Blue Mountains & Mt Kosciuszko
Over the 2018/19 new years break, Paddy and I road tripped down to the Blue Mountains and Mt Kosziuszko. It made for a fantastic, affordable little holiday before we went back to our offices.
Cathedral Rock
To break up the initial drive to the Blue Mountains we decided to stop at Cathedral Rock National Park in Northern NSW. The park is about 6hrs drive from Brisbane, taking the inland route via Warwick.
We camped at the Barokee campground, which is a cash only donation on arrival and a first-come first-served basis. We were stoked to get a secluded spot with a picnic table (we're too cheap to buy camping chairs haha)
Note: this campground is too small for large campervans and is recommended for tents or vans only. There is a larger campground on the other side of the park for campervans.
Cathedral Rock National Park is an incredibly diverse landscape packed into a small area. From a lush gully of ferns massive granite boulders rise up around you, creating a maze of incredible constructions. There is a main walking loop you can complete through the park, with a turn off to rock scramble up the top of the main boulder.
We really loved this hike for the fun, adventurous rock scrambling and challenging navigation. From meandering through boulders, ducking through holes to find the path and sometimes crawling with a chain to reach the top. The view rewards your efforts, and for sunset we had it all to ourselves.
Blue Mountains
The Blue Mountains NP was another 7.5hrs drive south from Cathedral Rock. The park is large with many campgrounds and hikes on either side of the valley, but is mainly split between northern Blackheath and southern Katoomba.
Katoomba is home to the three sisters, and is considered the 'tourist hub' of the area. You may find more hotel accommodation and pubs there, but of course more people too. Blackheath is only about 30 minutes north and is considerably more quiet, with some hotels and free camping available.
NSW allows free camping in some spots around the Blue Mountains, but it is a first come - first served basis. We decided to take our chances and try free camping for a few nights at Perrys Lookdown Campground. The camping ground is situated just meters away from the Blue Mountains cliffs and provides many spots for amazing sunset relaxing and photography. We arrived early afternoon and managed to find ourselves a spot, set up camp and went for a walk to watch sunset over the gorge.
