30th, 31st December 1st, 2nd, 3rd January 2014 Katoomba Blue Mountains

Off to the mountains,  no fishing there. The highway up the mountain was a surprise,  a really good road and not as windy as one might think as you are going 3000 feet.
Katoomba is a very busy town without all the essentials and shops that are needed, we noticed approx 4 antique shops.
There were tourist everywhere and mad bus drivers taking the tourist about going like cut cats, when we first arrived there was a bus that had cut the corner too much on a down hill and bellied out on the bank, stuck blocking the road it looked rather funny.
We had a very small area at the park there wasn't enough room to take the camper off and we had to park the boat up the back under some trees, luckily most of the thinks were within walking distance, the camp was opposite to the walks down the mountain and around the cliff edge.
There are three cable cars that run, one goes back and fourth across a valley the other goes down into the gulley, the other is called the steepest train in the world, it is just a car that is lowered down the cliff by cable and winched up again we went and checked these, they are all a bit of a yawn, $35 for the lot but with so many tourist up to 1 1/2 wait in a que after queuing for ages for the ticket.
We decided to do the walks as it is better to see things up and personnel, plants and waterfalls always look better when you are amoung them.
The walks were relatively steep to start with on trails and some stairs but after passing some beautiful areas with waterfalls approx 2/3 down the stairs got very steep that were uneven cut from the rock in the cliff, the veiw was also straight off the side into the gully, at this point I couldn't go any further but I told Merv to go on if he wanted to as I didn't want him to miss out, he continued on down through the gully and climbed up the side of one of the three sisters, there are steps that have been cut into the cliff 900 of them very uneven and steep.
When Merv got back some hours later very wet with perspiration he said that the steps were not only steep but the adrenaline from the risk involved gets the heart pumping.
While we were there we went for many walks along the trails, on the way back from down the cliff when I was by myself I saw a lyre bird and stood and watched it for approx 10 minutes I didn't have my phone or camera with me as I had given them to Merv to take with him, so we walked hoping to see one again.
We walked to Echo Point at night as the 3 sisters are floodlit, they look better in daylight.  I am glad we went up there but it is nothing we haven't seen before, there is some rock outcrops that is given a name and everybody goes to see it but there are much better spots just not made a place to get the tourist dollars.
I did expect to see a lot of birdlife but it wasn't there, a fleeting glimpse of an odd parrot some pink and greys and wattle birds.
We took a road trip one day out to Mt Tomah where the Blue Mountains botanical gardens are, they are the highest altitude botanical gardens in  Australia, they were very lovely but unfortunately we were probably a month too late for the spectacular show as they have large amounts of rhododendron and azaleas that had just finished blooming, the trip around we saw the most spectacular escarpment but there wasn't anywhere to pull over for a photo.
Another day trip was catch the the train to Sydney, the stations up the mountains all have waiting rooms with gas heaters,  I guess it gets pretty cold up in the mountains. The train ride was so smooth and quiet it took approx 2 hrs each way but beats driving in any day, when we got to central station we caught another train for circular quey, all the trains are double deck and the rail system is so easy to use to get around on.
When we arrived at circular quey we walked along and up the opera house steps checked the prices of food at the cafes along the foreshore $20 for a chicken burger, we gave eating there a miss, we then went on a half hour cruise out onto the river to the North Shore round trip a good way to see the bridge and opers house.
We then caught a bus up into the city went to Myers and bought another ipod so we could have our music, our other one was stolen, after shopping we walked down to Darling Harbour which took us under the bridge, different looking at it from that direction. Darling Harbour has lots of entertainment and eating places with many large boats to cruise on the river for special events or everday treat.