Leura and Katoomba, in The Blue Mountains

Katoomba and its sister town Leura, are a bit of a trip down memory lane for me. The two towns seem to be in a time warp, stuck in the 1930's, or 40's. I cannot figure out what keeps them going, tourism, or are they bedroom communities for Sydney, or do they stand on their own right? Walking down the streets brings back memories of my mother taking my sister and I to downtown Vancouver in the 1940's. The stores look like Hastings street, with their glass fronted doors and interesting window displays.


I cannot figure out why there were no new buildings put up in the 50's, 60's etc. The smaller town of Leura is the smaller and better 'preserved' of the two towns. I am fascinated by the architecture, there is not one building over three stories in town. [Leura.]





I took a picture of one of the grocery store aisles there. When did you last go shopping with a store whose aisles were three feet wide and the shelves are stacked with packaged goods like that?


Next door was the produce store and meats. I don't think they even had wire baskets for the grocery. I remember my mother giving me some money and told me to run down to the corner store and get a single item she needed in a store similar to the one we visited. It was not a tourist attraction, it was on the main street of other stores whose owners make their living from selling wares. Of course, on the outskirts of town are the K-Marts etc.

The main attraction in the area is of course the Blue Mountains. The mist visible is sometimes said to be the mist from the Gum trees that form the bulk of the greenery we see. There are numerous roads and trails that surround and go through the valley. Rod and Lyn seem determined to show us every trail, lookout, photographic opportunity, cave and vista possible.






As I sit and write this, after downloading and editing the photos, Fellette and Lyn are locked into a scrabble game while Rod has walked down to the point to try and get one more photo with the sun setting on the crags known as The Three Sisters. I asked him to take one for me, no more walking for Dougie today! Bed will come early tonight. We have booked a third night in our home away from home so it should be a lazy morning tomorrow! But, apparently Rod has a busy day of hiking in mind for our last day here.



The Country Women's Association is an organization of rural women who meet, do community work, and other womanly things that some men find terribly mundane. It sort of typifies the era that these towns in the area are reminiscent of. My gosh, they even have their own building here! My wife informs me that they have similar organizations in Canada. I did not know. This one just plain looks old fashioned. I do love the buildings here.