We left Mittagon and arrived in Penrith early arvo. We set up camp at the Nepean river Caravan Park. We basically came to Penrith as it was on our way north plus it was close to the Blue Mountains. A place Mark and I had always wanted to go.
We got a phone call from my brother James, he was on his way to the Sydney airport and wanted to catch up on his way past. We thought that was a fantastic idea. We met James at a steak house and had a couple of drinks. Was a short but great catch up. He always manages to make me laugh. We ended up staying for dinner and filled up on a delicious meal.
Where we stayed was a more like a permanent residential caravan (full of oldies) than a holiday caravan park. We pulled into our spot, right next to a nice little garden. The old lady (June) from the adjoining house came out to have a chat with mark and told him he could water her garden if he liked, heehee. We ended up helping her with this as we bought our own portable washing machine, and set it up next to her garden. Using laundromats end up being much too expensive.
We spent the rest of our time at Penrith shopping for bits for the van, cleaning and generally sorting our mess out. We were without our car for one day, had to have the cruiser fitted with new springs and airbags in the back. Mark super excited with how the cars back side sits now. We finally also bought a generator, thank goodness no more cold nights and soon to be hot nights, when we reach warmer weather.
We spent a magic day at the Blue Mountains. I can understand why so many people say it's a must see in NSW. It is such a beautiful place, and so easily accessible. We got some advice from the tourist info centre and a man at the caravan park as to where to go in the Blue Mountains.
First stop was a place called Evans Lookout. You park in the car park then do a 5 minute walk to the viewing platform. Absolutely breathtaking. Only a few other people around. So quiet and picturesque. We went for a half and hour walk along the gorge circuit, which basically was a huge amount of steps downhill, but you got an even better view, the hike back up wasn't the nicest!!!
Jake even managed to find a drum to make some music in the bush.
The we headed to Katoomba and the main area of Echo Point. This is where you go to see the three sisters. We had a lovely picnic in the park. The trees were losing their leaves and the kids had a great time throwing them everywhere. So relaxing picnicking in the sunshine.
We went to check out the lookout along with three hundred other tourist, man it was like grand central station. We had a quick look and then went for a walk away from all the tourists. We went along the edge walk towards the scenic lookout. Took an hour or so. We were all kitted out in our walking boots and coats. It was a laugh a minute checking out some of the other people trying to walk along the very muddy and wet dirt path. Some where wearing white leather loafers, but the most hilarious was a little asian girl wearing greco roman ten inch heels. The view again was spectacular, you are so high up. You get this weird kinda spooked feeling when you lean over and look at the valley below. The trees almost look soft.
We stopped on the way home and had afternoon tea at Conservation Hut. Yummy hot chocolate, cookies and cake. We were so full after, we ended up going for another walk. What a fantastic family day out. We were all so exhausted after. The kids did an amazing job. They walked such a long way. Charlotte was especially awesome, her little feet didn't stop all day. We were so proud of our gorgeous little people.
The last four days went like a flash. Time flies when your having fun, and doing jobs! Singleton here we come.