In January of 2017, we visited Blackheath, located near the highest point of the Blue Mountains, between Katoomba and Mount Victoria in New South Wales. According to Wikipedia, "the region of what is now known as Blackheath was originally known as East Lithgow. Surrounding areas were thought to be a summer corroboree meeting place for several Indigenous peoples of the Darug, Gundungurra and Wiradjuri nations."

We embarked on several bush walks marvelling at the colourful flora along the paths.

  Grasstree

The resilience of the trees who have survived bush fires is impressive. Here a picture of a living tree.

Tree, many years after a bush fire.

Grass Trees are the first ones showing green after a bush fire. When you buy one of these plants for your garden, the instructions indicate that they "benefit from burning off occasionally". A Grass Tree can be seen on the Australian $2 coin. 

Grass Tree

Gisela almost stepped on a 40 centimetre long Blotched Blue-tongue Lizard.

Blotched Blue-tongue Lizard Blotched Blue-tongue Lizard Blotched Blue-tongue Lizard

Evans Lookout is located at the top of the escarpment providing one of the best views.

Evans Lookout The Cathedral of Ferns was one of the highlights of the trip.

Cathedral of Ferns Cathedral of Ferns Cathedral of Ferns Cathedral of Ferns

We discovered the Victory Theatre Antique Centre which is the largest antique centre west of Sydney.

Victory Theatre Antique Centre

The Blue Mountain Botanic Garden Mount Tomah is a 252 hectare estate that sits on the summit of basalt capped peak. We enjoyed the plants and a lunch concluding our trip. The gardens are occupied by many lizards and we even observed a opossum in one of the shelters. 

Botanical Garden Botanical Garden Botanical Garden Botanical Garden Botanical Garden   lizard

Opossum

Here a small video of our travels through the Blue Mountains near Blackheath.

More pictures here.