Slow start as we’re still getting over the jetlag after being here over two weeks now ????

Coffees, showers and pack the car up

Dave drives us back the way we came last night to Katoomba town centre

Parking isn’t cheap – £3 for an hour ????

Quickly pop to Yellow Deli for some breakfast and needed coffee

Bowl of chili with jalapeno, cheesy bread and a “lambwich” breakfast with two filter coffees

Back to the car so we don’t miss our hour!

Walk via the Katoomba Street Art Walk

Scenic World is just round the corner here – unfortunately, there’s only a couple slots available left today

Swift change of plans!

Daisy in the hot seat having a go at the automatic and… it goes better than imagined

Plenty of Kangaroo, Wombat and Koala signs – unfortunately a lot of road kill too ????

So many spouts of extreme rain and even a couple of lightning strikes!

First stop: History Hill Museum and Underground Mine though that shuts just as we attempt to park up; we’ll be back tomorrow!

Then onto Bald Hill Tourist Mine

We learn pretty quickly it’s called the “Loser Mine” as there was no gold in here at all

However, beside it on Bald Hill Walking Track, we spot our first wild Kangaroo!

Back in the car and to our bed for the night: Hill End Lodge – we spot a lovely load of Kangaroos and ducks in a pond just outside our motel door

Check in and freshen up before driving into Hill End Heritage Site

The whole town is preserved from 1800s and acts as a entire gold rush museum

They’ve got a general store, an old bakery, little central museum, the last remaining gold rush pub still standing, and so on

We park opposite the pub and wonder seeing so much wildlife: at least 60 Kangaroos as well as some King Parrot pairs and other parrots

Decide we can venture a little out to see more

In the car we go North and find Golden Gully

This is the remnants of the gold rush and where they used Chinese Mining methods the most – lots of “puggy” clay, apparently

Dave spots a lizard and we have to be careful to avoid the severe amount of Fire Ants

But further we find the Cornish Quartz Roasting Pits

More history surrounding the gold rush and the more common semi-precious stones found

It’s burned as there’s a chance it could have been “reef gold” where the gold is within the Quartz and needed to be burnt to break the casing

Also, there was clearly a wild fire around as there are a lot of trees blackened and some holes where others were ????

Time to get some food: back in the car we head to one of the two only options we have for dinner

The Royal Hotel (the pub from earlier) was founded in 1812 and is the only remaining pub from this time

Two chicken “schnitties” (schnitzels) with proper chips, salad and gravy

While we wait, there’s loads more Kangaroos knocking about in a back field as well as various pigeons and finches

Four King Parrots even come close enough to get fed directly by Daisy!

Nice to chill for a minute with some NZ Sauvignon Blanc, as it gets dark here, before going back to our bed for the night (even with the crickets making a full on racket!)