The title isn’t kidding – Mum, Dad, and I drove down to the Blue Mountains, because apparently, we hate sleep.   And also, we had to deliver to some stuff to Jonathon (now down in Sydney), but mostly because we hate sleep.

Or at least, that’s what it felt like.  We left at three in the morning, and drove pretty much continuously, only stopping for petrol and toilet breaks.

One place we stopped was called The Rock:

It was exactly as kitschy as it looked; a petrol station and food/souvenir stand based on Uluru in New South Wales.  It was glorious.

Finally, we arrived in Katoomba, and tracked down the cottage rented for the weekend.  This is the view of it from the backyard:

The room I claimed:

The verandah:

The backyard:

The little curtained gazebo is where the photo of the house itself was taken.  It was a sweet little cottage, with a fancy shower installed in an old-fashioned bathroom, old timber floors and decorations, and it even came with a bonus cat:

We found this friendly fellow wandering in and out of the house, and through the yard like he owned the place.  I took a video:

 

At least he had some manners – there was no yowling, and when I picked him up to put him outside, there was no clawing or biting – just purring.

After settling our stuff in the cottage, we went for a bit of a drive.  We spotted a lookout off a little side-road, and pulled over for our first glimpse of Blue Mountains:

Not exactly ‘blue’, but still pretty spectacular, right?  I took a photo of Mum and Dad as well:

Just as proof we were actually there, and not getting photos from some website or something.  I also spotted a crimson rosella in the tree:

As if we hadn’t had enough driving already, we also went to the Katoomba Falls Kiosk, a starting point for a few of the bushwalks in the area.  It was late, so we didn’t go on a proper walk, but we had a wander.

We also marvelled at an enormous tree near the kiosk – I took of photo Mum beside it:

We spotted this in a hidden corner:

At first, I thought it must be an old well or something, but:

No evidence it was a well or hole of any sort.  If anything, it looks like some elaborate plant pot, but the cross on the top (you can see it in the previous picture) suggests some kind of religious thing.  Unless it’s just some sort of reinforcement that only happens to look like a cross – who knows?

The path was undergoing maintenance, so about half of it was blocked off.  And not in the way you’d think, either – not the last half being inaccessible, but just half of the path being blocked:

Clever, really – that way it’s still accessible, even during maintenance.

Along the way, before we got to any good views, I spotted this mysterious scarf in a tree:

I left it where it was, just in case someone was going to come back for it.  We trotted down the path for a little while, until I heard something moving in the undergrowth.  At first, I thought it was just a brush turkey.

It was not:

 

Yes, that figure hidden behind the brush is a male Superb Lyrebird, complete with my parents’ astonished reactions.  I received much praise for having spotted it, and I also managed to take a better video when it hopped onto the path.

You’ll have to wait to get a good view, but trust me – it’s worth it!

 

Eventually, it disappeared into the forest, and we moved on to the lookout:

Well, this wasn’t really a proper lookout so much as a gap between the trees.  Here’s one I took out of focus, showing the traditional blue haze of the mountains:

At this point, we could hear rushing water, even caught a glimpse of part of the waterfall through the trees:

The closer we got to the waterfall, the more humid the air became.  There were even ferns growing out of cracks in the rocks:

And Mum pointed out these gigantic tree ferns:

They always look like something from out of a dinosaur film.

And another mysterious object – but this time, a mysterious towel:

One of the paths does lead to a pool where you’re permitted to swim, but it was at least a fifteen minute walk away, so I have no idea why it was here.

 

We turned back at this point – we’d already decided to go only a short way, because we were all pretty tired from the long drive.  Which may seem strange, as we traded off sleeping and driving, but you don’t exactly sleep well in a car.

On the way back, we saw a lyrebird again!  It was amazing!  I’ve only seen a lyrebird in the wild once before, and now I saw one twice within fifteen minutes!  Okay, it was probably the same lyrebird from the first time, but it was a different sighting, so it still counts!

I managed to get some nice pictures this time – first, of the lyrebird just scratching through the leaf litter:

Then, as he seemed to realise what I was doing:

And stalking away:

Probably muttering about ‘damn paparazzi’ as he went.  The final picture isn’t nearly as good as the other two, but you do see more of that glorious tail.

Also spotted a currawong on the way back, giving us the eye:

We went back to the cottage, watched an episode of out TV show, and enjoyed some cheese and biscuits as a snack.  Then for dinner, we decided to go the Station Road Bar, which really gets my recommendation – their wood fired pizza was delicious:

It surprised me how busy Katoomba was, though.  I always thought of it as this little town in the Blue Mountains, but it turns out it was a hub – there was no parking on the main street, and we had a take off into a tiny side-street to find somewhere to leave the car.

After dinner, we wandered around town for a little while, until Jonno arrived.  We met him at the train station in a joyous reunion, then we all went back to the cottage to go to sleep, ready for the next day.

And, just for a joke almost no one’s going to get:

Fast man!  Zoom, zoom!