Katoomba

Wednesday, 31 May 2017

Lunch at the Paragon Cafe

Peek a boo

Ballroom

Piano (and entrance to Gents)

Memorabilia

Another selfie in the bright sun

Three Sisters

Leura Cascade

Wentworth Falls

There wasn’t any frost this morning, but the wind chill factor must have had the temperature around the -8 degree mark – I did wish I had packed my fur hat and long johns!  Despite having full thermals and a down jacket, I was very glad when we were in the car and underway.  Snow clouds were building rapidly over Oberon as we headed towards Katoomba.  The drive was very pretty but very hilly and quite windy, also a favourite route of truck drivers.  We even passed the spot where Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson stopped in 1813 and returned to Sydney.

We were at the Katoomba Falls Tourist Park about 10.30 am and because we hadn’t made a reservation, the receptionist decided we should wait outside for ten minutes while she finished her conversation and let us in.  This woman certainly had attitude!  Although a very nice park and with wonderful new amenities, the $40 per night is rather expensive.  Having a monopoly certainly helps.

After setting up, we headed to the shopping centre, looking for a hairdresser, a supermarket and somewhere nice for lunch.  We found all three without any trouble; lunch was partaken at the Paragon Café.  This café was opened in 1916 and has managed to retain its Art Deco décor – lunch was delicious, as were the hand made chocolates!

Then it was time to act like a tourist and join the 8,137 Asian tourists at Echo Point for a view of the Three Sisters and the Blue Mountains.  Although extremely cold, it was also very clear and sunny, which did not make for good photographs.  We then followed the tourist drive towards Leura, with a stop at the Leura Cascades (and more steps to climb down and up!) before continuing to the Wentworth Falls Lookout.  We decided it was too cold and too far (also too many steps) to walk down to the falls, so just took a photo of the falls and surrounding red cliffs.

Today, we finally managed to convince Cat to leave the caravan and venture outside for afternoon tea in the sunshine, but it wasn’t very long before he was back inside where it was warm.

Jenolan Caves

Tuesday, 30 May 2017

Cave House

Crimson rosella

Lake Oberon Dam

Just in case we hadn’t noticed, I was reliably informed this morning that south east Australia is having a cold snap!  With the temperature at 2 degrees at 8.00 pm last night and -5 this morning, I think I had worked that one out.  The roofs, cars and caravans were covered with frost when the sun rose, which made it feel even colder.  Our poor heater struggled to raise the temperature to 8 degrees.

Today we visited the Jenolan Caves, about half an hour’s drive south of Oberon.  From a height of 1360 metres above sea level, the road dropped 500 metres in just over 3 kilometres – a fairly scary section of narrow road with sharp switchbacks and long drops over the side.  It was rather a relief to arrive at the bottom!  After deciding on a visit to the Diamond Cave, we enjoyed the cold sunshine for half an hour before heading underground, along with about 25 other people.  Virtually straight after entering the cave, we climbed down 66 steps to the river (well worth the climb) and then climbed up 66 steps.  We continued through this cave system, with more steps to negotiate and low headroom in places which necessitated some stooping – at least it wasn’t a cave experience which required overalls and crawling.  The limestone formations were very pretty, many of them sparkling in the light, and varied in colour from white, to pale apricot, deep apricot and orange.

Lunch was “enjoyed” at the Cave House (enough said), although we did enjoy the company of a crimson rosella hoping to be fed, before we tackled the drive back up the hill.  We only met one car and he was travelling way too fast and on the wrong side coming around a blind corner.  Both drivers suffered some degree of an increase to their heart rates and we were so lucky we were going very slowly and weren’t six feet further on.  We did a quick detour into the Lake Oberon dam wall on our way back, but with the temperature about 8 degrees and a very strong southerly adding a huge wind chill factor to the temperature, it was a quick look and back down the hill to the car.

Oberon

Monday, 29 May 2017

Owner's house in the distance

Another brisk and dry start to the day as we hitched up ready for the drive to Oberon – after watching a mature age lady wrap herself in a bath towel following her shower and walk through the caravan park to her caravan!  Certainly didn’t seem to be feeling the cold or worried about the towel slipping …

The drive today was uphill all the way, passing through some small towns on the way to Bathurst before turning south towards Oberon.  Oberon is over 1100 metres above sea level and the fuel consumption certainly reflected the long climb from Cowra.  We are staying for two nights at the Jenolan Caravan Park, which is very similar to the Cowra park, only minus the river.  The manager was very friendly and helpful, with some good ideas on how to spend our time in the town.  This is also the first time that I have seen washing machines charge by the type of wash selected (cheaper for cold water); the dryers also had two different timings.

As suggested, this afternoon we visited the Mayfield Gardens, about 15 minutes drive from Oberon.  The 160 acre water gardens have been developed on a large sheep property and have only been open to the public for a few years.  Even though the gardens weren’t at their best at this time of the year, they were still very pretty and made us want to return sometime in spring when the bulbs and rhododendrons are in flower.

Oberon has been very, very cold today, with the temperature hovering about 5 degrees but feeling like 1 degree.  I knew I should have packed my fur hat!

Cowra

Sunday, 28 May 2017

Lachlan River

Australian War Cemetery

Japanese War Cemetery

Time to head north once again and leave Canberra’s cold temperatures behind.  The weather was cloudy with a cold wind this morning as we headed through farmland towards Cowra.  We were unlucky enough to follow a rain shower for about 45 minutes but the sun was shining by the time we arrived at the Cowra Van Park.  This is a lovely park on the banks of the Lachlan River and all the magpies for a hundred kilometre radius have been having a convention in the trees along the river bank!

This afternoon we visited the Cowra Japanese Gardens (hence, lots of garden photos!!!) which are still showing some colour among the deciduous trees and a few narcissus were even in flower.  The grounds are beautifully maintained and the lakes enjoyed by many wind ducks.  After leaving the gardens, we drove past the former P.O.W. Camp, scene of the large breakout by Japanese prisoners during the war, before arriving at the Cowra War Cemetery.  All the soldiers killed during the breakout are buried here (26 graves in total) and the Japanese are buried in a separate cemetery.

A lovely country town which is well worth visiting.