Katoomba, AUS

We’re on our last day at Katoomba, after spending 2 days here. We were told to come see the Blue Mountains, because the vistas are beautiful, and there’s a blue haze that in the air emitted from the trees. But alas, I can not confirm that it is like they say in the brochure. Why? Because it’s been raining almost non-stop, and during the times it’s not raining, it looks as if we’re constantly in a cloud. The town itself has a lot of tiny cafes and bakeries and is nice for a short stop, it’s too bad though that we couldn’t see the main attraction, which included Echo Point and the lookout to the Three Sisters. I’m SURE it’s very pretty on a sunny day though (just like the brochure). 😛

This will be a very short post, as there is very little to report. We hope to have more exciting things to report from Newcastle (which is our planned next destination tomorrow).

Probably the highlight of our trip was eating at the ‘Common Ground’ cafe on Katoomba St. It quickly made it to one of our top spots to eat, because of the ambiance, food quality and overall best value we’ve seen to date. I ordered an apple juice (“home-made just like the farm”, were Dan’s exact words), pumpkin soup with a light dollop of cream and fresh-baked bread. Dan had the 2nd best sandwich, shadowed only by the club sandwich in Napier. It was a toasted sandwich with roast beef, corn beef, cheese & tomato, accompanied by chips. We then ended the meal with whole grain pancakes served with a blueberry compote under fresh cream. The cafe itself had tables formed into the building in a very organic manner. It was like stepping into a treehouse. The staff was friendly and all donned the typical ‘hippie-style’ loose pants and tops, long hair (both the men & women) and bright smiles.

Other than that experience, we’ve been walking around Katoomba and the neighbouring town of Leura in the rain and fog, window-shopping. That’s all for now!!