Katoomba, Megalong Valley, Thursday 3 March.


















1) Looking towards the Megalong Valley from the Ridge.

2) Coachwood Glen.

3) Edge of the Rainforest

4) Warning - Kangaroos crossing




The day started misty and drizzly so in the early part of the morning I went along to an Internet Cafe to update the Blog Website and check my bank accounts.

The sun came out mid morning with temperatures rising to 23C. I had decided to do more of a bike ride today after all the walking of the last few days. I first rode up to Blackheath again and stopped there for lunch

Next I headed down the Megalong Valley Road. This is a quiet dead-end valley road which plummet's down from the plateau through rainforest to a few areas of farmland near the small village of Megalong. The descent, and climb back up later is 1500ft.

The road descends steeply under a thick canopy of rainforest with the cliffs of the plateau towering above. Partway down I stopped at the Coachwood Glen Nature walk. This is a 30 minute circular walk through rainforest. I saw a parrot on entering the path but it flew off to a higher canopy before I could get a picture.

I continued on down to the valley and saw several signs warning of Kangaroos. These were genuine road signs not joke signs and the valley is well known for them. I looked but didn't spot any, which is perhaps not surprising as judging from Sidney Zoo they spend most of the middle part of the day snoozing under a bush.

I turned back at Megalong village where the road turned to gravel. On the way back I stopped at Megalong Tearooms for Hot Chocolate and Apple Pie on their Veranda.

Late afternoon thunderstorms were again building and rumbling around the hills. I nervously noted the many lightning damaged trees as I cycled back up under the thick canopy of the rainforest. Luckily the lightning and the rain stayed in the distance.

The plateau top had become shrouded in mist and I decided to get a train from Blackheath back to Katoomba. That section of the Great Western Highway is narrow in places with the hard shoulder sometimes disappearing and lots of lorries thundering by.

Ride for the day was 26.2 miles with 2338ft of climb and a riding time of 2hrs 51mins.