A day in the mountains

I couldn't believe my ears when Will told me he had never been to the Blue Mountains. The place I (and most Sydney-siders) drive through often on holidays or have been to on numerous school trips. Shocked as I was, I immediately decided to take him on a day trip nearly 2 hours west of Sydney, to the place where the mountains are blue. Unfortunately because of horrible traffic and a lot of places being closed (because it was Easter Friday) we didn't get to visit as many places as I planned. Here's how our day panned out.

A scrumptious breakfast at The Paragon

We then took a half hour drive north to Clarence

At Clarence we took a ride on The Zig Zag Railway. Something I used to do as a kid

 

We had the most gorgeous views along the way...

After the train ride we drove another half hour back down to Wentworth Falls. 

I absolutely love road trips. This half hour drive was spent listening (and me singing) to classic Beatles songs. 

This is a beautiful street in Wentworth Falls with all the autumn leaves. 

After a while Will started getting annoyed at me constantly taking photos. But cheered up as we sat down by Wentworth Falls Lake for delicious pies.

This was followed by a very excited Will buying an ice cream from Mr. Whippy 

After lunch we drove to Katoomba (the heart of the Blue Mountains) and I hate to say it but we turned into tourists and went to Scenic World, where we were quite clearly the only Australians there!

This is my favourite photo of the day - Will looking out at the Three Sisters

After we took the railway deep into the bush we went for a walk 

After our walk (and standing in line for half an hour while waiting to travel back up to the top of the mountains in the cable car) we drove around the corner to Echo point and witnessed the most amazing sunset (the photos do not do it justice)  and got a closer look at the Three Sisters

Aren't the colours absolutely brilliant!?

This is the beautiful old Carrington Hotel. I haven't been inside for years, but when you do you feel like you've stepped back in time 70 years, everything is so grand

 

Our second last stop of the day (well night by this time) was at the Station Bar in Katoomba for a well deserved beer after a day of being tourists

 We then went on to the Swiss Cottage (one of my all time favourite restaurants) for dinner

 This was our waiter (who has served me every time I've visited) who is also a magician and makes dinner there so entertaining. 

This is him back in 2004

And that was Will's first visit to the Blue Mountains