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Published: December 26th 2006
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Just west of Sydney lies one of Australia's most popular attractions - the Blue Mountains. The name is a reference to the coloured haze that hangs over them due to the evaporating eucalyptus oil from the gum tree forests that cover the slopes. There had been several bushfires in the area recently but I'd checked on the web that all roads were still open, so I ventured forth out of Sydney for my final Australian road trip, with the Blue Mountains first on the itinerary.
The omens were not good, as I hadn't even left the Sydney suburbs when I was involved in an accident. When waiting second in line at some traffic lights, a truck turning across our lane cut the corner too fine and was going to clip the car in front of me. The driver of the car decided to avoid this by reversing into me, as she subsequently explained - as though avoiding damage to her car in order to potentially cause some to mine was going to endear her to me. The licence plate had a dent in it but otherwise the car appeared unscathed so, as the thought of going through all the insurance
palaver for such minor damage didn't appeal, I told her to forget it, which naturally didn't trouble her.
My first stop in the Blue Mountains was at Wentworth Falls, visited by no less a personage than Charles Darwin, who was captivated by the views of the valley and had the creekside walk named after him. This also gave me my first indication that the Blue Mountains were fly country. The lookout at the end of the walk was nothing special, but Prince's Lookout a little further down gave an excellent sighting of the falls, with the mid-afternoon sun creating an interesting rainbow effect in the falling water.
Next stop was Katoomba, the main town in the region and site of a YHA that was voted Australia's best hostel 2 years ago. Both the town and the hostel were excellent, although there seemed to be rather more pensioners than I've been used to seeing, plus a few schoolies who must have taken a wrong turn.
At the south end of Katoomba is Echo Point, affording panoramic views over the Jamison Valley, and a side-on view of the Blue Mountains' most famous rock formation, the Three Sisters. I wandered
down here several times. During the day it's a tour group nightmare, and there's the idiotic situation of plenty of outdoor seating but none in the shade, but come late afternoon when the coaches have all left, it's peaceful and serene.
I did a couple of hikes in the area, though both my original choices were unavailable due to recent bushfire damage having left various trees in an unstable state. So my Gordon Falls->Leura Cascades->Bridal Veil Falls circuit became Gordon Falls->Leura Cascades->Echo Point - though the only indication that the Bridal Veil Falls circuit was closed was at the very beginning of the circuit itself - followed by the return journey along the far-from-interesting road to pick up the car. With the temperature over 30C, I spent the rest of the afternoon doing laps of Katoomba's Olympic-sized pool.
The following day I did a shorter hike that nonetheless reminded my calves that they'd been overexerted previously. This hike took a route down the 800-step Giant Staircase from near the Three Sisters, before heading along the valley to a funicular station via a viewing point for the unimpressive Katoomba Falls. I took the funicular up, which at $8 for
a 2 minute ride made my Qantas ticket look like the travel bargain of the millenium.
I also visited Blackheath, home to the Govett's Leap Lookout into the Grose Valley. This provided more spectacular views but the valley had been hard hit by the recent bushfires, so there were great swathes of brown and black, where trees had been burned and killed.
I did a second pool session but was so knackered from this exercise binge that the last 10 laps of my set took place closer to the bottom of the pool than the surface.
Though there were still many parts of the area I would've liked to have explored, I felt I'd had a good taste of what the Blue Mountains had to offer, and with my departure date from Australia now looming less than a week away, it was time to visit the nation's capital.
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Crabtownboy
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Fish in water
The fish are trout.