Into the blue Haze

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After a few hectic, but fab days in the city of Sydney we headed up to the Blue Mountains just behind Sydney for a bit of R&R, well not really with all the walking and hikes we had planned! It took 2 hours to travel up by train through forests and enchanting sceanic vistas. We checked in to a really nice homely hostel with log fire and then hit the town of Katoomba in search of lunch and some more beautiful sceanery. We went to a place called Echo Point which gave amazing views of the surrounding valleys with outcrops of the local rocks and the undisturbed eucalyptus forests below. Apparently the ecalyptus oils give the area a blue haze, hence the name Blue Mountains, and sure enough we could see the earie haze rising above the vally floor. The following day (31/01) we walked about 10km along the cliff top looking into the Jamieson Valley, revisiting Echo Point and then onto the Three Sisters (3 pointy rocks created from millions of years of weathering), where we walked down over 200 really steep steps to the valley floor below (Giants Stairway). Walking along the valley floor through the eucalyptus forests gave us a different view point looking up at the protruding rocks above! Instead of climbing back up the other side we took a 52 degree ascending railway up the valley side (Helen had to hold on really tight so not to fall out!). Back at the top we took a sceanic skyway cable car that floats across valley that had a transparent floor which suddenly reveals itself right at the deepest valley point- scary (well Helen was)! But gave brilliant views of Katoomba Falls. The following day, and our final day in the Blue Mountains turned out to be a relaxing one. We had planned to do a walk around a place called Wentworth Falls, where you have magnificent views of water tumbling down into the valley, however, the mist came in over night and woke to drizzle and it barely possible to see a few metres in front of you. Instead we went to the local cinema to see 'The Edge' movie, a film of the local area, so we got some insight into what the Falls would have looked like! In the afternoon we cooked a roast dinner (the first since we left home about 5months ago!) and drank wine! The following morning (2/2) we headed back down into the city to catch our flight from Sydney to Melbourne... another chapter.

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