We had a really good stay at our last night’s stay. Even though I had booked this thinking it was just a “place to stay” to break up the trip…it turned out to be one of the nicest AirBnB’s we have been in so far ? Super comfy bed, lots of thoughtful inclusions…great space.
We had a later start because we slept so well and woke later. As we were on a rural property, we kept our showers really short and after a quick breakfast and a farewell chat with our host, we headed off to Bathurst. Again the sky was full of smoke, but no fires in our path. On our way out of the driveway of our AirBnB, we noticed that their dam was also bone dry. We were glad that we had minimised our water usage as best we could.
Is there anybody that goes through Bathurst without driving around the famous “Mount Panorama”? Anybody who has driven this iconic course will tell you it is nothing short of awe inspiring. We see it so many times on TV, but to drive it yourself makes you realise the skill the race car drivers have. (it is also REALLY hard to stay below the 60km speed limit of this public road)
Just off the racetrack is the National Motor Racing Museum. The museum houses a number of Race Cars and Bikes that are synonymous with the history of the Mount Panorama circuit. I grew up watching many of these race heroes so it was a fun time seeing the displays.
From Bathurst, we headed east toward the Blue Mountains. The area has been wracked with a number of catastrophic fires over the past few weeks, but we have been so fortunate to be not affected. We have been thanked on a number of occasions for travelling and helping the communities.
Although the drive from Bathurst to the Blue Mountains was very smokey, we only saw the evidence of one very small fire on the side of the highway. It is a credit to the “fireies” that all the major highways have been kept open for the majority of the time.
We arrived in Katoomba around 11:00am and stopped off to buy our “hop-on-hop-off” Bus ticket for the area. This double decker bus stops at most of the attractions is much easier than driving and trying to find parking at what are usually very crowded places.
Our accommodation ( a sister hotel to our Hunter Valley hotel) was in Leura, just a short drive in the next village from Katoomba. We were lucky that our room was ready before the official check-in time, so we were able to put our things in the room before crossing the road from the resort to catch the sightseeing bus. The room we have booked had a spa bath and we were anticipating that a good relaxing soak in the tub would be nice after a day of sightseeing.
As the bus gives us unlimited travel for the next 3 days, we had decided to go directly to “Echo Point” to see the “3 Sisters” that are is most famous for. We knew there were cafes at the lookout where we could have lunch before doing the rest of the sight-seeing tour.
When we arrived at the Echo Point Lookout stop, there were a couple of tour buses parked and the lookout area was very crowded, so we decided to have lunch first, then come back to the lookout.
Hop On – Hop Off Bus 
Hot Dog..and… 
Fish and Chips for lunch
We had a nice lunch and had plenty of time to get to the lookout before the next bus was due. Of course because of the fires we did not get the best of the views. I did have to laugh as this view matches my other non-picturesque views of the Swiss Alps and Toowoomba’s Picnic Point. Oh well…at least I may be able to return ?
3 Sisters – Blue Mountains 
Picnic Point- Toowomba 
Alpenhorn -Swiss Alps 
Back on the bus, we took in the sights with a view of where would come back to tomorrow. We chose to get off the bus at a couple of stops before the stop opposite our hotel, and have a look at the shops of Leura Village.
As we walked “home” we made a quick stop at the local Woolworths to pick up a couple of steaks for dinner.
The aforementioned spa bath was quickly filled with warm water and Radox Bath Salts and we both enjoyed a good relaxing soak.
After dinner, we planned out the next day using the “hop-on=hop-off” bus and watched a little TV before turning in for the night.
