You won’t be surprised to hear it’s still raining, actually
raining quite heavily – it’s apparently raining everywhere … which is good, I
know. So, my first job after awakening was to google “things to do in Katoomba
when it’s raining”. That search elicited quite a few suggestions, of which I
made a short list and sent to Maz and Gaz’s phones so they could peruse and
decide. When we came together at 10am it turned out neither had seen their list
of google inspired links so it was left up to me to decide.
First stop was the Cultural Centre at Katoomba, conveniently
located on top of Coles so you can get an undercover carpark and use the lift
to access the centre (see, googling does pay!) There we bought tickets for the
princely sum of $3 per person, (except Kevin who is too embarrassed to be seen
as a senior so payed the full price of $5) and accessed some really cool art
exhibitions. There was one around the bushfires with some fabulous shots of
various aspects of the bushfires experienced recently in the Blue Mountains.
Another gallery had a portrait exhibition with a mixture of mediums, including
photography and your more traditional paintings. Some of the stories of the
portrait subjects, (printed on little cards to the side), were as fascinating
as the artwork itself.
The third gallery was a permanent exhibition of the Blue
Mountains covering history, ecology, nature, geology, lived experience, and so
on. Fascinating – it covered a lot. The floor was an intricate aerial shot of
the Sydney Basin and Blue Mountains, but it was dark so hard to see the detail.
A lot of projections on the walls and ceiling, interactive displays and audio
displays too. I would recommend this place for a visit if you’re ever up this
way. At the gift shop, Gaz found some Aboriginal art inspired melamine salad
servers and I added some cups and we had shopping covered for the day as well!
The tummies were rumbling so it was a short stroll up the
street, past the closed but hopefully being restored Paragon Café, and we were
at the famous Carrington Hotel. Wow! It is quite spectacular while obviously
not being at it’s absolute best … some cracks appearing around the edges. I
took heaps of photos and then we settled into the refined opulence for a bit to
eat. Kev, Maz & I had some yummy pumpkin and sweet potato soup (good day
for it), while Gaz just hopped straight to desert and had the cake of the day.
Soup of the day, cake of the day, what’s the difference? It was warm and cozy,
fabulous service and food, and not at all expensive.
Everyone wanted to look at slightly different things at the shops,
so we all met up again at the car 30 minutes later. You won’t be surprised to
know I spent nearly all my allocated time browsing a second-hand bookstore – it
was massive! I held myself back though and walked away without making any purchases.
Another 10 minutes and I would have been in trouble. On our way home we thought
we would drive by the Blackheath Golf Course so Kev & Gaz could mourn their
nonparticipation. My mum had asked me to look for the guest house she and my
dad stayed at on their honeymoon in 1954 – The Redleaf Guesthouse. Well, no
guesthouse, but there is a Redleaf Resort right at the entrance (across the
road, anyway), so I’m guessing that’s the same spot.
Because we were then pretty close, we motored on to Evans
Lookout, just a couple of minutes down the road and Kev, Maz and I battled the
high winds and heavy rain while Gaz stayed in the car to “mind” Buddy, the dog.
It was a bit wild in the wind and rain but worth it to grab a glimpse of the
view which included multiple waterfalls across the valley. This made us wonder
what the Bridal Veil Waterfall looked like after all the rain, so we went back
to Govetts Leap again and it was certainly a significantly increased water flow
– very spectacular.
The general consensus was that a rest, bit of book reading
or whatever was in order, so as the rain continued to pour down and the wind
squalls increased, we tucked ourselves into our cosy, airconditioned cabin for
the couple of hours before it was time to go out for dinner. The only other
highlight of the afternoon was a call from James raving about the fact that he
genuinely has run out of toilet paper and can’t find any to buy – the world has
certainly gone crazy!
We are off to dinner tonight at The Piedmont, an Italian restaurant that comes highly recommended. Really looking forward to it.
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