Days in the Mountains

Ok, I know, I didn't get this post up yesterday, though credit where its due... I am here now!

Our first day in the Blue Mountains was, well short really. We had taken a rather slow drive to get up there. (Five hours worth of drive) When we did at long last arrive and 'check in' at the place we were to stay over the weekend it was around 4pm. We looked around a few shops, in particular a second-hand book shop, (Happy times!!) after which was dinner, and wondering around the building I already had started calling 'home.'

Day Two and to 'Iron Fest' we went! It turned out to be quite a warm day, I found myself heavily over dressed. The Iron fest has different forging displays, and items that have been made from metal. There is jousting, and reenactments of combats in full armor. A variety of live music was playing throughout the whole day, with stalls and food...

.....................................My Dad and Me...................................



Day Three, and we decided to take a wonder to Lawson. There was well planned thought and reason behind our trip to Lawson, and that was to see Rick Rutherford's shop. For years my mother and I have followed "Country Collections" Rick was the editor. It was around two years ago he left the magazine and opened an on-line store which has now been followed by the shop in Lawson. The shop filled all our imaginings, and emptied our wallets... And, we did in fact get to meet Rick.

After such an enjoyable beginning, the afternoon took a turn for the worst... We got stuck in traffic for over two hours! During this time we did find some amusement making sure that there were no queue hoppers. Please can someone explain to me, there is one long line of cars all banked up, it is not like we are all sitting in our cars for hours for the fun of it, so why is there always those people who try to ride down the side of the road, and think that it is there right to push in further up? It certainly kept us alert. We would keep a look out to let dad know if there were any cars trying to do the whole "one, two" and dad would pull halfway off the road to make sure they couldn't pass. I know we were not the only people finding this quite rude, for there were others who were doing quite the same thing of blocking those who thought themselves too good to wait in the 'jam.'

....................................What you do in a Jam............................


Day Four, we hopped on the Mountain Explorer bus. (Which had seen better days) It was one of those old, red, double-decker, English buses. I'm sure you can picture the kind I mean. There were times while going up and down those mountain roads I truly believed this bus was not going to make it. Or that maybe everyone on the bus would have to stand at the front of the bus, or on a certain side just to help the poor thing out. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride!
We went on the sky rail, where you are suspended 600 feet over a valley. My camera was playing up the whole weekend, and it wouldn't let me take many photos while we were up there. These are the ones I did get.

...................................Self Portrait.................................


...................................Three Sisters....................................


....................................Waterfall.......................................


Our trip home was the most perfect way to finish a trip to the Mountains. It had turned to freezing, while we had been traipsing all over the countryside in the explorer bus. (I was now happy for my layers!) As we were starting the long drive home, it started to snow. How beautiful it made every thing look. All of those amazing views we had seen on the way up looked like somewhere we had never seen before with a new white covering. It somehow softens the hard, dry, look this land has acquired.