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

[PrincessInOz]

Beware When Seeking Dinner on a Sunday Night





If you're planning to eat out in Katoomba, you need to be aware that the opening hours aren't necessarily convenient for tourists all the time. Dinners after 9 pm will be pushing it where kitchens are concerned....and many, if not most food establishments, are closed any combination of Sunday, Monday or Tuesday night.
But spare a thought for the proprietors. Katoomba is a tourist town and Sunday, and midweek, it's likely to be a ghost town as the tourists don't normally trek out here during the working week. So, closing shop is probably preferable to sitting around, paying staff and waiting for the stray kangaroo to hop on in.



So.....what did we do for Sunday night?



We literally walked down the main street of Katoomba and about the only two places opened were a pizza shop.....







....and an Indian place.















Neither establishment were anything special. But for us, it was sufficient. Be aware that hitting the mains street for food at 7 pm on a Sunday night meant that we were waiting at least 40 minutes for our orders to be ready....at both places. There was a dearth of 'Open' signs in the shops and the ones that were opened were extremely popular.


Our alternative was to head to the supermarket and cook something. DH and I did contemplate it; but in the end, we decided we didn't want to be bothered with it so we waited for our food to be ready.

We took all the food back to the villa and ended up having a very early night.

 

[zanzibar138]

More great shots You know what they say... you always regret the things you DIDN'T do more!

Although there wasn't much variety available for dinner, what you ended up with looks delicious!

 

[CJ2001]

Just caught up on your trip, your photos are amazing

 

[jedijill]

The sky is so clear and beautiful! I love the twilight shots.

That pizza looks good...glad you found something that was open.

Jill in CO

 

[dolphingirl47]

Those shots are amazing. I particularly like the photos of the starry sky.

Corinna

 

[shushh]

Your persistence astounds me! Now you have a beautiful series of the three sisters to put up!

So did you enjoy the pizza...

 

[PrincessInOz]

More great shots You know what they say... you always regret the things you DIDN'T do more!

Although there wasn't much variety available for dinner, what you ended up with looks delicious!

The Indian curry was quite decent. The pizza was goodly average.

Just caught up on your trip, your photos are amazing

Thank you.

The sky is so clear and beautiful! I love the twilight shots.

That pizza looks good...glad you found something that was open.

Jill in CO

Thanks Jill. I was glad I found something too. I didn't relish the thought of cooking that night.

Those shots are amazing. I particularly like the photos of the starry sky.

Corinna

Thanks Corinna.

Your persistence astounds me! Now you have a beautiful series of the three sisters to put up!

So did you enjoy the pizza...

That pizza was decent enough by Aussie standards. But not standout outstanding by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Love the photo's of Echo point. Well worth double dip and suffering the cold thank you. Oh my re food options! Your limit option remind me of the one of the nicest pizza's I ever had outside Italy. California Pizza Kitchen in one of the Vegas hotel's possibly The Mirage. Anyway it was tandoori chicken on a honey base pizza. Oh boy did it work!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Love the photo's of Echo point. Well worth double dip and suffering the cold thank you. Oh my re food options! Your limit option remind me of the one of the nicest pizza's I ever had outside Italy. California Pizza Kitchen in one of the Vegas hotel's possibly The Mirage. Anyway it was tandoori chicken on a honey base pizza. Oh boy did it work!

Thanks, Paula.

I must have missed that pizza option when I was last at CPK. That sounds like it would not work but it strangely does, right?

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Thanks, Paula. I must have missed that pizza option when I was last at CPK. That sounds like it would not work but it strangely does, right?

I had to try it to see and it was a party in my mouth but I have strange taste! I put vanilla ice cream in burgers....

 

[PrincessInOz]

I had to try it to see and it was a party in my mouth but I have strange taste! I put vanilla ice cream in burgers....

Ooh! We'll have to do a strange taste-off if/when you make it to Melbourne.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Always Listen to your Gut When it Comes to Sunrise in your Eye




I woke up at 6 am this morning and my gut told me to go seek out sunrise. My head told me it was going to be cold outside and I should stay in bed.

Yes, I got out of bed and braved the cold and dark. If nothing else, I am truly a sucker for punishment.



My timing was a little bit better this morning in catching the golden rays of sunrise.







But not by very much. The sky already had that white brightness in the east that makes it difficult to capture colours.







In hindsight, I'm glad I made the effort. I think sunrise this morning was prettier than the day before and much more easier on the eye to look at.






Especially when you take a look to the western side of the sky. I watched those clouds with interest as from a photography perspective, those clouds promised a lot.







I amused myself with a few last close-ups of the Three Sisters.








Someday, I would love to have a backyard view like this.







It took about 20 minutes before my patience was rewarded. 20 minutes of finger-numbing cold.







The pinky orange of sunrise was stupendous against the sandstone cliffs and beautifully reflected by those clouds.







I was so glad that I listened to my gut this morning.







It had been a fabulous show by Mother Nature this morning. What a great way to greet the day!










(Continued in Next Post)

 

[PrincessInOz]

Home-cooked is ALWAYS Best




Encouraged by how breakfast had turned out yesterday, DH and I decided that a full cooked breakfast was in order. We had stopped by the supermarket in Leura yesterday and stocked up on a few more provisions.
For those accounting for the dollar comparisons, we probably spent about $24 on getting everything we needed for breakfast this morning.


We had bacon, eggs, mushrooms, a tomato and onion mix and toast.







DH had avocado instead of bacon.







We also got more strawberries and threw the yoghurt into the shopping cart as well.






Home cooked is always the BEST! Not a bad spread for $8 per person.






(Continued in Next Post)

 

[PrincessInOz]

All Packed up and Ready to Go



It didn't take us long to pack up and get ready to go. My city boy knew what was in store for us and he was eager beaver to head back to the big smoke.







Yup. He was in the car whilst we were still loading up!!! He's such a city boy and couldn't wait to get back to concrete and mobile coverage.







Road trip time and being a Monday morning, I had factored in an extra 30 minutes worth of traffic time....just in case.







As we left the Blue Mountains behind.....






It was a different kind of Blue that welcomed us to Sydney. Thankfully, with all that traffic ahead of us, we were well within the speed limit.










(Continued in Next Post)

 

[PrincessInOz]

Welcome to Sydney, Park Royal Style



In the end, I had worried for nothing. Traffic on this Monday morning was a lot smoother than anticipated. We ended up arriving at our hotel ahead of time.


We were a full 3 hours earlier than check-in and I figured we might as well drop the bags off at concierge so that we could return the car to the rental office. Our hotel of choice was the Sydney Park Royal, Darling Harbour.
hey do offer an early bird discount if you book at least 3 weeks in advance of your arrival date. For the July period, the early bird special was $199 per night.


It's your standard modern sleek minimalist décor hotel.












I must admit that despite being way early, I had hoped that our room would be ready. Luck was definitely running my way!

Our room.













The bathroom was spotlessly clean.







We were to be very comfortable here.







Even if our view wasn't anything special.








I did take these pictures on one of the nights we were here. But it probably is best to post them now and keep all the hotel pictures in the one post.







The hotel is structured around a central gap.







The internal corridors give you these kind of views looking down.







That area below is where the Park Royal's Barkers Restaurant is located. You'll find the buffet breakfast served in this space.







When I booked my room, I decided to go with the Park Royal's "No Ifs, No Buts" special deal. For a total of $224 ($25 more than the early bird special), I would be entitled to the buffet breakfast for all mornings we were there. No Ifs, No Buts.....it was for everyone in the room; adults AND kids. DH and I figured we might as well go for it. Afterall, it ended up being about $8 per person for breakfast. And we've already seen the type of breakfast we could cook ourselves for that money.



All checked in, it was time to start the Sydney part of this vacation.

 

[Kristin5]

You take great photos! Are you a professional photographer or is it just a hobby?

 

[dolphingirl47]

That sunrise definitely looked worth getting up for. The breakfast looked delicious and the hotel looks very nice, too.

Corinna

 

[zanzibar138]

Your DS is so funny I would much rather have stayed in the country

Nice work getting those last few photos. Definitely worth it Glad the traffic treated you a bit better this time around.

Although your view was nothing spectacular, at least it wasn't a bad view, like a wall, or looking straight into someone's apartment

 

[franandaj]

Yay! I'm finally caught ip again. Thanks for the heads up on the falls hikes. I've added the Jenolan caves to our Australia planning list but I think that's all we'll do around there. Fran isn't very mobile and she may even nix those.

OK, so what exactly makes a toastie? In NZ we learned about toasted sandwiches and lived off those at the snack bars in the remote tourist destinations, but those were what Americans called "grilled (insert meat type) and cheese". They had two slices of bread. Is a toastie the same thing but open faced?

I would have opted for cook in something easy (like toasted sandwiches!) Rather than wait 40 minutes twice, but I would have grabbed a bottle of wine and chilled while cooking. But thats me. I'm glad you were satisfied with your choices and breakfast looked delicious!

Your Sydney room looks spacious and the beds appear huge! Looking forward to hearing what's in store for the urban part of the trip!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Lol re SS and cityboy. Exactly like me I am def a city/town kind of gal. I enjoy seeing country sights then can't wait to get back to the smoke!

Oh my the hotel in Sydney is amazing! Sydney is on my top 3 places I would love to visit before I croak lol. I love the space in that hotel and hey that deal with buffet breakfast nice one

Being an early riser I can get a breakfast buffet twice lol... Once for breakfast then once just as it closes as an early lunch for the road...

It's strange how I never get invited back to places..

Looking forward to photos of Sydney!