We were up early and away by twenty to nine in the Terios heading for Katoomba to spend some time with Rachel, Jeremy, Claire and Julia.
We stopped at Wallabadah to buy something to drink. I chose ice coffee in a new kind of bottle with a top like a sports drink bottle thinking that this would be much easier to use in the car. I was proved to be quite wrong. Jean spilled milk on her jacket and I managed to deposit most of mine on the floor of the Little Motley.
We had lunch at Macas in Singleton and then drove down the Putty Road to Windsor. I missed the turning in Richmond and had to backtrack a few kilometres but we reached Katoomba just after four. As we drove through Winmalee we saw a sheep taking a man and a sheep dog for a walk.
We were greeted in the guest house by four very happy people. Claire remembered Gemma but I was a "stranger" so I didn't get very close to her.
Rachel took us out to dinner at a restaurant called Mes Amis just across the road from the guest house. It is a French restaurant and the food was excellent. We all wanted to drink Shiraz so I chose a 2001 French wine from the Pays d'Oc which isn't far from Jan and Richard's place in France. It was superb and added another dimension to a wonderful meal. The children were very well behaved. Jeremy had to take Julia for a little walk to get her to sleep and Claire played quietly with a doll thoughtfully provided by the restaurant. We talked of ships and shoes and sealing wax and cabbages and George Bush, Tony Blair, and John Howard. None of this last was very complimentary.
The guest house lounge room had a fire going so we spent another hour there chatting before we all retired to bed after a very pleasant day.
We were up and about in time for an early breakfast. After breakfast, we went out to see the Three Sisters at Echo Point The wind was a bit fierce so we took refuge in the cafe while Jeremy took Claire for a longish walk.
We bought the kids really cute kangaroo jumpers with hoods which went down very well and were very appropriate given the cold wind which was blowing.
Many years ago, Jean had visited an old house in Katoomba which had reminded her of Victoria House in Warrington where her grandmother lived. Rachel was keen to see this place but Jean couldn't remember where it was. When we went to the Toy and Train Museum, Jean was surprised to find that it was the same house she had visited before. It was then simply a family museum with all the old furnishings in place and the story of the Evatt family who had owned the place since the early part of the last century on display. There were many notable Evatts but the most notable was Doctor H V Evatt who was, among other things, the first President of the United Nations.
The family has since put a collection of toys spanning several generation on display in the house. The kids were intrigued and we all marvelled at the range of stuff on display. In the garden there is a railway display with lots of obsolete equipment from the early days of then Sydney and Blue Mountains railways and some remarkable working model trains. The kids were entranced.
We went on to a little restaurant on the Cliff Road for very nice lunch and returned to the guest house for the children's afternoon sleep.
In the evening, we went to the Star of India for dinner. It was very nice and the children behaved very well.