Day Trippin': Autumn in the Blue Mountains

Hello! If you live in Sydney make sure you head on up to Leura for a day soon as it is just stunning.  We took a quick day trip to the Blue Mountains yesterday and it was so worth the 90 minute drive. The sun was shining and we thought we'd go see some autumn leaves - especially as autumn is very late coming to Sydney this year. The cooler climate of the mountains meant the leaves had started turning.  We had a delicious lunch at Waygoose Cafe in Leura mall (the homemade pumpkin soup was awesome) and the the kids set about collecting autumn leaves. They loved the colours and shapes. Stay tuned below for what we did with them.

My grandparents lived in Leura and my aunt and uncle live there now. So I have spent many holidays up there and really love this pretty village.  The kids loved it and want to go back there again for more autumn colours and bushwalking.

At the end of Balmoral Road in Leura opposite the Toy Museum there is a little track off Elysian Parade - you can walk down to the cliff face and there is an old ramshackle lookout that has no tourists and an amazing view of the valley.  My son exclaimed " wow a green Grand Canyon!" It is really different seeing the view and the backside of the Three Sisters (in the right of the photo) not surrounded by all the tourists at Echo Point.

I was a bit freaked out by my kids standing so close to the edge and that rickety old fence! Growing up as a young teenager we would holiday with our cousins who had a weekender house on Balmoral Road and we, the kids, spent a lot of time sitting at this particular lookout having picnics while our older cousin read us Roald Dahl's "Switch Bitch" and "My Uncle Oswald" stories - so funny, have you read them? An early sex education for us while our parents thought we were out bushwalking.  It still makes me laugh as one minute we were reading James and the Giant Peach and then next his very adult, raunchy and hilarious stories.

You can then follow the road around (Olympian Parade and Cliff Drive) to Katoomba and the Three Sisters. Make sure you stop at Leura Cascades on the way. It's very lush and pretty.

Then we arrived with all bus loads of tourists at Echo Point. We decided to walk to the Three Sisters and do part of the Giant Staircase. Great for your quads!  One day we (as a family) will do the whole bush walk from Echo Point, down the Giant staircase to the valley floor and over to the Scenic Railway.  It's about 3 hours one way and is meant to be spectacular (and it means not climbing back up the Giant Staircase!)

So we arrived home last night full of fresh air in our lungs, happiness in our hearts and pretty scenery in our heads. And a big bunch of autumn leaves. 

Here they are hanging off the gold frame.

I posted a photo of this on Instagram and someone asked how I gathered them to hang - I gathered all the leaves by the stem like you would hold a bunch of flowers and then wrapped a hair elastic around the stems and threaded through the ribbon that I tied on to the frame. A little reminder of our lovely day in Leura and a welcome to Autumn. 

Been on any good day trips lately? Where else do you recommend? Comment below with your favourite destination for a drive. I'd love some more good ideas

Fiona xx