If you want to get out-and-about on the Blue Mountains during your stay, here are a few ideas. These are just things we know about – there’s always more to do, so suggestions from guests will always be welcome here!
Bushwalking
There is so much bushwalking on the Blue Mountains, it’s hard to know where to start. This list shows the distance from Bunjaree Cottages to various walks listed on the National Parks Website, along with a map link showing the walk’s starting point.
Some of our personal favourite walks are:
- The Dardanelles Pass – This takes you from Leura Cascades to Katoomba, and is wonderfully beautiful.
- Empress Falls on the National Pass trail – if the whole National Pass trail is too much for you, you can walk down from the Conservation Hut to Empress Falls. This is steep, with much of it on stairs, but the falls are worth the trip. There’s an almost-tame water dragon that sometimes hangs around showing off and hoping to be fed bits of sandwich meat!
- Den Fenella – This is a 1km climb down to one of the best lookouts we know. It’s short, steep, but very beautiful.
- Charles Darwin Walk – Especially good if you have younger children, because it’s quite flat. On a hot day, there are some lovely spots on Wentworth Creek where you can cool your feet down in the clear water.
- Katoomba Falls to Scenic World via Furber Steps – Another fairly easy walk (with some steps), lovely in misty/damp weather. We have seen lyrebirds in the wild on this walk, with is a special treat.
- A host of other walks are listed at Visit Blue Mountains, http://www.bluemts.com.au/tourist/thingstodo/bushwalks/ here. We have some bushwalking books available, and are happy to leave one in your cottage on request (we don’t leave them there all the time, because they have a habit of going home with visitors!).
Cycling
If you don’t want to bring a mountain bike with you, try Blue Mountains Bikes in Woodford – (02) 4758 8058.
There are many fabulous cycle tracks on the Blue Mountains. For example, if you don’t want to do battle with the traffic on the Great Western Highway, you can get from Tablelands Road in Wentworth Falls, all the way to Glenbrook (using Anderson’s Fire Trail followed by the iconic The Oaks ride from Woodford to Glenbrook).
Wentworth Falls is also the starting point of the Ingar ride, also heading for Woodford.
To the west, there’s also Narrow Neck – which starts with a steep climb, but once you’re on top, it provides some of the most spectacular views of the entire Blue Mountains.
There’s a detailed, if quirky, guide to many mountain bike trails by Tony Fathers blogging as the “Fat Hippie”, http://www.users.on.net/~fathers/index.htm here.
Antiques and Bric-a-Brac
There are shops from Glenbrook all the way to Lithgow, so I won’t list them here. Two nearby to Bunjaree Cottages are in Wentworth Falls – Rotate Interiors and the Old Bank Bazaar, both in Station Street near the Highway.
Restaurants and Cafes
You don’t need to go far: Wentworth Falls has Thai, Chinese, Pizza, and the Grand View Hotel has a very friendly bar bistro.
Leura is famous for fine dining establishments, while in Katoomba, there’s everything from familiar shop-front Italian restaurants to the Carrington Hotel.
Guests have told us very good things about the Grand Olive Pizza in Station Street, Wentworth Falls, and we can also personally attest to the wonderful breakfasts at the Blue Mist Café, and the lunches (especially sandwiches) at The Falls Delicatessan.
More?
We’d love to have more. We’d love to make a list of everything! – this is just a start. Over time, we’ll build this into a directory for guests, with comments, and we’d love to hear from other Blue Mountains businesses who would like to be on our “tell our guests” list.