Katoomba - Mar 11

In the morning I was still feeling a litle under the weather. We decided to walk down to Katoomba Falls, just 5 minutes away. If that went well we would catck the trolley into town to pick up some groceries. The walk went well so we headed into town.

 

Katoomba was originally name The Crushers due to the quarry and crushing operations that took place here in the mid 1800's. It was renamed Katoomba around 1930 when the quarry and coal mining activities ended and tourisim became the main business. Katoomba is the aboriginal word for 'falling Water' due to all the waterfalls in the area such as Wentworth and Katoomba Falls. It should be noted however, that, unless there is sufficient rain, there is no actual water going over the falls! Wentworth Falls should be more appropriately named 'Wentworth Cliff', or 'Wentworth Watch Your Step'. Not sure how to say that in the native tongue!

 

In town we strolled along the main street looking at the shops and cafes. The town has a Banff like atmosphere but at one tenth the scale. We stopped for coffee and a sandwich at a french cafe along the street before picking up some groceries at the Coles. We then hopped back on the trolley for a tour of the area. It took about an hour to tour through Katoomba and Leura (the neighbouring town) and we got a great description of the area from the friendly driver (Paul).

 

Paul And Trish

It had been clouding over all day and, when we got back to the camp site, it really poured. It is cooler here in the mountains, so we bundled up with long pants and hoodies while we had supper. After supper we headed over to the common shelter and met a nice young English couple, Sam and Trisha. Sam had just proposed to her that afternoon and they were excited to share the news! Wi Fi service in the campground was down so they were unable to share the news with anybody back home! We spent an hour or so chatting with them before heading into our camper for the night, listening to the rain!

 

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