What to do in the Blue Mountains
A new festival in the Blue Mountains is a feast for all the senses.
In the hour before sunrise, I look out from my bedroom window over the Megalong Valley in the Blue Mountains and a heavy roll of fog with one distant light pinpointing ground level. The scene is unfathomable, but as the light of dawn gathers, shapes emerge.
I have brought with me for a short break in The Hydro Majestic at Medlow Bath a copy of a wonderful 1970 novel, Edens Lost, by Sumner Locke Elliott, an author now lost in the mist of time, but perhaps remembered for Water Under the Bridge and Careful, He Might Hear You.
The novel is set partly in the Blue Mountains and the very hotel where I’m a guest (albeit named The Ritz). In it Elliott writes: “The extraordinary thing was the colour. An eerie blueness lay on the mountains. It was not the colour of evening but a more intense blue, the blueness of seeing through tinted glass. Through it, the hard, clear-air daylight shot white glare onto cliff faces, creating shadows of deeper blues and, in the deepest crevices, blackness… Over the whole empty airiness of space hung an intense silence.”
Tick. That’s the scene unfolding before me and I confess I could never have said it better.
I am visiting the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, to enjoy the first Equinox festival, an autumn celebration of the senses spread over four weekends in March-April. The event is an initiative of Blue Mountains Tourism, with funds from the Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund, devoted to getting the region back on its feet after natural disasters and Covid.
The weekend of my visit is an exploration of the sense of taste; others are themed around hearing, seeing and feeling. While there are special events, the festival highlights attractions and adventures in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area that can be enjoyed year round, but the vivid colour of autumn leaves makes this a special time.
My guestroom at The Hydro Majestic is beyond compare, if for no other reason than the view. I raise the blinds early because I know what will be on its way with dawn, but snuggle back into my comfortable bed to view it. Outside, there’s the first shiver of cooler weather, at least for a coast dweller (the locals seem far sturdier); my digs are warm and stylish, with a bathroom almost as large as bedroom. A superb buffet breakfast awaits in Belgravia Lobby Lounge in front of an open fire and with the same breathtaking vista.
The Hydro Majestic and the Carrington Hotel in Katoomba are the two grand dames of Blue Mountains hospitality. They remind me of the grand dames of British stage and screen Maggie Smith and Judi Dench. Both actresses can play the pinnacle of prim and proper, but you know they can dish up roles of a certain notoriety. So too with the hotels. The Carrington opened in 1883 and the forerunner of The Hydro Majestic (with health treatments as its purpose) about 20 years later. Both are mash-ups of architectural styles, including Edwardian, art nouveau (with its luscious organic curves drawn from nature) and art deco (streamlined and geometric).
The hotels attracted the moneyed leisure class of the early 20th century, who liked the fresh air, sights and social life of Katoomba, and were a haven for honeymooners – and liaisons less above board. Supposedly a bell sounded pre-dawn at the Hydro to warn guests it was time to return to their allocated rooms. But among names in the hotels’ guest books from the glory years were the Duke and Duchess of York (later George VI and Elizabeth, the Queen Mother), Nellie Melba and Arthur Conan Doyle; Australia’s first prime minister, Edmund Barton, died at the Hydro.
The hotels’ popularity declined through the latter part of the 20th century as more Sydneysiders visited the Blue Mountains on a day trip, either by train or car. Both properties fell into disrepair and were closed for a time, but have been refurbished in the past decade or so and are flourishing.
In The Hydro Majestic ballroom I’m up for my first Equinox event, appropriately a feast with a twist. On my dinner setting, a tarot card. It is the Hermit, whose listed characteristics span treason, dissimulation, corruption and roguery. I’m in for an unpredictable evening. Actress, singer and TV presenter (think Play School) Monica Trapaga holds sway as a saucy ringmaster for entertainment that is part circus and part cabaret with gypsy band. A four-course banquet, with fare from the hotel’s Wintergarden restaurant, is served with paired wines, the main dish a slow-roasted, herb-crusted beef ribeye cutlet with asparagus, heirloom carrots, pumpkin and baked potatoes smothered in smoked paprika butter. That tomahawk beef, mercifully for two, is a killer.
My small group is on the trail of craft beverages next morning with first stop Carrington Cellars and Deli. If time is of the essence, it could be the only stop because this boutique outlet prides itself on stocking the “wines of the west”, with varieties sourced from the Megalong Valley to Bathurst, Orange and Mudgee. Throw in local gins, beers and tempting deli produce, but wait, there’s a great history to this place too. Heritage-listed, it was once a private powerhouse built behind the hotel to generate its electricity; the station’s tall chimney still towers over Katoomba. The story starts at the front door where the markings of an old weighbridge are still visible. After a tasting of craft beers (all hail the Katoomba Brewing Company’s English ale), the Carrington’s general manager, Mark Jarvis, takes us behind the scenes of the cavernous building to reveal plans for the brewery and a new restaurant.
Cheered by those ales we’re heading to two vineyards in the Megalong Valley and sensibly making use of a wine-trail shuttle bus that leaves from Katoomba and winds down a road through forest to the valley floor. Here, two vineyards, Megalong Creek Estate and Dryridge Estate (maybe the source of that solitary light in the night), sit side by side and share a panorama of the stunning sandstone escarpments from their cellar doors. The views complement surprisingly good wines, which we taste with cheese and charcuterie boards showcasing local gourmet fare. At Megalong Creek, established in 2002 and also grazing territory for alpacas, I’m won over by the pinot grigio and a sparkling Prozzante; Dryridge, also family-run, serves a memorable 2019 Florence Merlot Cabernet.
Time for a freshen-up and costume change because tonight we’re off to the Blue Mountains’ swishest new restaurant, Blaq, at the retro-makeover motel Kyah, now a boutique hotel, in Blackheath. Mate Herceg, who is both hotel general manager and executive chef of Blaq, endeavours to keep the menu local and seasonal in a setting that is a contemporary take on ’60s-’70s glamour. We go for the chef’s choice of shared plates, which is wise and wonderful, but the menu is abundant with items that demand a return visit. Think, pickled heirloom beetroot, line-caught kingfish ceviche tostada, succulent lamb rack with rosemary and lemon, house-cut fries with sea salt, and orange and ricotta doughnuts in honey and thyme syrup.
A short stay is never enough time in the Blue Mountains. We haven’t fully embraced its wonders of nature, although the weather hasn’t been on our side. Festivals are fun, but the sun will rise and set every day on those escarpments and valleys, providing a perfect purpose to visit at any time.
In the know
The Equinox in 2023 is on March 21, so expect the festival around that date.
A bed and breakfast package in a Heritage Valley View room at The Hydro Majestic from $427 for two; add a three-course dinner in the Wintergarden restaurant for the gourmet package from $637.
Graham Erbacher was a guest of Blue Mountains Tourism and The Hydro Majestic.