Down Under, Chapter 2

We rented a car and drove it (on the left side!) to Katoomba, NSW. We stayed in the Carrington Hotel. Fancy, beautiful place. Katoomba is a cute little town, as are the others in that area. I spotted three houses that I would be willing to buy and live in in a town called Black Heath. Not that they are for sale, nor are we planning to move to Australia. I just liked the area that much.

The reason we came to this area was to visit Blue Mountains National Park. It's beautiful!

The last two pictures above are from a place called Wind-Eroded Cave. It's massive and amazing!

Next stop was a place called Hunter Valley. To get there we had to drive along Putty Road, which winds and twists and turns in "interesting" fashion.. sometimes a bit breath-taking when one is not used to driving on the left. It was beautiful, and I was thankful Hubby did all the driving. I had dozed off, and when I awoke we were driving into this place: the Grey Gum Café ("last stop for the next 86 km"). They have a Facebook page, if you're curious.

After lunch, little did I know, but one of my fondest wishes was about to be fulfilled.... seeing kangaroos in the bush! I really wanted to see them in their own element and not just in a zoo. And we did!! We stopped the car a couple of times for watching and photographing. I had to zoom way in with my camera.. wasn't sure what results I was getting. It was so exciting! They can hop like crazy. One just went *boing* right over a tall fence like it was nothing. The first group was grazing in a farmer's field.

The second group was in a wild area.. the bush, I guess you'd call it. They seemed just as curious about us as we were about them. They stood up to watch and wonder why we were stopped along the side of the road, staring at them.

After we were gone, and I was looking at the pictures I had captured, I just about screamed with joy when I found this on the edge of one photo... a mommy kangaroo with a joey in her pouch!! Someone wrapped up a gift for me and that was the big bow on top! I am still in awe.

Our lodging for the night was a resort at a vineyard. It was a quiet and restful place. At night it got so dark that we were able to enjoy a blaze of southern hemisphere stars. We saw the Southern Cross! The Southern Cross is what appears on the Australian flag.

Don't go away! I have more surprises coming in Chapter 3.