Mountain Road Climbing

Katoomba is hilly and cold and ecclectic. At least half of the population wear a hat!

We spent the early morning looking for somewhere to have breakfast. There wasn't much open at 9am. I think most places open at 10am!!  Annoying!

We found an alley recently opened to the public, full of street art and spent about half an hour taking photos and admiring the creative works covering the buildings and the walls and the fences and the garage doors. Amazing stuff. Photos to come, after I get home. Internet is intermittent, cutting in and out, making it unreliable for editing and posting photos.

The hat shop was open, so that was our next stop, but I didn't find a hat that I liked enough to buy. I did find one hat, but the band had a big hole in it, as if something had been pinned to it and then removed. I tried many different styles and I loved the 'mad hatters' hat, but it cost $245 and I wasn't prepared to pay that.

We walked next door to the 'Hatters' cafe for breakfast. I had the Canadian breakfast .. french toast (gf) with bacon and pure maple syrup. Absolutely delicious. Their coffee was damned good too. The service was fantastic so if you're heading this way, I highly recommend it. They have a good range of meals and great selection of gluten free meals available.

After breakfast, we walked the streets and went into every antique store (of which there were many!) and before we were halfway up the hill, BGWLBH looked like a pack horse! She had bought books and jumpers and goodness knows what else.

We walked into a bar - the name of which I can't remember - and it was spectacular in it's age and style and furnishings and old photos on the wall depicting an era long ago. We hoped we could get a coffee there and wanted to sit in the sunshine at the front window where there were huge worn leather sofas calling our names, but there was no coffee and it was far too early for a beverage.

Soon after that we stopped at an old building with big glass windows where old photos were taped. Amazing old photos of Katoomba in the early 1900s with the old cars and the fashions of the day and crowds of people at dances and rollerskating evenings. They had us intrigued from the first photo to the last.

We found a little cafe with old wicker chairs covered in lambswool. It was very bohemian with hippy undertones. BGWLBH ordered coffee and cake while I was next door checking out the jewellery. I bought two silver and onyx rings.

After about an hour relaxing there, we continued on our way until we finally found our way back to the motel and once there, we decided to walk to one of the lookouts.

Our map made the walk look quite short, but we didn't take the steep hills into consideration and as we came to the first hill, which was downhill, we considered our options and strongly considered turning back! But we continued on our way. It was all downhill in a big zigzag to the walking track and then just a slight uphill walk to the lookout.

Unfortunately, that meant that the walk back was ALL uphill and steep!

BGWLBH suggested that we take tiny steps so as not to over exert ourselves, and that advice was perfect. I felt like the slow and steady tortoise that won the race. There was no huffing and puffing. No heavy breathing. No burning calves. Even though it took a little longer, it didn't matter.

As we walked up the first hill, a man came out with a sign and he was selling organic lemons and limes, so we bought half a dozen lemons from him on the way.

After a short break, we got changed and headed to the RSL Club again for dinner.

Dinner was even better tonight than last night and we had a couple of glasses of wine to celebrate our holiday.

Tomorrow, we head off to Mudgee.

Having a fabulous time so far. Feeling very relaxed and comfortable and the weather has been superb.

I must admit to feeling very weary tonight, so I think I will sleep well .. and it's only 9.15pm!!

Nite all.