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Published: September 12th 2008
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Once again I apologise for not updating my blog more regularly. It always seems like there is something better to do especially now the weather is sunny. So this morning I made myself sit down for half an hour and write an entry updating you on how I spent my Birthday. I also want to thank you all for all the lovely Birthday cards that you sent to me. I took them to the Blue Mountains with me and it was great to have them to open on the day.
As I was in denial about being 30 I decided to get out of the city for my birthday weekend and head for the hills well the mountains actually. The Blue Mountains are 200km and a 2 hour train ride west of Sydney. It felt strange but also exciting to be packing up my backpack after being in Sydney for 3 months. Unfortunately after three days of 20 degree sunshine it decided to rain heavily as I was walking to the train station. It is at times like this that I really miss my car.
The Blue Mountains covers a big area but the main town is Katoomba. It
is a very bohemian town with lots of cafes and craft shops. We spent Friday afternoon and Saturday morning trying out the cafes and shopping as it was still raining heavily and mist had descending meaning you could only see 5 meters in front on you. Luckily there is a very nice day spa at the Carrington Hotel so I booked myself in for a two hour tranquillity package. Well now I am 30 I have to start looking after myself 😉
When I got up on Sunday morning I had my fingers crossed that the weather would have changed and the weather god must have been smiling down on me because when I drew the curtains back it not only had stopped raining but the sun was shinning. So I decided to make hay while the sun shined and set out to go to Echo Point to see the three sisters.
The three sisters are a rock formation that towers over the Jamison Valley. The Aboriginal dream-time legend has it that three sisters, 'Meehni', 'Wimlah' and Gunnedoo' lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe. These beautiful young ladies had fallen in love with
three brothers from the Nepean tribe, yet tribal law forbade them to marry. The brothers were not happy to accept this law and so decided to use force to capture the three sisters causing a major tribal battle. As the lives of the three sisters were seriously in danger, a witchdoctor from the Katoomba tribe took it upon himself to turn the three sisters into stone to protect them from any harm. While he had intended to reverse the spell when the battle was over, the witchdoctor himself was killed. As only he could reverse the spell to return the ladies to their former beauty, the sisters remain in their magnificent rock formation as a reminder of this battle for generations to come. I don’t know if it is true but they are certainly very impressive to look at and the view over the Jamison Valley is amazing.
Then I hoped on the trolley tour to go to Scenic World. The Scenic Railway is the steepest railway incline in the world 52 degrees. The ride takes you down the steep descent past Orphan Rock, through a tunnel and the beautiful fern-damp cliff face. I then spent an hour wandering
through the rainforest on the boardwalks before taking the cable car back to the top.
After all this exercise we decided it was time for some more sedate exploring so we hoped on the trolley tour again and went to the teapot museum in Leura where they have other 3000 teapots!! They also serve delicious Devonshire cream tea which are almost as good as the ones back home. As we were in Leura we couldn’t resist popping in to the Toy & Railway museum. It is a wonderful old rambling house complete full of toys unfortunately you aren’t allowed to touch them. The toys range from really old figurers of Tintin to figurers of David Tennat as Dr Who. I have neve seen so many different Barbie dolls before in my life!!
On Monday as the weather was still good I decided to take a trip to the Jenolan Caves which are one if the most extensive and complex limestone cave systems in the world. The caves were amazing unfortunately my photos don’t do it justice. I was very glad to be exploring the caves with the aid of electric lighting I can’t imagine what it would have
been like to explore these caves with only candle light.
Well that is all I have to tell you for the moment. Hope everyone is well.
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