Australia 2009 - days 72 to 81 at Blue Mountains and Hunter Valley

Day 72.
Arrive in Blackheath, The Blue Mountains and its wet, wet, wet. Spend the day setting up camp and then watching videos in our tent.

Day 73.
Wake up to better weather but its still too wet to climb so we visit Echo Point in Katoomba to do some bush walking.

The Three Sisters at Echo Point.














A view of the valley seen from Echo point.













Day 74 & 75.
Beautiful weather so we head out to Mount York to a family friendly trad crag on both days.

On one of these mornings we took Sofie to a playground adjacent to our Campervan Park in Blackheath. Sofie had her first swing which she truly enjoyed as shown on the picture and video below.























Sofie swinging.

Sofie gets thirsty at the crag, but we had not brought a baby-bottle for her. However, it turned out that we didn't need one as she could drink from our water bottle!

Sofie drinking from a water bottle.

Dad climbing.















It is now getting dark very early (6 pm) due to daylight savings, as soon as the sun sets temperatures drop and in this photo Sofie is wearing mums fleece.

















Mum climbing in the last rays of light.





















Sofie enjoying a good bottle of water and trying to make a phone call whilst relaxing in a camp chair












Day 76.
We head out to check out the spectacular view only minutes from our campsite at Govetts leap and then climb at Mount Piddington.

Govetts leap.







Mum & Sofie after the climb at Mount Piddington.











Day 77.
We check out the view at Evans point and then climb at 'Zig Zag crag' on what turns out to be the last day of sunshine in the Blue Mountains.

View from Evans lookout.














The next three photos are of dad, mum & unknown climber climbing 'Giggles' at 'Zig zag crag'.



























































Day 78.
We here that there are chances of showers so choose to do a three hour walk from Echo Point to Scenic Railway and then back to Echo Point. We all get quite wet but luckily Sofie sleeps through most of the walk.

Dad & Sofie walking down the 'Giant steps'





















Dad at the Scenic railway with the Three sisters seen behind him.














Mum & Sofie in front of Katoomba cascades.














Day 79. Sofie is 8 months old.
It is still raining so we drive to visit the limestone Jenolan caves. There are nine public caves and we visit 'Lucas cave'.

Mum & Sofie in 'The Cathedral, Lucas cave'..........




















..... the caves were low in places so mum had to carry
Sofie's backpack on her chest which made going down steps challenging.









Mum & Sofie.




















In the next six photos one can see the beautiful limestone formations in the Lucas cave.


























































































Dad & Sofie standing outside 'Devils chambers'.













Sofie standing head to head with dad in the cafe.





















...... & a big smile from Sofie who thoroughly enjoyed her day.














We later did a self-guided tour through 'Nettle cave'

The view from the top of Nettle cave.





















Dad & Sofie standing on the road that runs through Devils chambers. Jenolan caves are the only limestone caves in the world that have a road running through them.

















Day 80.
It's still raining and we can't climb so we decide to take a ride in the Zig zag steam train in Clarence.

Mum & Sofie have boarded the train.













The engine arriving at the station getting ready to attach to the other end of the carriages.










Mum & Sofie having a look at the coal being fed into the train engines' furnace.











A view of the viaduct that the train runs over.













A view of the engine seen from above.





















Mum & dad bought Sofie a souvenir t-shirt which she is modeling here.



















A nice photo of the train.













That afternoon we visit one of Sofie's other uncles in Leura and her cousin Cyan.
We celebrate Cyan's third birthday with him. he turned three 2 months ago but we were in Tasmania at that stage. I think Cyan enjoyed having 2 birthdays this year.

Cyan blowing out his candles.





















Cyan & Sofie having a tumble on the floor.














Day 81.
It's still raining so we decide to visit The beautiful Hunter Valley to do a little more wine tasting (& buying :)).

The first winery we visit is the Rosemount/Lindemanns winery which had been recommended by Hans' brother-in-law.










Mum & Sofie outside the winery.













A family photo, Sofie was keen for a taste of the very nice wines!!














Dad enjoying a taste of Rosemount, Balmoral wine which we purchased and put into storage ready for our next trip downunder.


















Our next stop was visiting a winery which was a conglomeration of all the small vineyards in the area.

The vineyards.















Dad & Sofie waiting for wine to be poured.




















We had a long drive back to the blue mountains so only visited three vineyards. Our last stop was thus Peppertree vineyards.

Mum & Sofie outside the vineyard which had a definite New England feel to it.












Sofie in a barrel waiting for mum & dad to finish tasting wine.













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