This was supposed to be the view we could see and one of the reasons we went here. But read on............

Friday evening and we arrive at Lilianfels Hotel in the town of Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains about 75 miles west of Sydney. The drive from Sydney is horrendous as it rained the whole way, there were major traffic jams and finally we encountered thick fog in the mountains. In fact, for the three days we have been here the rain hasn't let up, neither has the fog. So the marvellous vistas that can normally be seen from our hotel, across the Blue Mountains National Park, will have to wait for another visit as we cannot even make out the tree line at the bottom of the garden through the thick fog.

Saturday morning we visit Robin's mother's cousin, known to all as Em, at her house in the outskirts of Katoomba. We then spent a couple of hours walking round the shops of the two towns here - Katoomba and Leura. The annual Katoomba folk festival is in full flow, but due to the weather it is a bit of a washout, something akin to the Glastonbury festival. We avoid it entirely and retreat to the warmth of the hotel. This is the only really bad weather that we have had in all of the 8 weeks of touring through Australia and New Zealand.

The best part of the weekend was our Sunday lunch here in the hotel with the d'Avigdors, to celebrate Robin's birthday. We were joined by Em, her daughter Deborah, Deborah's daughter Martha, Em's daughter-in-law Margriet, and Peter, a friend of Margriet. We expected lunch to last an hour or so, we broke up around 3 hours later. Robin had brought his genealogy chart for everyone to see, and the d'Avigdors were able to fill in a few of the gaps.