On Feb 1st 2017, AJ & I had completed a huge milestone in our marriage!!! Tenth wedding anniversary....truly I can't understand where the time has flown. it seems just like yesterday when two hopelessly young people had come together and gotten married in 2007.......in all our innocence we had eagerly giggled into an act that we 'gave' 2 years.... 2 years had felt like a looooong time to see if this would work!! And here we were completing 10 years...whoo !! Marriage is everything that we think it to be and then quite some more! You think it is about the two of us getting together and hence it would simplify some things (such as sharing of chores) and complicate some others (maybe twice the expenses). Or thats what we thought! Well it's certainly been a lot more than that! None the less, I am digressing, this blog isn't a recounting of our ten years, it is a travelogue to the weekend we spent at the beautiful Blackheath!
Almost exactly a year ago I had taken my first getaway by myself, since Tu's birth' to Katoomba and spent a couple of glorious days trekking around the Blue Mountains. Ever since then have been meaning to go back with Tu and AJ....just that we never got around to it. So come 1st of Feb, we were all excited. It was a Wednesday, so we pragmatically decided to take the Friday off and have a long weekend at Blue Mts. After a brief search on trip advisor I got a good deal in Parkland Country lodges (it had a spa) and our bookings were all done! Tu packed her fav purple suitcase and I packed ours while AJ had blissfully slept off with Tu! (Summarised our 10 years rather nicely :-P)
On 3rd Feb we all excitedly woke up at 6 AM and by around 7 AM we were well on our way. In less than an hour we were at the foothills and we decided to stop at a lovely cafe (Blue Mist Cafe), Wentworth Falls for breakfast.
After a scrumptious breakfast we headed to Wentworth Falls to see the fall, Tu was all excited. the Jamison Look out was so accessible by car. Almost as soon as we stepped away from the car park we sighted some beautiful views, it was a pleasant cloudy morning and the mountains seemed to have a never ending rolling green carpet on! What a sight!
From there we saw some signs leading up to a lookout overlooking the falls, so we set off. Tu is a doll, she loves a trek or two. She was leading the way down some quasi stairs as AJ and I followed behind. We paused several times to observe flowers up close or see cobwebs adorned by dainty dew drops. the clean air and the foliage covering only added to the pleasure of being outdoors on a lovely day such as this one.
Finally we reached the look out and the vistas on all sides was beautiful!!
The Falls itself was not too intense, but the sight of it made one feel like we were watching a last lone soldier fall haplessly down a gorge....and it highlighted the massive size of the gorge it was falling into and the scale of the mountains surrounding the thin stream that was taking the plunge...
After spending sometime there we headed back to the car. Again stopping several times to answer Tu's curious questions. We saw several small birds chirping around us as we got back. All in all it was a good break to the drive up. Soon we were at Leura, it was my most fav memory from the last trip in the mts. We stopped for lunch at an Indian Restaurant by the Station- TAMARIN.
The food was good, but the location being right next to the tracks was very amusing for me and AJ. As trains whizzed by, a rather wide eyed Tu very innocently believed that trains came and went at our beck and call. We pretended to talk on the mobile to the driver and ask him to come or leave the station that was nearby!! All in all it was a lovely lunch together full of conversations based on the mighty powerful imagination!! =))
It was time to set off to Blackheath now and we reached rather early and hence decided to go see the lookout point Govetts Leap- it was just after our place of stay. By now the clouds had gathered around the lookout and we could hardly see a thing. Rather disappointed we decided to just wait for a few mins even as AJ sighted some pretty little birds at one of the trees! Glad we waited the ten mins, suddenly the clouds lifted a glorious sight of mountains clothed in dark greenery greeted our eyes. What a lovely sight!!
Even as you take in this breathtaking sight you spot the Govetts Leap waterfall cascading down a whopping 180mts....it really gives you an adrenalin rush to see the free fall of this little stream of water into such wilderness and a bottomless Grose Valley :-)
After hanging around for another 20 mins we set sail in the hope of grabbing a coffee and a snack. It was almost time to turn into the Parkland Country Lodges. We landed up in Meet Me at Matt's- a very nice and colourful vegan cafe serving up some delicious tidbits!
Even as we waited for our order of turmeric latte, chips and carrot cake we noticed a mom who was walking her daughter back from school impulsively stop over for a smoothie and a talk at the cafe! I couldn't help but hope that one day I'd do something similar with Tu :-D
Soon it was time to check into our hotel, what a wonderful little property it turned out to be! the woods was so picturesque even as we entered and the flowers at the reception were in full bloom. The unit itself was up in the loft, but the room was spacious and the bathroom was perfection! Tu and I both squealed in delight as we entered- she loved the fact that there were stairs to climb!! To top it all this had a fireplace!! We raked it up that evening and had a wonderful time overall!!
Once we had changed we even took a stroll around the gardens!
The small lake within had some picture perfect reflections and the ducks along the walking paths made it easy to keep Tu engaged even as AJ made sure she had some fruits!! We also sighted some black cockatoos at the very end of the property!
On the way back to the room we even spotted a lovely snail and my jaw dropped as Tu very calmly asked her dad "Is this snail yummy??!!"
The next day morning we woke up to a bright day!! Yesterday's mist was all but gone without a trace and this helped us see a whole new side to the same Blackheath!
We thought about having some breakfast at the restaurant within this property but turns out the chef hadn't come in yet. So we went to the end of the road to grab some scrambled eggs for Tu and some breakfast for me and AJ. Altitude Delicatessen had tons of good food for us and we happily tucked away into it.
After breakfast we headed off to Leura Cascades- I had done this trek last time I was here and was keen to take AJ and Tu to the cascades.
What a wonderful place this is, the short trek to the cascades itself was easy, once we got there tu enjoyed playing in the water!
After the water play we walked up a little further to get a view of the falls and the blue mountains. AJ spotted a skink while we were there and he also spotted a couple of eastern spinebills and their young ones frolicking just over the waterfalls!! Tu was delighted to see all this fauna...but at the end of it all we were all tired!!
We slowly headed back to the car and Tu caught a nap even as we made our way to Katoomba Echo Point. By the time we reached there we were quite tired, we had a light snack and decided to try and wait for the sunset. however we didn't much succeed and decided to head back to the hotel. We packed some food on the way back and once done with dinner we just crashed!!
Next day it was time to leave, I had booked myself in for a spa massage and gosh it felt heavenly!! once done we packed off and had only one stop over at Evans Lookout. Even as we were getting there we saw a snake basking in the sun on the road. just as we pulled over to admire it a white SUV came from the opposite direction and ran over it much to our dismay! Tu was aghast at what she had just seen, even as the injured snake slithered away from the road...she almost cried and for the next hour or so kept repeating how dangerous it was for the snake and how "Mummy snake should have held baby snake's hand while crossing the road" Horrifying incident....it surely left a lasting impression on her! :-(
We hoped and prayed the snake was still ok, and kept talking to her about it on the way back home. Over all it had been another lovely trip full of experiences and memories that we will cherish forever! A fitting way to celebrate our tenth and here's wishing to many more!! Cheers!
Almost exactly a year ago I had taken my first getaway by myself, since Tu's birth' to Katoomba and spent a couple of glorious days trekking around the Blue Mountains. Ever since then have been meaning to go back with Tu and AJ....just that we never got around to it. So come 1st of Feb, we were all excited. It was a Wednesday, so we pragmatically decided to take the Friday off and have a long weekend at Blue Mts. After a brief search on trip advisor I got a good deal in Parkland Country lodges (it had a spa) and our bookings were all done! Tu packed her fav purple suitcase and I packed ours while AJ had blissfully slept off with Tu! (Summarised our 10 years rather nicely :-P)
On 3rd Feb we all excitedly woke up at 6 AM and by around 7 AM we were well on our way. In less than an hour we were at the foothills and we decided to stop at a lovely cafe (Blue Mist Cafe), Wentworth Falls for breakfast.
The food was good, but the location being right next to the tracks was very amusing for me and AJ. As trains whizzed by, a rather wide eyed Tu very innocently believed that trains came and went at our beck and call. We pretended to talk on the mobile to the driver and ask him to come or leave the station that was nearby!! All in all it was a lovely lunch together full of conversations based on the mighty powerful imagination!! =))
It was time to set off to Blackheath now and we reached rather early and hence decided to go see the lookout point Govetts Leap- it was just after our place of stay. By now the clouds had gathered around the lookout and we could hardly see a thing. Rather disappointed we decided to just wait for a few mins even as AJ sighted some pretty little birds at one of the trees! Glad we waited the ten mins, suddenly the clouds lifted a glorious sight of mountains clothed in dark greenery greeted our eyes. What a lovely sight!!
Soon it was time to check into our hotel, what a wonderful little property it turned out to be! the woods was so picturesque even as we entered and the flowers at the reception were in full bloom. The unit itself was up in the loft, but the room was spacious and the bathroom was perfection! Tu and I both squealed in delight as we entered- she loved the fact that there were stairs to climb!! To top it all this had a fireplace!! We raked it up that evening and had a wonderful time overall!!
On the way back to the room we even spotted a lovely snail and my jaw dropped as Tu very calmly asked her dad "Is this snail yummy??!!"
The next day morning we woke up to a bright day!! Yesterday's mist was all but gone without a trace and this helped us see a whole new side to the same Blackheath!
What a wonderful place this is, the short trek to the cascades itself was easy, once we got there tu enjoyed playing in the water!
Next day it was time to leave, I had booked myself in for a spa massage and gosh it felt heavenly!! once done we packed off and had only one stop over at Evans Lookout. Even as we were getting there we saw a snake basking in the sun on the road. just as we pulled over to admire it a white SUV came from the opposite direction and ran over it much to our dismay! Tu was aghast at what she had just seen, even as the injured snake slithered away from the road...she almost cried and for the next hour or so kept repeating how dangerous it was for the snake and how "Mummy snake should have held baby snake's hand while crossing the road" Horrifying incident....it surely left a lasting impression on her! :-(
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