Just 65km from downtown Sydney, the foothills of the great dividing range begin and continue to climb around 3500 feet. There not mountains in the "Seattle-Sense" (No jagged, rocky Mt. Rainiers out here...) but blue mountain national park does offer a fantastic variety of scenery, excellent self-guided bushwalks and an opportunity to escape the hustle & bustle of Sydney City life in just under 2 hours on the train.

Our time in Katoomba offered a considerable amount of entertainment. We were unwilling to pay the $120 entrance fee for the weekend long folk festival as we had a few other things planned while in Katoomba... but we still enjoyed an outsiders view of the main stage on Friday night where we could hear just fine. (And isn't that what's important at a folk festival?!?) Cyndi Boste was our favorite artist on the Friday night line up. (One day we'll have to see if we can find her CD on Amazon....)

The entertainment continued Saturday morning as we woke up to the sound of a cricket game outside our tent door. We had set up the tent in the dark of night... so much to our surprise we had chosen a site right on the edge of a cricket oval. The "Big Boys" were clearly tromping the "little boys" when we headed out for our day hike, but the "little boys" hadn't been up yet. We couldn't find anyone who'd stayed for the whole game... so we're unsure of the final result.

We spent a good 6 hours hiking on Saturday. The trails throughout the park are well marked and easy to navigate. We started at Katoomba Falls and worked our way from the viewpoint at the top down to the valley floor and base of the waterfall. There is a unique and indescribable eucalyptus like smell in the forest that is different from any other forest we've hike in. It's wonderful! In addition, the flocks of wild white feathered cockatoos and colorful parrots made the 1500 stair climb back up the mountain worth the adventure.

Our last stop on Saturday was to the Katoomba cemetery to visit Mark's aunt Annie. Annie immigrated to Australia in the 1950s and died in the late 70s. On Mark's last trip to Oz, (1997) he did the research to locate her grave. Seeing that we were so close (and the rest of the extended family is so far....) we stopped in to check that everything was alright. It is. The leaves are changing in the cemetery now... making a bright contrast to the beautiful blue & green mountain scenery. It's a very peaceful place.

From here, we will pack up our soggy tent and head towards the Hunter Valley Wine Region.....

(BTW: Blue Mountain Dog Food used to be what Heide's family fed their family dog while Heide was growing up....)