Day 57 - Downunder 2016 - Tue - 11/22/16 - Katoomba - Day 5

Today's word was cleanup. It was time to do all the things we hadn't done in our prior four days. Since the aboriginal dance program didn't start until 10am, we had a leisurely morning including yet another visit to the Three Sisters and several gift shops. There were only seven of us attending the Waradah Cultural Center performance, but it was still cool to see it again after seeing it on a HAL shore excursion a little over a month earlier.

We hopped on the Explorer Bus (the drivers are now recognizing us by sight) and rode it over to Leura to enjoy some tea at the Bygone Beauties Tea Shop and Museum. The museum is home to over 5,000 teapots. After a tea break we rode the Explorer Bus back around to Katoomba where we checked out the Blue Mountains Cultural Center. It had a powerful AV display of the local culture and history along with a nice gallery of drawings, paintings, and etchings by local artists. The library was also a part of the complex and had good free WIFI.  

My wife was in search of a book for a friend back home, so we hopped back in the Explorer Bus and rode back to Leura (a 1/2 hour ride). We got off at stop 21, found the book, and rejoined the same bus at stop 26 at the other end of town a few minutes later. The driver was sure surprised to see us so soon! We rode back to Katoomba and found dinner at the wood fired pizza place next to the railway station. The Kangaroo pizza was excellent. We then walked the two miles back to our motel with a stop at the Aldi grocery store to purchase some breakfast provisions.

And all too soon, our 5 days in Katoomba came to an end. We plan to catch the Wednesday morning 8:15am train for the Sydney Central Station where we'll transfer to an airport train.

Observations and Recommendations 

I heartily recommend coming to Katoomba and spending 5 days. There's much to do and a car really isn't needed. The Explorer Bus with the Lyre Package gives one a days entrance to Scenic World (a very nice tourist type stop with imbedded culture as a part) and unlimited rides on their very cool rides. There's also a ticket to the Waradah Aboriginal performance. The bus connects well with many bush walks, and we took most of them.

The Echo Point Motel is a good value accommodation that's clean and comfortable but it's not the Hilton. What it has going for it is location: It's minutes from 3 Sisters and there is an Explorer bus stop right in front of it. The internet is free.  

That's all for this segment of our journey. I hope you have enjoyed following along. Our next stop for a few days is Melbourne.