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Published: November 19th 2007
hold on!
crazy steep trackWoke up at 8am to get ready for the second day of hiking... not a problem. Our room smelled of old greek salad, yum. We ate breakfast, cleaned out our rooms, and checked out from the hostel. We drove a few minutes to "Scenic World", our starting point for this hike. To get into the valley, we had to take this rail car, no biggie. Now, the track that the car runs on is famous because it is the STEEPEST track in the world. Surprised, worried, scared, none of those words could even describe what was running through us when we realized there were no seatbelts or bar to hold you in... you just have to hold on. The ride was incredibly slow and insanely steep. It felt as if we were descending almost straight down, screams were heard, and curses filled the air.
After the brutally slow and terrifying ride down, we collected ourselves for the task ahead. This hike was not meant to be a difficult one, but since we were all still hurting from the day before, it was a painful hike. Of course the scenery was beautiful for the majority of the hike; giant cliffs, rocks, birds,
Us on the railcar
steepest ride in the world. and a waterfall. The hike was long and flat for the majority, but after a few hours we finally arrived at our destination: The Ruined Castles. The sign did not lie, it was a very hard and steep climb to get up to the castles. The fathers stayed behind.
The Ruined Castles aren't actually "castles", they're just a huge pile of rocks, which discouraged us a bit... until we got there. The rocks were enormous, and climbing them was a huge adrenalin rush 'cause if you slip and fall, you die. Evan was the first to the top, "I feel like the king of the world!" The highest point is a very small rock, maybe 5 feet wide and long, so we had to take turns. When Jesse got up, he almost fainted it was so high, he just froze. Evan was right, when you stand on that rock, you feel like the king of the world. We took hundreds of photos, you could see for miles, it was amazing. When you're up there, it is such a rush. The winds hitting you, throwing you just a tad bit off balance, makes your heart stop completely. You have to turn
The track
gets steep. around slowly on the rock to see everything, there's not much foot space. Poor Becca was getting very nervous with us standing on the top.
We decided to eat lunch on the castle, so, with legs dangling off deadly drops, we munched away. While we were eating, some lizards came out from under the rocks to get our food. Adrian tried to pick one up, the lizard did NOT want to be picked up, it bit Adrian a good few times before he finally put it down.
We took the same route to get back, which wasn't all that exciting, BUT Jess almost stepped on a Red-bellied Black Snake, a very common venomous snake in Australia. It was a big one too, maybe 2 metres long. This snake is not very aggressive, but if Jess had stepped on it, it would have bit him. The venom CAN kill you if you do not treat it immediately. Jess was a little shaken up after this.
When we got back to Scenic World, we took the railcar up, it was still just as exciting as the first time. Once again, Adrian managed to comfort us by saying, "What would you do if
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the rail car the cable just snapped and we took off down this track with no brakes?!" We all started screaming and shouting at him as he laughed.
We drove back to Katoomba to get the food from the fridge and buy some snacks, then headed home. Evan and I slept the whole way.
It was an amazing weekend, we look forward to many more.
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samuel Wilson
non-member comment
it looks so nice there...
those mountains look fucking awsome. Looks like fun boys