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Published: November 23rd 2007
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They're world class taggers in the Blue Mountains. Driving up from Sydney it seems there isn't a fence, lamp post, house or wall that hasn't had someone take a spray can to it. Bit disappionting to tell the truth and not the sort of thing you expect to see in a national park. The views from the lookouts soon make up for it though. Our B&B was just over the road from the most popular, Echo Point in Katoomba, the best place to see the Three Sisters. The legend they spin you is it that three lads from one tribe fell in love with three sisters from another, but were barred from marrying them due to tribal law. They decided to take them by force, so the girl's witch doctor turned them to stone to protect them during the fighting. Tragically, he was killed in the battle, leaving the girls trapped like that forever.
Luckily, it's all the work of the tourism industry and not a Dreamtime legend. As the family geologist would tell you, the Sisters were formed by the erosion of the soft sandstone that makes up the Blue Mountains by the wind, rain and rivers. Water seeps
Echo Point.
There's a footpath all the way up to the Three Sisters. Pretty treacherous by all accounts. You could even climb them not so long ago. into small cracks in the rock, gradually enlarging them over time to form large indentations. Prefer the made up legend myself.
They'd named the rooms in our B&B after the sisters. We stayed in Meehni, if that isn't rude. Wimlah and Gunnedoo were the other two and they have very fancy views over the valley. The house was a little bit of Victorian Australia, with all the rooms beautifully decked out with period bits and bobs. Got a huge fried breakfast every morning too, which is obviously more important. Took a bit of time, but by the third day I was putting it away like a pro and only needing 2 hours to recover. The other guests were good company and came from all over the place. Couldn't really have been any luckier in choosing a place to stay.
Scenic World was a good day out too. We took the cable car down into the valley floor and then the insane Scenicsender back up to the top. You get great views of the Three Sisters and the rainforest bellow from the car and a manic trip up strapped into what looks like a rollercoaster from the sender. It
Three Sisters and The Jamison Valley
Even though the weather wasn't perfect, there was still a slight blue haze over the hills. Down the the ucaliptus oil apparently. was originally put in to ferry miners down to a coal mine and in places drags you up the cliff face and 90 degrees. They reckoned it was ok to take the wheelchair in with us, so we did, and to be honest, it probably wasn't exactly safe for all the people sitting bellow us. All that stopped it from killing them was Ange hanging on to it desperately from the seat behind. I'd got both hands full with cameras and things and only stopped myself from falling out by wedging my head into the mesh roof. Great ride though, although I can't see them letting people do it like us for much longer.
Between the two rides there's a walkway through the rainforest where we were lucky enough to get a quick glimpse at a lyrebird scratching around in the undergrowth for food. Not much sign of life apart from that, only the odd parrot flying overhead. Must have killed Ange shoving me up the slope though. Pretty steep in places and a fair way up too.
On the last day we headed out towards Blackheath, to Govett's Leap. Even though it's only about half as big
Windradyne B&B.
Great place to stay if you ever go to the Blue Mountains. Top fry-ups. Needed the fire. Got down to minus 1 at times. as Echo Point, I think it was more impressive experience for me in a lot of ways, mainly because you're out in the bush, miles away from anywhere, and you can almost kid yourself you're the first person to set eyes on it. And it's got a waterfall. They'd obviously had a big fire come through recently, because all the trees were badly charred - quite impressive that they'd survived it really. The cicadas where out in force, too. Felt a bit like Attenborough at times. Unbelievably loud. You wouldn't want to pitch a tent near them.
Went on to Evan's Point after that, which is very similar, very beautiful, but a tad lacking in the waterfall department. Think the fire must have been more intense there: seemed likes miles of bush had been burnt. No koalas or roos. Don't think they exist, personally. Some cuddly toy manafacturer came up with the idea at about the same time the tourist board invented the Three Sisters myth. I have seen a Koala Crossing sign since, which seemed faintly ridiculous and unnecassary seeing as the little beggars spend all day with their arses wedged in a crook of a tree, completly
free from the desire to run across the nearest freeway. Still, someone felt better putting it up, so far play to them.
All in all, it was a great little break. Got lucky with the weather, because, although it was cloudy, it stayed dry and was much cooler than the 34 degrees we'd been having in the run up to leaving. Had the most amazing storm not long after we got back. I'm not kidding, the hail was the size of marbles. Never seen anything like it. Turned out we were lucky - further north in the state it was the size of softballs and caused mayhem.
Taking me a while to get this up, so I might have got everything wrong in the 7 weeks since we went, but I reckon it's mostly right. In other news, I'm growing a very silly tash for a thing called Movember over here. Looks like I'm going native to be honest - I fit in so much better now. It's all in aid of prostate cancer and male depression research, so if you'd like to make a donation, it'd be much appreciated. I will put a photo up soon so
Scenic World.
James Bond moment. No sign of Jaws, unfortunately. you can all have a laugh.
And you will.
A lot.
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