The Blue Mountains

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Our night finished off with an anniversary dinner at the Katoomba RSL. The meal was excellent and the service impeccable. After dinner we sat and listened to some live music for a while before returning to our motel for the night. We had just settled in when the whole room started to shake. We had just had a 4.3 earthquake that lasted for about 3-4 seconds. It took a little while to get to sleep but we managed eventually. 

The next morning we rose early ready to take on the Blue Mountains. We booked our Scenic World tickets online which was recommended and set off for the 930 booking. They recommend you book online and also that you arrive within the 30 minute window. We arrived around 9 AM and finding a park in the multi story park was easy. I highly recommend getting in early as the park was full when we left.

 Getting through ticketing was fast and efficient with the online tickets. We decided to take the scenic skyway across the valley and explore the walks and viewing areas. I managed to get Ann on the central viewing deck that had a glass floor so you could see the valley below. Once on the other side we started our walks. There are several viewing areas and all are worth the effort.  We walked all the way to Echo Point and back, and then walked around to the Katoomba cascades and waterfall viewing areas. 
We could have taken the easy route and taken the road back to Scenic World, but instead took the Furber Steps track. This was definitely a workout for us both with the final 100m being close to a 75 degree incline. All up we walked around 5km, but the differences in height made for the challenge.

Back at Scenic World we made a beeline for the Scenic Railway. This is the steepest passenger train in the world at 52 degrees, and makes its way down through the mountain to the Scenic Walkway. At the bottom we started our walk through the rainforest where reminders of the former coal mines are evident. Over 100km of tunnels are recorded in the cliff side in this area. At the end of the walk we caught the Scenic Cableway back to the top where we sat for lunch. In all it was a great morning, although exhausting.
We decided during lunch we would head out to Hartley Historic Village. We had seen a blacksmith who incorporates glass in his art and wanted to see his gallery and talk to him about his craft. The historic village is not very big, but is worth a stop off on your way to or from Sydney. We found the Talisman Gallery and made our way up the drive. As we walked in through the workshop we were greeted by the artist Ron Fitzpatrick. He told us the gallery was up the stairs and I mentioned I was interested in his workshop. He was nothing short of rude, telling me he isn't interested in talking shop. We made a special trip to see his gallery and to be greeted like that was pretty disgusting. Well Ron Fitzpatrick because you weren't interested in talking to us, we weren't interested in buying some opal pieces you had, or metal sculptures so I guess you are the loser too. It doesn't take much to be courteous. 
Feeling a little let down by his arrogance we went down to the antiques shop and were greeted by the owners who were  friendly and happy to chat. We also went to the visitor centre where the attendant was also happy to talk about the village and show interest in the visitors. 

On our trip back we stopped at Blackheath for the craft market but it was packing up so we missed out there too. Another deviation and we stopped at another lookout to take in the magnificent views. If we were a bit younger (and fitter) we might have done a few more walks but this was us spent for the day. Time to head back to the motel and rest our weary legs,

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