Interesting drive today, we travelled thru all the Blue Mountains towns down to Penrith and then up to the Macquarie towns of Windsor and Richmond on the Hawkesbury River. From there it was to Kurrajong Heights, Bell and Mount Victoria before getting back to Blackheath. Over 200 k’s drive that basically circled the Blue Mountains.

What really stood out was the damage the bushfires did to the national park. The fires stretched from Kurrajong to Lithgow, about 50 odd k’s. The mountains and the ridge lines looked very barren without foliage, just tree trunks. Although the re-growth was happening, it will be a look time before the park returns to normal.

Windsor and Richmond are historic towns, settled not long after Sydney town was settled by the first fleet. Windsor has many old buildings and we stopped into the Macquarie Arms hotel for a drink. It’s Australia’s oldest hotel, being established in 1815 and seeing it was 38 degrees today, we just had to go in.

From Windsor and Richmond we drove up the mountain to Kurrajong Heights to the Archibald Hotel. It has a great view over the Hawkesbury Valley with Sydney in the background. Unfortunately it being so hot today it was hard to get a clear photo. I’m sure the view of a nighttime with the lights stretching all the way to Sydney would look great.