Tristan makes up for his accurate welcome by treating us all to ice creams.

Arrived! Legs thick with torpid blood, brow wet. Reminders of a life spent blogging.

Almost there

About a third up.

The first flight of 900 stairs up, up and up the three sisters.

Federal pass loops through dense forest toward the three sisters and the giant stairway up.

The aptly-named, rash inducing lawyer vine.

Nothing like a caution sign that tells you to run.

Baby stick bug.

Hanging amidst the rusting coal cars, forgotten single track roads and watching woods of Megalong valley.

Bottle o brown snake. Found and killed at local letter box... not by me.

Australian accoutrement.

The high art of hot chocolate prep. Result: A rich, creamy blend of milk chocolates and fresh milk sipped through a metal straw.

View from the first sister. Wind whips through the valley, buffeting our perch. Below, the constant ringing of the bell birds.

A gallery for the gourmand.

A sherbert sun sets in the Blue Mountains to the song of lorikeets and cockatoo. Chitterring bugs drift through the cooling air.

$20 score from Brian's Books

Mountain water, ice cold and delicious.

At the Paragon in the Blue Mountains. Floor shakes, booths creak as we sip Earl Grey. Shelves of candy beckon from the chocolate counter

Hand-carved pikachu doorstop?