crossing into WA Zanzibar. So if you drive from Sydney to Broken Hill you have to eat it all or ditch it along the way! but you can bring fruit with impunity from Sydney to Brisbane and via versa or buy up big on a weekend in Stanthorpe (wine, berries, and apple growing district for SE Qldrs) and bring it home! Agricultural lesson over - back to speleology.....or rather chocolate since I am so late catching up with these posts.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

I did price the road trip. It was about $200 cheaper; but DH didn't want to drive and we would have had less time in Blue Mountains and Sydney.

I agree with a short time frame its not worth it. We've saved money on our longer trips and enjoyed exploring all the funny little country towns along the way - your camera would love you if you find time one day to do some more local travelling off the beaten track (when DH is all growed up maybe?)

Adore your caves piccies - just stunning and so beautiful. We have seen a lot of caves around the world in our time and the Jenolan's really are amongst the best. I forget how much white formations they have. I do have to put a plug in for Skocjan Caves in Slovenia though if any one is travelling there - like Lord of the Rings Dwarf Halls underground - with a suspension bridge over the top of a roaring river through the middle and a winding stair along the side - mind blowing in size rather than formations, but not for anyone who has a fear of heights...no pictures allowed though-that was the hardest.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Interesting re Melbourne vs Sydney! I didn't know that If we make it over I will have to wear a t shirt saying I love Melbourne in Sydney and I love Sydney in Melbourne lol.

Lunch looked very nice as did Wentworth Falls. Some lovely photos. Yum re marshmallow!

 

[jedijill]

The waterfall looks gorgeous! The hiking trails look like they would be a lot of fun.

I love the little tourist towns. Lunch looked really tasty!

Jill in CO

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Wonderful updates.

This part of Australia looks so lovely that I'm going to have to file it to memory as an area to visit one day. My family and I are big fan of bush and waterfall walks like this as it's what we usually do on our NZ-based road trips.

Out of interest, do you have to keep an eye out for snakes and spiders on those walks?

Your son's cheese and tomato toastie has me salivating. I've just decided what I want for breakfast.

 

[ACDSNY]

Beautiful hike to the waterfalls.

 

[zanzibar138]

I love waterfalls Looks like there's some great bush walking in that area

 

[dolphingirl47]

The scenery is absolutely stunning. Lunch looked really nice. What a shame that the chocolate was nothing special.

Corinna

 

[PrincessInOz]

I agree with a short time frame its not worth it. We've saved money on our longer trips and enjoyed exploring all the funny little country towns along the way - your camera would love you if you find time one day to do some more local travelling off the beaten track (when DH is all growed up maybe?)

One of these days, we'll definitely meander about a lot more around the Australian country towns.

Adore your caves piccies - just stunning and so beautiful. We have seen a lot of caves around the world in our time and the Jenolan's really are amongst the best. I forget how much white formations they have. I do have to put a plug in for Skocjan Caves in Slovenia though if any one is travelling there - like Lord of the Rings Dwarf Halls underground - with a suspension bridge over the top of a roaring river through the middle and a winding stair along the side - mind blowing in size rather than formations, but not for anyone who has a fear of heights...no pictures allowed though-that was the hardest.

I'll have to remember those caves if we're ever in Slovenia. I'd love to see them!

Interesting re Melbourne vs Sydney! I didn't know that If we make it over I will have to wear a t shirt saying I love Melbourne in Sydney and I love Sydney in Melbourne lol.

Lunch looked very nice as did Wentworth Falls. Some lovely photos. Yum re marshmallow!

You need to pick a side.

The waterfall looks gorgeous! The hiking trails look like they would be a lot of fun.

I love the little tourist towns. Lunch looked really tasty!

Jill in CO

Thanks Jill. The hiking trails were nice. Short; but nice.

Wonderful updates.

This part of Australia looks so lovely that I'm going to have to file it to memory as an area to visit one day. My family and I are big fan of bush and waterfall walks like this as it's what we usually do on our NZ-based road trips.

Out of interest, do you have to keep an eye out for snakes and spiders on those walks?

Your son's cheese and tomato toastie has me salivating. I've just decided what I want for breakfast.

You know.....I didn't even think about snakes nor spiders on this walk.

I almost had order envy when they brought out that cheese and tomato toastie. Almost.....until they brought my pot pie out.

Beautiful hike to the waterfalls.

It was a very pretty walk. I think it was the waterfalls that really made the walk. Australia is a dry continent; so to find an area so blessed with waterfalls is fantastic and to be able to walk it...even more so.

I love waterfalls Looks like there's some great bush walking in that area

You'll have to head there sometime.

The scenery is absolutely stunning. Lunch looked really nice. What a shame that the chocolate was nothing special.

Corinna

Yes, it was a shame that the chocolate wasn't better. There wasn't anything wrong with it but I didn't think it was special enough to warrant a return trip.

 

[tiggrbaby]

Stunning waterfall pics!

 

[zanzibar138]

Out of interest, do you have to keep an eye out for snakes and spiders on those walks?

Snakes aren't really an issue in winter. It's mainly in spring/summer when they lie themselves out on path ways to catch some sun. If you're walking somewhere where there is a constant stream of people going back and forth, you're unlikely to encounter snakes. They tend to avoid people. If you're walking somewhere pretty quiet and it's a nice day (anywhere in Australia), it's probably a wise move to keep an eye/ear out. Snakes don't like confrontation and most often will just move out of the way if they know you're coming.

Spiders aren't really an issue. The dangerous ones all tend to live in crevices (as do the big ones). Just don't stick your fingers anywhere you can't see (like under rocks or something).

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Snakes aren't really an issue in winter. It's mainly in spring/summer when they lie themselves out on path ways to catch some sun. If you're walking somewhere where there is a constant stream of people going back and forth, you're unlikely to encounter snakes. They tend to avoid people. If you're walking somewhere pretty quiet and it's a nice day (anywhere in Australia), it's probably a wise move to keep an eye/ear out. Snakes don't like confrontation and most often will just move out of the way if they know you're coming. Spiders aren't really an issue. The dangerous ones all tend to live in crevices (as do the big ones). Just don't stick your fingers anywhere you can't see (like under rocks or something).

It's good to hear that snakes avoid people.
When we visited Tropical Fruit World, I remember our tour guide telling us to watch where we were walking because of snakes. Plus strung between the trees of the orchard were webs with the hugest spiders I have ever seen outside of a zoo. Fear and fascination are an odd mix of emotions.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Stunning waterfall pics!

Thanks.

 

[PrincessInOz]

In Search Of....True Sunset at Echo Point





It was absolutely blowing a gale this afternoon but that didn't stop DH and I from heading over to Echo Point and setting up our tripods. We'd decided that we might regret not seeking out true sunset over Echo Point when we headed back home.







We might have been cold, but we won't be wondering about what could-have-beens. For us, we were glad we made the effort for the re-do shooting. As the sun set lower in the sky, I was rewarded with one brief shining moment.







And as it finally hit that twilight time, these were the shots that I got from this evening.

































I didn't just look towards the Three Sisters. Tonight, the skies were a lot clearer than the night before. Can you spot the Southern Cross?



















At this point, it was definitely biting cold. There really was no point in staying out any longer so we packed up and headed back to the villa.









(Continued in Next Post)