Leura and Katoomba

We drove round to Leura cascades where we enjoyed the gentle descending paths by the water.

A section of dramatic cliff path

Then we plunged down steep metal steps into the valley below

As I am obsessed with Australian trees, here are some photos to show why

We saw 2 beautiful male lyre birds with their amazingly long curly tails but they were too quick for a photo – here’s a statue to show the tail

And we saw a very fine bush turkey who seemed much fatter than the one we saw up in Daintree

Into the beautiful Leura forest where the trees are so tall with glimpses of the orange cliffs towering even higher above them

While looking at a very pretty rufous fantail I managed to step back off the path (there was a bit missing!) and fell about 10 feet down! I only had scratches and thought it quite funny – if a bit of a surprise! David didn’t think it was very funny. There was a lot of trees and vegetation to stop me, but it was quite steep!

Then I managed to twist my ankle which was less funny and then walked the 8km back which probably made it worse! Ouch.

Once we got to Katoomba we wished we hadn’t! Lots of coach tours from Sydney doing ‘scenic world’ – Blue Mountains Disneyland! We took the vertical train up because of my foot. I quite enjoyed it – David didn’t – it was very vertical (a bit like my cliff!)

Everyone comes to Echo Point to see the 3 sisters (turned to stone to save their lives but then the chap who turned them died so couldn’t change them back) –

there are plenty of other great views elsewhere without the crowds

As soon as we left the 3 sisters we were back on our own.

As I was walking a bit slower, we sat down to look at the view and realised there were 2 glossy black cockatoos calmly eating pine cones right next to the path! No one who passed noticed them! Unlike their white cousins who wheel around squawking when anyone comes near

We also saw a lovely king parrot (below), more crimson rosellas and a treecreeper, scrub wren and the elusive golden whistler – and 5 lyre birds by the end!

We saw a girl go by with a t-shirt: Dream, Believe, Achieve! That sounded a bit ambitious for me – I thought a better slogan would be: enjoy the birds but don’t fall off the cliff!

Goodbye lovely blue mountains – or orange and green canyons – and on to Sydney!