NSW Trip Day 9: Blue Mountains

Everyone slept in this morning, then had another slow relaxing morning at the cottage. Exactly what we needed for a bit of a recharge. We had lunch then went out to see Leura Cascades. It was raining fairly steadily and I was glad we’d decided not to let the mist and cloud deter us from seeing the 3 Sisters yesterday – visibility would have been far worse today so we did it in the best order. The rain wasn’t a problem so much at the Cascades as we were in the bush – it was very wet and puddly underfoot and there was some rain falling through the trees, but there was also some protection.

The Upper Cascades were pretty, then we headed down more stairs to see the rest of the cascades. There were 249 stairs (Caitlin counted them on the way back up) – these were gradual and had a low rise so it wasn’t a difficult walk up or down. Walking along next to the creek as it cascaded down the hill was beautiful and peaceful. There was a little cave at the bottom to sit in and look back up as far as we could – an impressive sight, and very loud, with the sound of the water echoing off the roof of the cave. I was ready to head back up the stairs once we’d had our fill, then Caitlin came back from exploring a little further along the track and said she’d seen something she wouldn’t forget. So we followed her back along and the path suddenly reached a lookout overlooking a valley, with the water falling over the edge of the cliff to form Bridal Veil Falls and the ground falling away from the escarpments everywhere we looked. It was spectacular. We stayed at the lookout for a while, and Millie was thrilled when the cloud rolled in and blocked our view a bit – and we were actually standing in the cloud! It lifted again for one last look at the view then we went back up. We’d talked about doing a bit more walking and finding the lookout that looked back down at where we’d been, so we could see the actual waterfall not just the top – once we’d reached the top of the stairs everyone was tired and bit wet and not really keen for more walking or exploring.

Leura Cascades

At the Lookout

We had a snack and a drink at the car and watched some boys skateboarding several times down the road that wound through the carpark – it was a reasonably steep hill with lots of bends, and they were going fast, it was quite impressive to watch. The girls had a quick play on the swings at the picnic area too.

From Leura we went back to S’s one more time for a cuppa/drink and another catch up. I really enjoyed seeing her so much over this weekend, usually our visits are too brief. We came back to the cottage for dinner and had a quiet evening watching TV and reading and playing a game called Blasters (which wasn’t so quiet but did look like fun)