In Katoomba, we had a bit of a stroll around town – mostly just long enough to find food. There’s a great bakery that’s really hard to resist, with things like roasted pear and almond cream turnovers. We also found this amazing tea shop, and although Ingrid was tempted by the Chinese Gunpowder tea, she decided upon Summer Pudding tea. Fully replenished, we headed to Echo Point and hiked down to the Three Sisters.
After that we drove up to Jenolan Caves on a mission to find a platypus. Ben and I were aware of the caves but had never been there – turns out it’s a really cool place! (…and this time of year I mean that both literally and figuratively.) You drive down into this pretty steep valley on a narrow winding road, then you actually drive through a cave
and pop out on the other side in front of this big lodge, and it really feels like you were suddenly beamed into the Swiss alps or something.
We went on one of the cave tours to check out the underground scenery. I think we were a bit hungry because all of the formations looked like food to us - bacon, cottage cheese fountains, etc. And Ingrid figured out what she wants to be when she grows up. She's going to be an electrician so she can climb the really tall ladders that disappear into nowhere and change light bulbs. Dave and Karen - aren't you glad she came to Oz to figure out her future?!?
Then we got stuck into our platypus hunt. We still hadn’t had any luck by 4:30 when the sun started going down (and it was really cold), so we decided to skip camping and stay at the Caves House to maximize our platypus opportunities. We ended the day without a platypus, but we did manage to find swamp wallabies!
Caves House has lots of accommodation options, and we decided to go for the cheapest “hostel-style” option. It was a pretty bare room with 1 set of bunks and 1 double bed. And it wasn’t exactly the warmest room I’ve ever stayed in (although through a twist of events we ended up with our own column heater in the room, so that helped).
(Stretching contest in the room)
But they only have one dining option, which is the award-winning Chisolm’s Restaurant. So instead of eating canned soup cooked on a camp stove as we had planned, we found ourselves eating fresh Australian damper with eucalyptus butter, egg ozen linguini with truffle oil, roasted lamb with balsamic caviar and ratatouille, and crispy pork belly. Gotta go with the flow, right? Just to add to the atmosphere, an opera singer started performing at the end of our meal. And they had lap blankets to help keep us nice and toasty during dinner (…because in Oz, even fancy places are built like crap and are hard to heat).
After dinner we waddled back to our room for a game of cards. Turns out none of us are exactly card sharks, and we had a really hard time coming up with games that could be played with 3 people. We had fun trying to make up rules to games we half remembered and ended the night with a hilarious round of BS. We learned that Ben sucks at lying (although that doesn’t deter him), and Ingrid can be pretty sneaky (but buckles under pressure).
The next morning before dawn, we rolled out of bed and straight into every layer of clothing that we had to resume the platypus hunt. We got to the lake at the crack of dawn, and sure enough! - there was not one, but TWO platypuses!! Gratifying reward for getting out of bed really early on a really cold morning. They are still the funkiest animal ever.
So our morning was a success, even though it was freezing. The low was -3!! (Yes, that’s Celsius, but it’s still cold!) There was a pretty thick layer of frost on everything… thick enough that you could make snowballs and ice skate down the street. I know that’s exactly what Ingrid came to Oz for.
With our platypus mission accomplished and our winterland fun finished, we headed off to our next destination – the glow-worm tunnel.
It’s an old train tunnel that is U-shaped, and it’s so dark at the bend that glow worms can thrive. It’s a bit remote and only accessible by dirt roads, so it’s a hot spot for 4-wheel driving. But our little Mitsubishi Mirage (“Mitty”) held his own! It was a beautiful day for a hike, and it’s a pretty cool hike – glow-worms, tree ferns, cliffs, great views – good times!
And on our way back out of the forest, we spotted some Eastern grey kangaroos – third mammal of the trip! We stopped by the zig-zag railway in honour of Grandma Connie / Nani, and then puttered our tired selves home. And thus ended our 36-hour whirlwind tour of the Blue Mountains.
