Rach came up to Canberra for a visit again this weekend. Had a fun night out on Friday night for my thirtieth, then it was off to the Blue Mountains for a night away. I must say, the back roads from Canberra to the Blue Mountains are some of the most beautiful I've been on and the towns are overwhelmingly well preserved and completely devoid of tourist trappings. Of course we had to stop for Devonshire Tea.

While searching for a place to stay I found a small B&B located in Katoomba. Built over a hundred years ago, Kurrara has functioned as a guest house for almost its entire life, including a short stint as a bordello!!

We were lucky enough to score the Honeysuckle suite, complete with open fire and spa. The house was decked out with everything we could have possibly desired.

What I did neglect to mention about our scenic drive from Canberra is that the weather was quite unbelievable. Sun, rain, hail and ferocious winds! As we ascended into the highlands the temperature dropped 5-10 degrees . The ice-hazard light came on in my car at under five degrees and it was freezing by the time we reached Katoomba and if you look closely at the first picture below you'll see some white specs to the right. These are in fact snow flakes! No more than two days after Sydney was hit with the worst dust storm for seventy years, we hit this. Of course, the best way to warm up was to head the The Paragon for the BEST Belgian chocolate I have ever had.

The weather didn't concern us too much, soon enough we were relaxed in the tub back at the house then snuggling in front of the fire and watching a movie.

The next morning we went for a short stroll along the cliffs and I found the old Katoomba Kiosk I remember from visiting as a child, still looks exactly the same. Then it was off to Sydney to drop Rach at the airport.

Another great weekend had by us.