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The Blue Mountains are one of the bigger draws in the Sydney area. That said, with the highest peak at 1,190 m, they really are more like Blue Hills. Australia is somewhat outgunned in the mountain department by other countries we have seen. Still, Australia's Blue Mountains are picturesque and they are only less than 2 hours drive west of Sydney.
We headed into the mountains in our rental car on the afternoon of Monday, April 12th. We startled dozens of kangeroos as we arrived at the grassy Glenbrook campsite, just past the village of Hope. There were enough 'roos around that I couldn't help wondering whether they had ever initiated unpleasant incidents with people. In a man vs. kangaroo fist fight, I bet the 'roos would win, but much of it would depend on the size of the species that the man would be up against. I've also heard that they've got sharp claws.
Although Australia is also outgunned in the archeological department, they have a remarkable history of human settlement. The first aborigines arrived in Australia anywhere between 40,000 and 125,000 years ago! At the time of first European contact, the over 300,000 aborigines spoke 600 different
dialects. That afternoon, we saw one of the more moving relics of human activity we had seen on our trip. About an hour's hike from our campsite (or a few minutes after driving and parking the car), we come to the Red Hands Cave. Sometime between 500 and 1,300 years ago, humans had dipped their hands in red ochre, and left handprints on the inside of this small cave. Sometimes they made an 'inverse print' by placing their hand on the wall and then rubbing or spraying ochre around it. Their prints have survived through the centuries, and some looked visibly fresh as if they were made yesterday (the cave was fenced and plexiglassed off nobody could have added their own handprint yesterday). Standing in front of the hands in the quiet woods, just the two of us, we were struck by the simplicity and the personal nature of this work. The hands were of different sizes and were clearly a mix of men, women, and children. Sometimes one print was placed over an older print, suggesting that hands were placed on the cave walls for over a period of time, maybe generations. But who exactly did this or what
its true purpose was (aesthetics, historical record, boredom, etc.) will never be known.
The next morning, we drove to the town of Katoomla, which rests on the side of huge cliff on the edge of the Jamison valley. A scenic overlook provided a great view of the Three Sisters, sandstone tower-like formations formed from erosion. They even have names: Meenhi, Wimlah, and Gunnedoo; and an aboriginal
legend surrounding them. Unlike the Twelve Apostles, the Three Sisters provided evidence that their discoverers new how to count. The overlook was a bit more crowded than I expected - I hadn't know there were that many fellow tourists in the mountains. The lookout was also the start of a scenic and very challenging hike. The first part of the hike was the toughest. We started by going down the
Great Stairway - "great" to the tune of 800 steps down to the bottom of the Jamison valley. Not much compared to Peru standards, it was steeper and scarier than I would have thought. The hike continued through the rich greenery of the forested valley to the base of Katoomba falls. From there we elected, like almost everyone else, to take the Katoomba
Scenice Railway back up to the top of the cliff, rather than climb up the 800 or so steps. From there, it was a fairly easy hike to back Katoomba along the Prince Henry Cliff Walk, which afforded other views of the Katoomba Falls and the valley below.
We didn't have much daybreak left by the time we got back to our car, so we bee-lined it to our next campsite at the funny but aptly named Perry's Lookdown outside the town of Blackheath. (We were looking down in the valley you see, not down on other people). It was getting dark and pretty cold when we set up our tent, so we decided to skip the bush meal and head back in town for food. By sheer luck, we found a great little Italian restaurant right in Blackheath. We had entrees, coffee, and even apple pie for dessert. Lounging around a bit, we looked around at the other diners and realized they were probably all staying in homes or hotels in town. We were probably the one who would be sleeping in the cold outdoors. We held out it for as long as we could, but eventually we
had to leave the warmth and friendliness of the restaurant to shiver in the darkness in our tent.
It was some cold that night! We rose shortly after sunrise, and took a short drive to the overlook where we could indeed look down on the valley. It was a great view and helped us forget the deprivations of the night before.
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