Sydney & Blue Mountains

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January 9th 2010

Published: January 10th 2010

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Chris and Lisa

World Wonder

And why are two people standing in the way of that great building.

On the flight across the Tasman you realise how far away New Zealand is from even its nearest neighbour, we can fly to Egypt in about the same time it takes to get from Auckland to Sydney. We landed at Sydney airport, hopped on to one of the very fast and frequent trains to central station and, wow, there are people in the Southern Hemisphere, hordes of them in fact. That is just one of the differences between the two countries. Their histories begin differently with Sydney’s indigenous inhabitants going back over 45,000 years as compared to the few hundred in NZ, but their recent tales dovetail with the onset of European settlement. In Australia it began in 1770 when Capt Cook landed at Botany Bay, claiming the East Coast for Great Britain and immediately turned it into the world’s biggest penal colony.

There doesn’t seem a lot of planning in Sydney, the magnificent old buildings like the Victoria Shopping Mall and the Town Hall are dwarfed by Sydney’s skyscrapers that house its business district. Much like everywhere else the banks and insurance companies love to see their names in neon at the top of mighty glass structures. But, like

Was it worth it?

2000 people in front of us, 18000 behind.

us, most people walk past all this and head for Circular Quay and the two landmarks that thrust Sydney into worldwide consciousness, the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. Opened in 1932, as bridges go its fine, not Tower Bridge or the Golden Gate, but it comes into its own once a year. The Sydney Opera House on the other hand is quite simply one of the most magnificent and recognisable buildings in the world, we were awestruck first time we saw it and remain so every time, from land, sea or air it’s marvellous.

We booked into our hotel, yep a room with its own bathroom for a few days, luxury. Our first day in Sydney was spent rushing round gathering essentials for New Years Eve, the second was spent exploring the city again. But what everyone is in Sydney for is one thing, NYE09, the first major city in the world to welcome the 2nd decade of the millennium (sorry Auckland). This will be our 2nd Sydney NYE, the first, with Matt, was spent on the 14th floor of the Star City Casino enjoying an 8 course meal and Dom P at midnight, brilliant, but on the

Getting Ready

Nabbing a good spot for midnight

wrong side of the bridge. This year we decided that free was the way (as if that’s possible) and rose at 7am and headed for Mrs Macquarie's Chair, a huge park by the botanic gardens. We thought by getting there long before the gates opened at 10am we should be fine for a great spot, first dumb-arse idea of the day. 2000 people had got up even earlier than us. We finally got to the entrance gates at midday, after 4 hours queuing, and found a spot with a good view of both the harbour, where the firework barges are, and the bridge. We settled in with our £5 picnic chairs and a good book (oh plus a few very expensive alcoholic beverages) and waited for midnight, only 11 hrs more to go. Throughout the day the officious security staff, strutting around like toy policemen, kept a close eye out in case anybody’s blanket transgressed more than a few mm onto the pathways. Great, we thought as we had plonked ourselves next to a path to enable a clear view just before midnight. Dumb-arse idea no 2. As the 9 o’clock family fireworks approached we got a taste of things

Worth the Wait

Definitely!

to come, half the population of Korea, Japan and a few provinces in India set up camp on the path right in front of us causing everyone who wanted to actually walk past to trample all over us. Given that we had done as advised, arrived early and been very considerate, we weren’t best pleased. No problem we thought, along will pop Sydney’s finest substitutes and do what they had been doing all day. Yea right, as they say at Tui, nowhere to be seen, in good old toy soldier fashion as soon as they were needed they scarpered. At 11pm we decided that our quiet English reserved nature wasn’t going to get us anywhere so we packed up, hoped all our stuff would be OK, found a good spot and stood there. We had been joined that afternoon by a young Dutch couple that we met while nearly dying on Mount Cook (the sensible ones that turned back at the 1st river) and between the 4 of us Europe reclaimed it’s part of Australia, if only for an hour. Sydney did it’s best to build up the excitement, a few fireworks on the hour and then every 15 minutes

Darling Harbour

A lot of Hangovers being walked off on NY Day.

for the last hour but we have to say the ‘party’ was a bit of a disappointment. However, then the moment of truth, 2010 arrived and the Sydney night sky exploded, the sounds, the colours, the timing, the choreography, it was magical. The display blasted into the night sky and then the bridge came alive and all of the queuing, the niggles and the hassles disappeared up in smoke, this is what it is all about and it was absolutely wonderful. Was it worth it, oh yea.

A bit of advice if you are within 1000 miles of Sydney on a future New Year’s Eve do everything you can to get there and when you get there, if you can, don’t take the cheap option. If we are here again it’ll be a boat on the harbour, yep it is much better on the east side of the Bridge, despite what Darling Harbour business tell you, but above all get here, it is soooooo worth it.

The main event over we planned to visit Bondi to catch some sun, and Manly, because it’s nice, but yep despite what Aussies tell you the weather isn’t always great and this

Sky Tower

The 2nd highest building in Australasia (so the Kiwis tell me)

Xmas was no exception, floods in the north of NSW and a deluge in Sydney. So we enjoyed a relaxing, wet, few days wandering the city and starting to think about Asia and beyond. We could have gone to museums and Sky Towers and all sorts of other things but Australia is not cheap, maybe it’s the exchange rate, maybe it’s the commodity boom but whatever the reason it’s now an expensive country for Brits to visit, so an afternoon catching up with Julia and saying yet another goodbye (until Asia) was enjoyed by all. We did get lucky with the evening entertainment, firstly bumping into a couple of lads from the Magic Bus in a pub one evening and spending a few hours catching up was great fun. Whilst walking past the Theatre we saw a production of Wicked was on, we had tried to get tickets in New York but they were sold out, so Saturday night we trotted off along the yellow brick road. Brilliant, funny, witty, sad, it was well written, directed, staged and absolutely beautifully performed. Special mention must go to Jemma Rix as Elphaba, she was supposed to be a stand in but absolutely

Blue Mountains

View from the Cliff top walk

stole the show and Lucy Durack’s Glinda was comedic and musical genius. If you get the chance, treat yourself, it’s excellent. On our last wet night we decided to go to the 3D picture showing of Avatar - very enjoyable.

Monday morning and Sydney went back to work, we picked up a rental car and headed off to the Blue Mountains just outside Sydney, now if only the rain would stop.

The Blue Mountains are a bit of a misnomer, they’re not really blue and they’re hardly mountains. Barely taller than the peaks in the Lake District these are actually dissected sandstone plateaux, a series of river valleys and gorges on a par with the Grand Canyon, but much, much greener and 10 times older. The area is home to a myriad of ancient plant and animal life and has, without doubt, some of the most spectacular scenery we have ever seen. The other wrong info is the Blue Not Mountains aren’t Blue either, that refers to the magnificent blue light surrounding the distant hills. It is a really gorgeous sapphire blue that offers the most wonderful lights and shadows. Apparently it’s all down to “Rayleigh Scattering”, I

Wentworth Falls

A 3 level fall, beautiful

can just remember O-level physics enough to believe it but whatever the reason, it’s lovely.

We stayed in a Hostel in Katoomba, the Flying Fox, don’t bother, bit pants really but a good location to set out to explore from. We decided to start our trek at Jamison’s Lookout and follow the Prince Henry Trail along the cliff, and what a great decision that was. We had been blessed with glorious sunshine and 33degs and the trek offered unbelievable vistas. We walked down to the Three Sisters, a superb sandstone rock formation that, according to legend, involved 3 beautiful ladies, Meehni, Wimiah & Gunnedoo. Well these maidens were in love with 3 brothers from the neighbouring nation but, obviously, this wasn’t allowed. The brothers were warriors (or matelots) and decided to take the women by force. Tribal war forced the Kuradjuri (witch doctor) to turn the women to stone, intending to turn them back again after the war ended. Unfortunately for these chicks he copped it in the battle so there they stand to this day, waiting for someone to break the spell. From here the track moved on to Echo Point for a great view of the ladies

Great Walk

Stunning scenery from half way up a cliff

then onwards to Katoomba Falls. From here the Furber Steps lead down to the base of the valley, so off we trotted, after 1000 steps down we decided to take the easy option of using the Scenic Railway to get back to the top. This is the steepest funicular railway in the world, 52degs at its steepest and brilliant fun. A great way to end our first day in the Not Blue Not Mountains.

Day 2 dawned with yet more clear sky and a temp of only 29 degs, we set off to the village of Wentworth Falls, our starting point for today’s adventures. We set off down the Charles Darwin track, a pretty walk alongside the meandering Jamison Creek. We were immediately rewarded for our choice by a couple of brightly coloured red, green & yellow parrots hopping onto a branch right by us, then just around the corner a flock of the hugest black, white and yellow parrots imaginable, gave us our first wow moment of the day. At the end of the track the river pours over the beautiful Wentworth Falls into the Jamison Valley below. Then a very steep set of stairs took us down

Don't Slip

The start of the National Pass

to one end of a trail called the National Pass and it’s difficult to describe how utterly magnificent this walk is. After the steps that bend one way then the other, the walk climbs a staircase up the side of the cliff, it takes you through a few overhangs with drops of 800m straight down and then opens up into a path hewn out of the middle of the cliff. Views for miles, out and down, take your breath away. The walk continues offering great views of Mount Solitary and lovely waterfalls both from the outside and then underneath. Something this stunning had to come at a price and that was the climb back up to the summit which was knackering, but we were still basking in the joy of the views that we have just seen so even the onset of a thunderstorm couldn’t dampen the spirits. If the Tongariro is the best 1 day walk in the world this might be the best ½ day. Quite simply stunning.

Well that was it. Back to reality on day 3 in the Not Blue Not Mountains, we awoke to a grey pea-souper of a misty day so that