With a break from my teaching meaning I had free time, my wife suggested that today we go for a driving day trip. We set out about 9:30 in the morning and drove west up into the Blue Mountains. Google Maps says the route we drove up is 106 km. We came back via a different route, which it says is 111 km. So 217 km of driving, plus a bit extra to account for some back streets we drove around at the destination.
The first stop was Leura. This is a small town which has become a bit of a day tripper attraction, with the sort of cafes, antique shops, and other things that attract tourists. So it’s fun to walk up and down the short main street. After doing that, browsing in a few shops, we went to the Bygone Beauties Treasured Teapot Museum and Tea Rooms. They have a small museum with a collection of fancy tea paraphernalia, and a cafe serving high teas, sandwiches, cakes, and drinks. And Devonshire tea: scones with jam and cream. We had the scones, with my wife having a coffee and me electing to substitute a chocolate milkshake (since I don’t drink tea or coffee). They were soft and fluffy and very good.
After this morning tea, we drove out to the Sublime Point lookout, which has a beautiful view across the Megalong Valley and the Blue Mountains wilderness area.
It’s impossible to capture it all in a single photo, so I took a panorama:
This is also a great spot because it’s relatively unknown compared to the famous and extremely touristy Echo Point in Katoomba, just 10 minutes’ drive away. There, it’s impossible to park, and it’s crowded with tourists, and also you can’t dogs to the lookout spots. Here at Sublime Point, we shared the place today with maybe a dozen people, and we could walk Scully all the way out to the lookout (where we met a couple of other people who had brought their dogs too).
After this we drove over to Katoomba, although to the centre of town and not the lookout. We walked up and down the main street, which is larger and has more places than Leura. One spot that my wife likes to check out every time we come here is The Hattery. Today we both bought new hats, her a floppy felt one, and me a simple sports sunhat to replace my old decrepit one.
We grabbed some sushi rolls for a quick lunch. All of the cafes and restaurants were packed with people, often with queues waiting for tables, so we just got the take-away sushi and ate as we walked. We departed around 3:30pm for the drive back home.
The different route we took was down Hawkesbury Road, which I’m pretty sure I’ve never driven before. There is a lookout spot overlooking the Hawkesbury River and providing a view east over the Sydney plain back towards the city.
Again, a panorama:
We stopped near home to grab a few groceries to make a salad for tomorrow’s family Easter lunch, and made it home a bit after 5pm. It was a full day, but lots of fun!
New content today: