blue mountains

Last week we stayed a few days in Blackheath in the Blue Mountains, just west of Sydney. Though we often drive through the mountains its been a while since we stopped and took advantage of this most beautiful part of the world.
Its not a cliché to say that the views at Govett's Leap and Echo Point are breathtaking. They literally stop you in your tracks, the wide vista with steep cliffs dropping away to large valleys lined with trees. And all takes on a blue haze, which gives the mountains their name.
Our first walk down to the bottom of Govett's Leap waterfall was along one of these sheer cliffs, staircases carved into the rock and all damp and slippery from the rain. The range of beautiful wildflowers kept me entranced along the way.
Coming back up was tough going (for the grown ups). We weren't surprised to read at the top that the track was graded hard, steep and rough! Not sure how we missed that on setting out. I'm so glad we did it though, it was just magical.
Don't you love these insect eating Droseras (last two photos), the forked one and the red one, they look like Dr Seuss plants! More flowers on my Flickr.