It was a gorgeous fall morning, but cold with a biting wind. We left Denman about 10 AM and opted to take a backroad (state 69) down to the great western highway. Route 69 is a gorgeous road that winds through the mountains and resembles Skyline Drive (in character). It is definitely not the quickest way to get anywhere, but it is certainly scenic. About midway down the road, we stumbled across a delightful restaurant called the Gum Tree Cafe. It was surrounded by a small, lovely park where people could spend the night if needed. We stopped there for cappuccino for me and tea for Peggy, and we indulged ourselves with a delicious raspberry muffin and a piece of lemon-lime tart. At that point, the weather had warmed up and the sky was bright blue and sunny. We could easily have spent the rest of the afternoon there but we still had a long ways to go. So, reluctantly, we left.
Our goal was to get to Mt. Victoria, but upon further investigation, we found that Mt. Victoria is not a mountain but rather a very small town between Blackheath and Lithgow in the Blue Mountains area. So instead of going on, we found a delightful motel in Blackheath which is pretty much in the middle of what we wanted to see. By the time we checked in, it had gotten bitterly cold (Blackheath is at approximately 3000 feet elevation in the middle of the Blue Mountains northwest of Sydney), so we opted to warm ourselves and prepare for an early dinner.
After warming ourselves in our room, we went down the road to a local fish ‘n chips/hamburger joint and had one of the best hamburgers I’ve had in ages. Coupled with a glass of wine it made for a delightful dinner. With the help of our host we charted our course to the places we wanted to see tomorrow. By the time we finished that, it was story time and time for bed. Tomorrow will be a busy day.
Cheers,
Wayne & Peggy