On the Coast – Over 55 Issue 30 I July/August 2019 | Page 16

Yule
love
the Carrington Hotel
WORDS BY DORIAN MODE.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LYDIA THORPE
Why not celebrate Yuletide in the Blue Mountains this winter?
T
he stock market’s crashed. The
gramophone’s on the fritz. The
Dunny Man has broken a leg.
So why not take a leaf out of
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s racy new novel
and Charleston your way up to the
leafy Blue Mountains? For this trip we
stay at the glorious Carrington Hotel.
What’s especially appealing for seniors
about the Carrington is it’s right on
the doorstep of the train station at
Katoomba. (It’s one of the reasons we
sometimes shout my car-less/careless
mother-in-law a gift voucher to stay for
her birthday/Mother’s Day.) Indeed, for
less mobile seniors, if you’re patient, call
the hotel on your mobile and the porter
will pop over to the station to fetch
your bags and chaperone you to the
hotel. Moreover, it’s handy for car-less
seniors in general because all the cafes
and antique shops are only seven
zimmer-frames from your marbled
doorstep.
Opened in 1882 as The Great
Western, this Grand Old Dame –
along with Raffles in Singapore
and Chateau Lake Louise in
16
O N T H E C OA S T – OVER 5 5
Western Canada – was one of the jewels
in the Empire. It soon became a popular
summer retreat for Sydneysiders
in their sweaty victorian tweeds
and copious girdles. Renamed 'The
Carrington Hotel' in 1886, in honour of
the Governor of New South Wales, Lord
Carrington, the hotel was extended by
subsequent owner, F. C. Goyder who
added the grand dining room.
Later sold to James Joynton Smith in
1911, who commissioned the magnificent
stained-glass facade, The Carrington
rapidly became a popular honeymoon
destination. Coincidentally, Joynton
Smith also introduced rugby league into
Australia during that period. If you look
carefully, the stained glass facade of ‘The
Carro’ has what suspiciously looks like
a rugby league ball as its centrepiece. A
private joke perhaps?
With the ubiquity of the motor car in
the 1960s, long distance travel became
more accessible for Australians. This
saw Blue Mountains tourism decline.
The Carro was eventually purchased by
developer Theo Morris in 1968. By then
the old gal was looking tired. She finally
closed her doors in 1985 and remained
derelict for some years. (Indeed, one
caretaker used to practice archery
down the corridors.) But in 1998
the Grand