I had the van ready and packed by the time Trish got to my place, and by 630pm we were on our way to Lake Wallace about 8km west of Lithgow. It's a 3 hour trip from my place to the lake, and it was cold. We turned up the heater and looked at the temperature it was 15 degrees outside.
By the time we had reached the bottom the Blue Mountains the temperature was 6 degree, we reached Katoomba and it was snowing in patches and a chilly zero degrees. We were loving the sight of the snow, covering the sides of the road, houses and parked cars, this continued as we drove through the top of Mt Victoria then there wasn't much snow till we reach Lithgow. We pulled into maccas for a hot chocolate, the ground was white with snow and the bins had frozen shut. I looked at Trish and said how stupid are we.
We jumped back into the van for our final stretch to Lake Wallace, a free camp area with hot showers, toilets, a dump point and rubbish bins. The lake was cold but no snow there and only 2 other camper-vans, with plenty of options we picked a spot behind a tree which helped protect us from that icy wind.
Next morning the lake was cold, a chilly -2.7 degrees, the puddles of water had a thin layer of ice covering them and the mountains towards Lithgow were covered in patches of snow, but the sunrise was magical.
We got ready and headed back to the Blackheath and into the Megalong Valley. Along the way we were in wonder of the snow which looked stunning on the drive into the Megalong Valley.
Our first stop was Mermaids Cave a short walk along a dirt track and down a lot of stone steps between two very large rocks, once we reached the bottom we took in the beauty of this place and the small waterfall. We spent a bit of time looking around and snapping a few photos. Before taking on the steps back up to the van. Apparently Mermaids Caves was used in the Mad Max film Beyond Thunderdome.
On the way out of the Valley we stopped at the side of the road a take a few photos and to make our very own Olaf . (miniature snowman)
Our next stop was Govetts Leap in Blackheath an absolute stunning view over the Grose Valley encased in the soaring mountains, we made our way down a small muddy track to Horse Shoe Falls the lookouts along the way were amazing the views were stunning. It took us about half an hour to reach the top of the falls but unfortunately the track was shut.
We saw a small waterfall cascade before the large falls, a beautiful quiet spot, from here the track continues a further 3 km to another lookout.
Driving to the next stop was Pulpit Rock and Bushrangers Cave in Mt Victoria. We took a short 100 meter walk to Pulpit Rock and took a few photos and took in the amazing view down the Kanimbla Valley. There was patches of snow along the walk and all the puddles on the lookout all had a layer of ice on top.
We walked 50 meter back up the track and took a turn down a zig zag dirt rocky track which is 400 meters to Bushrangers Cave, this area is used for abseiling and rock climbing.
Trish made a late lunch and we sat and enjoy a great view surrounded by snow.
We packed up and headed back to Lake Wallace for the night, by the time we had reached the lake it was 4:30pm and the temperature had dropped to 1 degree and with it forecast to drop to -4 degrees over night we decided to grab a motel room for the night. Trish got onto Trivago and found a hotel called the Zig Zag hotel in Lithgow, we got a better deal than what was offered on Trivago. The room was very tidy and had everything we needed a hot shower, reverse cycle air conditioner and electric blankets, we were in heaven.
Next morning it was -3 at 6am and the van was covered in a thin layer of ice, thank god we decided to stay at the hotel. We got ready packed the van and headed off to Blackheath to Pulpit Rock Lookout (different location to previous day) another short bush walk to an amazing view, on one side we could see where we were yesterday at Govetts Leap and Horse Shoe Falls and down the Grose Valley the other way. The walk back up all the steps soon warmed us up. We had lunch and headed into Sydney to catch up with some friends and later head home.
Here's an earlier post on the Blue Mountains HERE
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