For a country in the middle of a drought, it certainly seems to rain a lot...

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Ah, the Blue Mountains...about two hours west of Sydney, the Blue Mountains are so named because of the blue haze from the eucalyptus trees that often covers them. However, for most of the time I've been here, they've been more like the Grey Mountains. Or perhaps the Wet Mountains.

I'm currently in Katoomba, at the YHA. I got here on Wednesday, following an overnight train from Melbourne then a two hour train journey from Sydney. All I wanted to do at this point was collapse in bed, but sadly my my bed wasn't ready yet so I went for a walk instead. Katoomba is home to one of the major sights of the Blue Mountains - the Three Sisters. On the map it looked like a short walk, so that was where I headed. You walk along a perfectly normal looking suburban street until you reach Echo Point, a lookout point with a panoramic view to make your jaw drop. Even on a grey, overcast day like Wednesday it was stunningly beautiful. So overcome by the view, forgetting my tiredness, I walked all the way down the Giant Stairway, past the Three Sisters, to the bottom. Realising I was never going to make it back up again I walked along the track at the bottom, through the eucalyptus trees and ferns to the bottom of the scenic railway which thankfully (for a $10 fee) took me all the way back to the top again. After that I headed back to the hostel for a much needed rest!

The next day, after a good night's sleep, I was ready to tackle something more adventurous. I caught the train to a town called Wentworth Falls, about ten minutes away from Katoomba. As the name suggests, there's a waterfall there. Water, as it turned out, was to be a major theme of the day. It started out OK - I even thought it might be a nice day, as the sun was trying to poke its way through the clouds. The first part of the walk followed a path called the Charles Darwin Walk (so named because he once walked down it) which ended with another one of those jaw-crashing views overlooking the falls. At around this point, I realised that someone I'd seen at the hostel the night before was walking just in front of me, so I caught up with her. The walk was beautiful - down past the falls and along the lower part of the cliffs. It was covered with trees and ferns, and passed numerous waterfalls, with occasional lookouts across the mountains. The last part of it involved a very steep walk back up a long succession of flights of steps, before we finally reached the top. The map I'd bought promised me that the walk took four hours - but we somehow finished it in an hour and a half. Huh??

At this point, Monique (the person from the hostel) decided to head back to the train station and I carried on along the cliff. However, it was also around this point that the weather turn a decided turn for the worse. The cloud descended to the point where I was in danger of not being able to see where I was going so I decided to head back. On the walk back to the train station the rain really started to come down heavily, and carried on for most of the rest of the afternoon. What happened to summer??

Thankfully today has been much better. I went for another long walk, this time to the Leura Forest, with another of those 'what goes down must go back up' slogs back to the top of the cliffs. My legs feel like jelly, and I don't care if I never see another flight of stairs in my life!! This afternoon I'm off to Sydney - which I'm hoping is going to be generally flat!

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Photos

The Three Sisters
According to Aboriginal legend, the Three Sisters were turned to stone by their father to escape the bunyip. Unfortunately he then lost his witch bone so they're still waiting to be turned back again.

The view from the lookout
It was around this point I decided it was time to call it a day

View from Wentworth Falls
Sandstone cliffs are a major feature of the Blue Mountains

Thieving bastard!
While having a well deserved drink after my walk, this little guy starting helping himself to the leftover food on the table next to me. At one point he tried to fly off with a chip and a chicken nugget in his beak!