We picked up our car in Sydney (we got an upgrade from a 3 door manual to an automatic 4 door!) and set off to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. With a combination of expert driving and map reading (I'm sure you can work out who did what) we made it out of the city and on the Highway to the Blue Mountains. It was another glorious day but it clouded over a bit on our way and by the time we got to Katoomba it was freezing and raining (or it could have been sleet!). The hostel was fab with a massive kitchen and the lounge used to be the ballroom for the old hotel and had loads of comfy sofas and an open fire - bliss. We popped to the supermarket in town and just chilled for the rest of the day, reading and playing cards. We met two really lovely girls from London who knew how to play caluky (I'm not sure if that's how you spell it!) so we had a few games with them then shared our chilli, a very pleasant evening.

The weather was a bit better the next day (i.e. you could see your hand in front of your face but it was really windy!) so after lunch we took a drive down to see the Three Sisters - the most famous landmark in the Blue Mountains - and took a drive on the scenic highway, stopping at all the view points on the way. It's so beautiful here. We got back to the hostel had a yummy stir fry and an earlyish night.

Our last day in the Blue Mountains was great. We went to Govetts Leap lookout and into Megalong valley before stopping at Blackheath for a sandwich at the old cinema which is now a cafe and antique shop. The afternoon was spent at Jenolan caves -WOW! The caves were formed millions of years ago and only discovered in the last two hundred years. We took a self-guided tour around Nettle cave and then had a guided tour of the Temple of Baal. It was like something from a film set, it was amazing and was so stunning it didn't seem real! It was dark when we left there so headed back to the hostel (avoiding the kangeroos/foxes etc) and had a curry and finished our books (Mum & Kim - I loved A Thousand Splendid Suns - really fantastic book) before heading to bed ready for the drive back to Sydney the next day.