Some of the most spectacular scenery to be found in the Blueys I reckon. You get a real sense of wilderness, isolation, and the vastness of our land up here. At 1300m it's one of the high points of Australia, and you really get that sense of alpine spareness - some of the walking on the plateau is above the treeline! And they get their share of snow in winter :) The area is home to the famous Kanangra Main canyon, a 12 hour epic that I'm really keen to do, having seen the grandeur of the valley. Just amazing.
It's about 30kms drive along an unpaved road from the quaint tourist town of Jenolan Caves (eerily reminiscent of an abandoned alpine ski village) to get to Kanangra. It took us about 1 1/2 - 2 hours to drive there from Katoomba in the evening. The road is pretty treacherous, full of hairpin bends, narrow 'lanes', steep drop offs and some of the most dense fog I've driven in. Just wanted to say TAKE CARE - one of the cars we drove out with was involved in a head on collision on the way out. Luckily no one was seriously injured, but we did experience the scary isolation of the region as we waited hours for ambos and helis, which were then held down by fog. Even having heard about the accident further along the road, people were hooning along the road in dark fog, skidding to a stop at the scene. Crazy!
We spent most of the drive home cruising at about 50km/hr in heavy rain and amazing thick fog. After stopping at Jenolan Caves desperate for food and finding everything shut, we came across this, the best pit-stop ever. This little restaurant somewhere between JC and Mt Vic is open only on the weekends. It's owned by an Austrian couple who live in Marrickville, but come up to their mountain hideaway each weekend to make hearty Austrian schnitzel, goulash and of course good ole burgers and fish'n'chips to wayward travellers. We'd missed lunch and had spent the past few hours really concerned about the people in the car accident, so arriving at this cosy little roadhouse was like a surreal dream. Inside it was warm, the soft glow of old English comedy drifted from a box. The room was filled with clutter. Felt hats sat atop hatstands. Alcohol paraphernalia and Royal Family trees covered every wall space. Records and wine bottles and scupltures and ornaments and caps and cards, the room was a museum. The vienna coffee was made with 'tia maria' blend coffee beans from the supermarket in Marrickville. The burger had an egg, beetroot, pineapple and all the salads. It was just about as much comfort as we could handle. If you're in the area, check this place out - it's something else!
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