One of the challenges of living in a national park in the vicinity of major tourist attractions is the insane amount of traffic that any holiday period or long weekend will produce. This being the June long weekend of the King's Birthday (That change will take some getting used to!), cars on the ascent to Katoomba are currently piled back two kilometres from the local traffic lights at Hazelbrook.

Since the Great Western Hwy is essentially the only road from east to west through the string of Mountain's towns and villages, locals have no choice but to stay at home or run the gauntlet of when and where traffic snarls and queues may occur. The GWH is that key artery in and out of this side of the Blue Mountains, so you can probably see my point.

It's almost enough to make one sympathize with what Parisians have to put up with. Parts of their city effectively cease to be their own. And yet, the tourist dollars that come in largely keep the place running. Getting the balance right is very difficult.