The Blue Mountains
It was unseasonably hot when we drove out of Sydney and into the Blue Mountains. We should have perhaps taken advantage of the sunny weather and headed straight to Katoomba to tick off the postcard highlights. Instead, we retreated into the gullies of the South Lawson Waterfall circular walk, where the falls (Adelina, Junction, Federal and Cataract) and their grottos were deliciously cool. The kids and Matthias stopped to get wet under Federal Falls. At Cataract Falls Hugh stumbled across a giant, spiky "yabbie". Instead of propelling itself into the safety of the deeper water it stood its ground, threateningly snapping it’s claws at us. Undeterred, we had to pick it up for closer inspection before letting it disappear into the darkness.
Hugh then made friends with a leech, which he carried attached to his calf in the name of science. Satisfied that we’d proved our hypothesis that the little blood sucker would triple in size, we gently encouraged it to move on with a little salt. Hugh’s leg continued to bleed for a good half hour after that, putting a stop to future leech experiments.
Murphy’s Glen Campground within the national park was a beautiful campsite surrounded by tall trees in a deep valley. Our home for two nights, it put us within reasonable driving distance of the top spots within the Blue Mountains National Park. Unfortunately though, we could strike all the "must do" lookouts off the list when we woke to thick fog and drizzle. We opted to seek the cover of the trees and delved deep into the Grand Canyon walking track. It was a fantastic walk and perfect on a drizzly misty day. The kids were engaged the whole way with the path taking us under cliffs, over stepping stones across creeks, through dense mossy green forest, under waterfalls and through a dark tunnel in the rock. We found little bright red yabbies in the creek, but they were much shyer than the whopper we’d found the previous day.
We made another attempt at the end of the day to see the famous Three Sisters but the fog was still so thick that I was lucky to see my hand in front of my face.
It was still drizzling with rain the next morning when we packed up camp. The forecast suggested we were facing a week of rainy weather, so we were feeling despondent and not sure which direction to take. We eventually settled on the pass between Wollemi and Yengo national parks and stopped to regroup and have breakfast at Hawkesbury Lookout. On the unsuccessful search for a toilet block, I noticed an odd cacophony of bird calls in the surrounding bush. My instinct to investigate was rewarded with a great sighting of four or five Superb lyrebirds, scratching, parading and mimicking in loud voices. That, and the fact that the sun had come out, lifted my spirits.
We stopped in Richmond for lunch and more planning but drove on with uncertainty still clouding the next week. We had at least settled on a free camp at Grey Gum Cafe for the night where we were kept awake by frogs. None of the promised rain arrived and the following day was hot and sunny.
