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Published: January 20th 2011
The Blue Mountains weren’t exactly what we were expecting they are not really mountains but a series of hills shaped by dramatic steep gorges and tall, jagged peaks of granite. They were easy to get to as they were only a two hour train journey from Central Station in Sydney. The mountains a magnificent wilderness area, part of the Great Dividing Range, begins 65 km inland rising to a 1100m high sandstone plateau riddled with valleys eroded into stone million of years ago. The mountains are ten times older than the magnificent Grand Canyon. We arrived at Katooma train station (sounds like it should have been in Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book), the main town in the mountains and which has long been a holiday destination. During the 1920s the steep streets were lined with handsome residences, splendid art deco buildings and wealthy Sydney siders came in huge numbers to take in the mountain air. Today Katoomba retains a veneer of its former self with much of its charm and architecture but there is no denying that some of the shine has worn away. However it was a very interesting place to visit with its now dated art deco buildings as well
as busy little coffee shops, antique and second hand shops, hippy cafes and art galleries. Frances you would have loved all the antiques with many blue and white pottery pieces and Geoff you would have loved the star wars artifacts (sorry though our backpacks are not big enough to bring anything back). We came out of Katoomba Station and immediately across the road dominating the skyline was the Carrington Hotel an historic, heritage grand old hotel and our destination for the next two nights. It was constructed before most of the town itself in 1880 and when Katoomba was a nondescript little mining town but it soon became a successful hotel and has continued to be so today. The hotel changed hands in 1886 and the then owner purchased two thousand pounds worth of furniture and artwork, most of which are still in the hotel today. The grand Dining Room one of the last remaining Victorian ones still operating in Australia is very close to the way it was when it first opened its doors, including two huge blue and white Ming vases shipped in from China to Katoomba where one was dropped and broken at the station. The repair
to the broken one was made with brass staples which still encircle its neck and form a seam running the length of the vase which were nearly as tall as me. Champagne Charlie’s Cocktail bar was named after Lord Carrington Governor of NSW in the 1880s and the hotels namesake. He earned this nickname as he was known to drink champagne with every meal (lucky man). The ballroom looked like it should have been in another era complete with crystal chandeliers, chamber orchestra stage, Georgian windows and direct access to the famous stained glass façade. This tiled and columned verandah with Italianate balustrades and curved stairs were the sight that we first saw as we walked through the gardens and it was these stairs which we had to drag our backpacks up. We were greeted by Derek who made us feel very welcome and gave us some interesting tips on what to do whilst we were in the area. We were given Colonial Room Number 22 which was amazing. It had a huge stain glass bay window complete with window seat, even the bathroom had a stain glass window as well as the original deep bath, a luxury not often
had in many modern hotels. The hotel was steeped in history and when we were sat in the bar we noticed the following story displayed in a glass cabinet about The Key of Room 22 (our room). “On 29th June 1923, Norman and Joan Rutherford married in Wellington, NSW. Following their reception they drove to Katoomba where they stayed overnight at the Carrington Hotel, where they were given Room 22. The next morning they left the hotel for the rest of their honeymoon, a couple of weeks in Cairns. Accidentally they took their room key with them. Coming home from Cairns they thought it would be nice to stay at the Carrington again so stopped and asked if there was a room available. They were told that there was only one room available ‘Room 22’ but the key had been lost. Astonished at the co-incidence Joan said I might have that key, whereupon they were given the room. The next morning Norman and Joan could not resist the temptation to take the key again. In April 2002, Norman and Joan’s daughter, Marcia Johnson contacted the hotel and said that her family had kept this key for 79 years but it
was time to return it and it was. Marcia Johnson gave this story to the Carrington Historian complete with key and wedding reception photo of her mother and father.” A lovely story but our key was nothing like the one in the display cabinet, so much for modern technology! We set off around the town to see if we could find some cheaper accommodation as we wanted to stay a bit longer than two nights as there were lots of good walks, superb scenery as well as abundant wildlife. We called in at several B&Bs/Motels and managed to negotiate some good rates. However the chap at the accommodation information centre said he knew the manager at the Carrington where we were staying and called him and got us an excellent rate for another 5 days. So we could remain in luxury accommodation and spend not much more that what we would pay at a more modest motel. We have found that accommodation as well as most things in Oz is so much more expensive than in NZ at this rate we will end our journey here in a very small tent!!!! We awoke next morning to swirling mists all around
Katoomba which gave a very atmospheric feel to the town and we set off to get a ticket for the Red Explorer Bus (an old London Transport double decker). One of the advantages of staying at the Carrington was that for the cost of a day pass on the bus we could continue to use this for the 7 days we are staying at the hotel at no additional cost. The bus makes loops around the key sites of interest to tourists, with 29 stops where you can get on and off and undertake some of the scenic walking trails that follow the rim of the gorge of the Blue Mountains. The bus drivers give detailed commentary and advised passengers on the best things to do according to the day’s weather, they were true experts and many could speak about a dozen different languages. This particular driver/guide said that it would probably clear later but as it was misty it would be better to get off at Honeymoon Point and walk along the Prince Henry Cliff Walk back to Echo Point. It was a relatively easy grade walk, and we took our time, spending several hours inhaling the scent of
the gum trees and stopping to take photographs as the mist lifted out of the valley. In the distance, looking out over the gorge, you could quite easily see where the Blue Mountains got their name. A blue haze covers the valley; it comes from a fine oily mist given off by the abundant eucalyptus trees, the smell is truly remarkable. Occasional flowers break up the green shrubbery and the sheer cliff sides provide a contrast to the blue gorge. We saw many varieties of colourful flowers including the red Mountain Devil and the Banksia. We also spotted an abundance of birds including the Sulphur Crested Cockatoo, we had seen these in Sydney and the lovely Crimson Rosella a really vivid red and blue coloured parrot which our friends Margaret and Peter of Calne, Wiltshire had told us about. We continued and arrived at Echo Point, Katoomba’s crowning glory, where a series of sensational viewing platforms transport your gaze out over the Jamison Valley. The impressive Three Sisters rock formation towers over the scene. Legend has it that a sorcerer turned the Three Sisters to stone in order to protect them from unwanted advances of three young men. Unfortunately for
the sisters the sorcerer died before he could reverse the spell. A walk went down to this striking rock formation via steep steps around the mountainside and out across a bridge to a look out point under the first of the three sisters. It looked pretty steep to me so we did not go down but continued along the Prince Henry Cliff Walk passing the top of the Katoomba Cascades and on to Scenic World which has a 1880s railway descending the 52-degree incline to the valley floor to an elevated boardwalk. This railway was originally used to transport miners up and down the valley to the mines below. This looked pretty steep also, so perhaps we will do this another day! I thought Tintagel Castle in Cornwall was bad enough this looked much worse! The next day we decided to do some of the walks at the base of the gorge but of course this meant tackling the steep rail journey to the base of the rainforest first! We purchased a triple Scenic World Ticket which included a rail ride down the mountain, a cableway up the mountain and a skyway ride directly across the gorge. The rail ride
was like something from a fairground and you had to hang on tight as you feel like you’re going down the mountain head first, immediately you go through a tunnel cut into the mountain and everything goes black. Maisie, ‘it reminded me of Thunder Mountain in Disneyland Paris - but was over much quicker thank goodness’. Once down it was like being in another world and quite dark and damp. Not much light penetrated this isolated part of the valley floor. At the bottom there was an interesting display of mining artifacts together with some history of how the miners extracted the coal and the difficulties in getting up the rock face to the surface. We decided not to follow our fellow travellers who were all undertaking the boardwalk which looped around and then ended at the Scenic Cableway which took you back up the mountain, but to get on to the Federal Pass Walk. This walk meanders around the base of the Three Sisters and Katoomba Falls. We were hoping to see a lyrebird – the rare bird seen on Australia’s ten cent coin. We were indeed lucky about 10 minutes into the walk we came across a male
and female feeding a chick a truly amazing sight. You really need your ears to locate these birds, rather than your eyes and listen for scratching sounds in the leaf litter lining the forest floor. The lyrebird spends most of its time scratching around for food and this is what they were doing as we watched for ages before they vanished into the undergrowth below. The birds are like small peacocks with sensational tail feathers. The male’s feathers are more luxuriant than the females, so it’s quite easy to tell the two apart but they are not the vivid colours of peacocks but shades of brown that blend perfectly with the undergrowth of the rainforest. We continued our walk passing right under the Three Sisters and the bottom of the Katoomba Falls before stopping to rest. Paul noticed a leech on his boot which took quite a lot of persuading to get off. We returned the way we had come to complete the boardwalk and after traveling for a little while I felt something on the back of my leg which also turned out to be a leech which I managed to get off pretty quickly! After going around the
long route of the boardwalk which was quite interesting we proceeded to the Scenic Cableway to take us back up the mountain and on the way up had lovely views out over the valley. We then caught the Skyway across the gorge itself giving good views out over the valley as well as the Katoomba falls cascading over the top of the gorge. We retired to bed early after our long walk but I had trouble getting to sleep and on hearing some people talking outside our bay window thought that we must have left the window open and I could hear the people in the next room. We were on the first floor so it could not be anyone outside, even though there was a flat roof space there was no access to guests! I got up and drew the curtain back and just as I did someone was closing the window from the outside and the shape of a girl and boy passed by the window…………… Well what a fright I got (flashbacks of the terrible time we had in Tobago a few years ago) but then thought perhaps it was the hotel security staff shutting the windows
because it was rainy quite hard! Next morning we asked at reception whether their security guards do close the windows and they said definitely not, the flat roof was used only for maintenance purposes. Well I said it must have been a couple of ‘ghosts’ and the manager replied that there had been stories of guests seeing ghost on a number of occasions! He said to call down to reception if anything happened again. In the end we decided that it was probably a couple of guests getting out of their window to smoke and then got disorientated and tried to get back into our room but realized it was the wrong one – We’ll leave it up to you what to believe……The next day we caught the bus to Echo Point and I decided to tackle the steep steps down the mountain side to the first of the three sisters and although very scary (much harder than Tintagel) managed to get down with Paul’s help and over the bridge and was extremely pleased I had done so – but no I would not do it again! It was a lovely day and we decided to walk most of the
remaining King Henry Cliff Top walks we had not done, including down to the Leura Cascades, beautiful waterfalls in the Leura Forest and also the Bridal Veil Falls. We then continued on to Leura Village itself where we had Devonshire tea at Bygone Beautys, often described as Aladdin’s Cave due to the sheer volume of collectable and colourful items on display. The shop is overflowing with antiques, jewellery, collectables and gifts and is also home to the world’s largest private teapot collection. More than 3000 teapots are on display with 3600 in the collection. We had a cream tea (or rather cream coffee) but the Aussies need to learn about clotted cream! The next day, we boarded a tour bus early in the morning to visit the Jenolan Caves. The caves are best reached by bus; the windy road down the steep mountain pass is only open to public traffic at certain times of the day. We decided to take a guided tour of the Orient Cave which also gave access to a self guided tour of several other caves in the areas. The Jenolan Caves lie southwest of the mountain range with the Great Western highway passing through the grand old hotels of Mount Victoria before a south turn is taken at Hartley, the centre of the first grazing region established by Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth from 1815 onwards. The southern stretch of the road, cutting across the escarpment of Kanimbla Valley, is one of the most scenic in the mountains. The Caves were first discovered in 1838 and are remarkable for their complexity and accessibility. Our driver/guide told us about a local pastoralist James Whalan who stumbled across the prehistoric caves whilst tracking the escaped convict and cattle rustler James McKeown, who was thought to have used the caves as a hideout. Originally named Binoomea or Dark Places by the Gundungurra people, these spellbinding caves took shape more than 400 million years ago and form one of the most extensive and complex limestone cave systems in the world. More than 300 subterranean chambers were formed in a limestone belt but only nine caves are open to the public each with differing limestone formations, pools and rivers. Well we never knew sights like this could exist underground it was truly remarkable. The Orient cave which we visited takes its name from the oranges and reds found naturally here that had only previously been seen in Persian paintings. This is one of the world’s most beautiful caves with dazzling visual impact and overwhelming rich crystal decorations. The tour included explanations of all the cave’s incredible features, such as stalactites, stalagmites, halactites (growing sideways from the walls) and shawls, which look like huge ribbons of bacon. Notably, this is the first cave in the world to have been steam cleaned a process which is now being carried out in other caves across the globe. Paul chatted to our guide who said that the caves were partnered with Cheddar Caves in Somerset which we had visited many times when we were young and again with the children. The next day we were going to get a bus to Wentworth Falls to undertake several walks but rain stopped play! It continued to rain throughout the morning so we spent the time looking at our forward plans and keeping an eye on the news regarding the terrible floods in Queensland our next planned destination. In the afternoon the rain eased so we decided to get the bus to Echo Falls and undertake a short walk. We got off to walk to the Vera and Katoomba falls via the Furber Steps where it was very wet indeed underfoot as we walked down through deep mud to the falls, you could hear water falling all around. The rainfalls had changed the area completely and the gentle falls we had seen a few days ago had turned into raging torrents. The noise level was deafening as we approached the various view points but we continued on to the underpass to see the Katoomba Falls and we were truly astonished at the huge flow of water falling over the edges and down into the valley below. We stayed and watch the water falling for ages before heading back up the mountain to dry land. On the way back up, now extremely muddy we encountered a lyrebird looking for grubs in the undergrowth. We finally reached the top and waited for the bus back to Katoomba. We put on the television to see what the situation was with regard to the Queensland flooding. You will have heard of the devastating floods in this area which seemed to be getting worse day by day. Everyone was saying that the weather was so unseasonable so we would need to keep an eye on the situation day by day. We had been in contact with several people and were getting conflicting views on whether we would be able to get to Mons Repos north of Brisbane. A lovely couple, David and Janine of Brisbane who we had met in NZ on our Doubtful Sound cruise were keeping us informed of the conditions by the hour and were in direct contact with Mons Repos the turtle rookery, we still hoped to visit but things were changing all the time. However in the end we decided that we would head back to Sydney, hire a car and start making our way north up the coast keeping an eye on the situation in case we had to quickly change our plans. We looked on the internet for accommodation that the hotel manager had recommended and found that if you booked a ‘mystery hotel’ you could get 5 star accommodation at 3 star rates. So this is what we did and were lucky enough to get a couple of nights at the Radisson in the centre of Sydney at a very good rate. So it was goodbye to this lovely mountain area and onwards hopefully to Queensland via Sydney.
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Charmian
non-member comment
Queensland
Sorry to hear you couldn't make it, I know you were looking forward to that part of the trip. John heard from Reece to say it wasn't the sharks swimming in the floodwater in the streets that was a problem - it was the midges! There is not enough money in the world to get me in that Skyway!!!! It looks very scary! Enjoy your next adventure x