Echo Point

This is the view from the Queen Elizabeth lookout at Echo Point. The three columns of sandstone rock are known as the Three Sisters, possibly the most photographed site in the whole area. There's some legend about the sisters being turned into rock by a scorcerer but I've forgotten the whole story so won't bore you with the inaccuracies here.

The other very popular tourist spot in the area is the scenic skyway just around the corner, where you can ride to the valley floor in a former mine train, the steepest and scariest train ride in the whole of Australia (and possibly the world) before coming back up in a cable car and then traversing the valley on the skyway, a cable car hung from one rocky outcrop to another. It's a place that turns up on adventure programmes in the UK, where they challenge people to walk across the cable with a balancing frame. We did it years ago (the cable car, not the tightrope walking) and Darren's face at the time suggested we'd never do it again.

Anyway, this is the coldest I've been since we loaded up the luggage trolley outside Manchester Airport on January 16th. The wind was biting, you know, to the point your fingers go red and your nose starts to drip. Ella and I are wearing as many clothes as we possibly can whilst still being able to zip up our coats.

Central heating awaits less than half a mile away.