Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Blue Mountains continued... more exploring...

The Toy and Railway Museum of New South Wales is a short walk from Broomlea B&B and is where I started my day after another lovely breakfast. The guide to attractions in Leura states: "A large collection of children’s toys and trains are housed in historic Leuralla on Olympian Parade in Leura at the bottom of Leura Mall. Pre and post war toys include a large collection of Barbie dolls and railway trackside memorabilia of lights, trolleys, seats and signs."

What the guide fails to mention is that there are lovely gardens on the grounds of the museum and I managed to amuse myself for nearly an hour at the gardens without ever setting foot inside to visit the museum collection. Images of the lovely home that houses the Toy and Railway Museum and one example of the lovely flowers that may be seen (remember, it's winter here) in the gardens follow.
train museum

rhododendron type flower

After visiting the gardens at Leuralla, I hopped the Discovery Bus to Echo Point to continue my exploration of the Blue Mountains. Since I completely exhausted myself hiking the previous two days, I kept hiking to a minimum today and merely wandered around the Echo Point area exploring the various side trails available. After hiking down the steps to walk across to the "sister"closest to the cliff path, I had my lunch while sitting on a rock bench looking at one of the many stunning views of the Jamison Valley. The image below (taken under the ledge after crossing the bridge) shows part of the staircase down to the bridge across to the first Sister... going down the steps is scary... going up is hard!
steps to bridge to sister one in blue mountains

It was a beautiful day early on but degenerated to high winds followed by rain, heavy at times. Managed to beat the rain back to the B&B and settled in for some computing time next to the fire before heading out for a delightful dinner at the Bon Ton Café and Restaurant.

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