Blue Mountains

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Finally after weeks of talking about it, we made it to the Blue Mountains!!

Over the weekend, we had moved flats from Joe's in the city to Megan and Stew's in Stanmore. Shannon had opted to do an East Coast tour and was vacating a room in the flat, and it didn't take much convincing for us to move in. We felt more homely at their flat than our own (and spent probably more time there) and the benefit of it being right beside my work was handy. Gary had finished his job in the city, but his work moved him to their Rozelle office to start on Monday, which also meant he could walk to work from Stanmore. Plus, obviously the company of Megan and Stew would be a lot of fun, although the ground rules were set: No goon during the week nights! We got our full deposit back from Joe too (got away with a couple of bits of miscellaneous damage, inc. the Irn Bru stain!) and it didn't take long to shift our stuff over on the Friday night. The flat was so comfy and a lot more homely so we settled in with some takeaway and watched a couple of DVDs.

After a great nights sleep in our new appartment, we arose early, packed our bags and headed in search of the Mountains. Although the train journey was 2 hours long, I had been assured that the views from the train were spectacular (once you made it out of the city and the western suburbs) and we were not disappointed. As Megan and I enjoyed the scenery, Gary and Stew spent most of their time concocting a plan to gag and throw a rather annoying child off the train. This individual talked complete rubbish at an extremely loud volume for the majority of the journey, and to top it all off he was wearing a Top Hat!! That alone was enough to grate on Gary's nerves.

Two hours later we arrived in Katoomba. Stepping off the train, feeling the slight chill in the air and taking in that deep breath of fresh air we felt completely revived, energised and raring to go!! We really were out of the city again, and we all felt this rush of excitement at the thought of travelling again. Our tickets entitled us to the hop-on-hop-off bus that circled the major attractions in the area, leaving Katoomba every half an hour. Eager to get into the thick of things we headed off on foot exploring Katoomba and catching the bus a few stops along the route.

There is a vast number of walks and sights in the blue mountains ranging from 2 minutes to 2 days. Only having the day to spend there, we were eager to see as much as possible. Our first stop was at the Skyway Eastern Station where we followed the Prince Henry Cliff Walk taking in numerous waterfalls and lookout points, with many spectacular photo opportunities over the blue mountains. For our curious readers, the name derives from the blue tinge over the mountains when they are viewed from a distance. This is caused by the release of volatile oils from eucalyptus forests.

The views from the lookouts were amazing and Vera's Grotto provided us with a great view of one of the many waterfalls along the Fuber Steps path.

Feeling slightly hungry we decided to head to the scenic railway in search of seating areas for our picnic. There were no facilities at the bottom of the steep railway so we decided to pay the $10 dollars and take the railway back up the mountain where there was picnic areas, amenities and a bus stop. Having just missed a train we spent some time around the mines and I was in my element when there was a big steel horse which I managed to scramble onto for another photo opportunity!! Thats the first time I have thrown my leg over the back of a horse in far too many months, Im beginning to have withdrawl symptoms, however its my challenge before this trip is over to get Gary on the back of a horse!! Watch this space.

Making sure we had all our belongings and 'infants' secure we settled into the train, for a short but extremely steep train ride back to the top of the mountain. Megan who is a bit unsure of heights seemed to enjoy the ride as much as us, but I'm sure her heart was beating extremely fast at certain points in the ride. We were all brought back to reality relatively quickly however, when we departed from the train into an overpriced gift shop!

Finishing lunch just in time for the bus, we were back on board rested and on our way to Echo Point for some spectacular views of the Three Sisters. This part of the mountains was very commercial and extremely busy with tourists and locals alike, Gary even managed to get himself into a fight with a kangaroo wearing boxing gloves!! Totally random!!

All day we had been teased by various views fo the Three Sisters, so we headed off along the cliff top trail, finally reaching the Three Sisters. Legend has it that three sisters fell in love with three brothers from a neighbouring tribe. In order to protect the three sisters an elder turned them to stone when a fight broke out between the tribes. Unfortunately the elder was killed in the battle and no one else had the power to turn them back! Some might say however that they were formed from the erosion of the sandstone over time.

Climbing is no longer permitted at the Three Sisters as the aborigionals believe that they are sacred and the climbing that has been conducted over the past years has been upsetting to them. A five year ban on climbing has been put in place on environmental grounds and there is talk that is could be made permanent. It's probably a good thing as it probably wouldn't be the safest and there was already some vandalism done to them already, including graffiti. It would be a shame if these were to be eventually destroyed by uncaring tourists. A bridge has been constructed allowing people to walk over to the first of the Three Sisters for photo opportunities and to take in the amazing views over the mountains and down the valley.

Gary decided that the next adventure for the day was down the 'Giant Stairway', along the Dardenelles Pass and catching the bus in Leura, before heading back to Katoomba for a well deserved drink in one of the local bars. The climb down the staircase was extremely steep and im sure, poor Megan, was cursing Gary with every step she took. hehe!! Charging on in front I was sure that the end must be in sight, however sadly not, there was a sign informing us that we were only half way down!!! When we finally reached the valley floor at first, we could not see the sign for the path that we were in search for, and the thought of climbing up all those stairs again did not go down to well with anyone in the group!!

Pulling away part of a tree we spotted the sign for the Dardenelles Pass which wound around the foot of the cliffs and the valley floor. We headed off down the path which was very deserted, in fact we were the only people on the pass, and from the look of it, this was one that was not used very often. All of a sudden the path disappeared on us, however after climbing over a few fallen branches we were back on track and heading in the right direction once again. It felt a bit Blair Witch Project at times and noticing the sky getting a bit darker was slightly disconcerting, particularly since we had no phone signal and hadn't seen another human for a while.

From the maps that we were given the climb at Leura did not look as intense as the Giant Stairways, however we were sadly wrong and in fact I think that this climb was worse, perhaps we should have read the small print on the map stating that the 'map was not to scale'!! Conscious that we had to make it back to the top of the mountain in time for the bus we started our extremely tiring climb, only discovering half way up that the gradient of this walk was rated HARD!! Finally making it to the top, just in time for the bus, our legs were like jelly and our mouths were watering for that much needed drink!!

We were in the pub in no time at all, completly proud of our adventure and totally satisfied with our alcoholic beverage. Tired and desperate to back to the flat, the return train journey seemed to take forever and being a saturday night, there were many drunken lads on the train who insisted on walking from carriage to carriage. We all had a great day and we were completely relieved to get our shoes off and into bed that night!!

Verdict on our Blue Mountains experience? Excellent! Most fun we've had in a long time and great to get out of the city. Would be a great place to spend a few days and nights at, but we're just simple, poor travellers.

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Photos

Blue Mountains 2
View from Reids Plateau.

Waterfall
Katoomba Cascades

Me and Gary
What a view!!

Me and the Boys
Gary looks like he is holding the rock up with his head!!

Me
Starting off down the Giant Stairway.

Gary
Getting himself out of a sticky situation!!