An Autumn Day

Earlier this week I took a drive with my husband and daughter out to the Mount Tomah Botanic Garden. I wanted to make the most of our day off together and to enjoy the autumn colours of the upper Blue Mountains. Here in Sydney the cool autumn weather that we experienced over the Easter long weekend seems to have retreated again and the days are unseasonably warm and sunny in the mid to high twenties.

We made our way to Mount Tomah via the Hawkesbury towns of Kurrajong and Bilpin, stopping at a roadside fruit stand to buy freshly picked pink lady apples, homemade plum jam and a bottle of famous Bilpin apple juice. The narrow windy roads flanked by orchards and rolling green hills remind me of driving through New Zealand's North Island. I found it interesting how much the landscape changed once we left the Hawkesbury and re-entered the Blue Mountains, returning to the gum forest.

The grounds and views from the Botanic Gardens are beautiful and breath taking. As are the views along the Bells Line of Road between Mount Tomah and Bell. It was a fantastic day out (although next time I will have to get organised and pack a picnic to eat in the gardens) and a timely reminder of what an amazing place I live in.