Meehni, Wimlah, Gunnedoo

The Three Sisters. There is a reason that everyone who goes to the Blue Mountains stops at Echo Point in Katoomba to take this photo. And we were never going to be the exception.  

No apologies for sharing this most popular of tourist snapshots, although I shudder to think how many photos of the Three are taken each day. Probably even more than the number of teapots at Bygone Beauties, the tearoom and teapot museum in Leura (11,000 or so in the collection; and around 6,000 on display).

When we were last at the Echo Point lookout in Katoomba, busloads of tourists seemed to arrive every few minutes. But today not so many.

In the afternoon, it gets too rainy and foggy to take in the views. So we head to Leura to see the teapots, somehow having missed them last time. (Last time we did see Leura’s excellent Toy Museum and were hoping to return, but sadly it has now closed.) 

Apparently, it was a devil of a job keeping the teapots clean during the bushfires. Today, they are all polished and perfect, and all competing for our attention. There are too many to take in, so we wander from room to room looking for those we like best. And, of course, it would be rude to leave without stopping in at the tearoom for a cuppa, and we are not going to be impolite.

EXTRAS — A few teapots from Bygone Beauties. The last of these, we are told, is the most popular — Royle’s patent self-pouring teapot (lift the lid and your tea is poured). It was made by Doulton’s Burslem for JJ Royle in Manchester, 1886.