Blue Mountains Day 2

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Written on Wednesday.

Last time .I was writing before I left the YHA at Katoomba- and had a full day planned in spite of the weather – 11 deg cold and windy- grey skies with occasional sun bursting through the clouds. This was more like English summer in August.
I set off for Scenic World beside the famous 3 sisters… and that is certainly worth $26 … a cable car trip across the gorge - those of you who don’t like heights –Marilyn B , and Lesley would not have liked it when the glass floor turned from opaque to see through and you could look down and even walk on it …Lesley, you would have been crying !!!! You got off and could walk to lookout and then come back across the gorge. You can see me there in the foto looking rather windswept – nice Chinese student took my foto. Next bit of the trip you go down through the sandstone cliffs on a railway – steepest in the world it says ( of course all these engineering wonders are built in Switzerland – where else ??) – it was an old mine working – Permian – coal seams etc ( reminiscent of Durham coal layers – must have been laid down about same time – sorry I digress into a bit of Geology). Getting off down in the valley you can then take various walks - all on boardwalk – the Aussies are very good at doing boardwalks – safe for the walkers – you don’t get lost and don’t trample down the forest floor. So I took the longer route and stopped a lot on the way round to enjoy the trees , twisted shapes of vines etc. Back then on another mode of transport an “Ascender” – looks like a cable car but is on a track and up you go – like the one in Austria, Lesley- where you were crying!!!! So that was well worth the money. I then had a drive around Katoomba and found a nice place for a late brekki – bacon and egg roll/ hot choc…just what I needed to warm me up.
Thinking I would do more driving around the Blue Mnts and some walks at lookouts and later find a B+B – off I went again. The sun was bursting through a bit more often and there were some lovely views at lookouts to be had and some pretty little towns. If any of you venture here – detour off the main Great Western Highway and take the drive on the Bells Line of Road….the road seem to soar across the ridges and you feel like you are on the top of the world….beautiful.
I had set my sights on a ride on the ZigZag railway….and duly arrived for the last train ride at 3 pm. It again is an engineering wonder as it zig zags down the gorges and into the valley – changing tracks and with steep inclines. However I was disappointed as out of an hour and half there was not so much train riding as a VERY ETHUSIATIC rail bloke getting us out of the train into signal boxes and finally the goods yard and lecturing us on points, wheels and fireboxes and such like. I am sure that if you are interested in trains/ railway it would have been thrilling ( Geoff you would have loved it!!!)– but I just wanted to ride on the train. He lost me down at the goods yard when he was going on and on about the engines – and I sloped .off back to the train to sit and wait. Hotham Valley train ride back in WA was much better., Leanne.
And fellow travellers- don’t be fooled by the local woman in the coffee shop who says yes there are loads of B+Bs – up the road where I was going.- she didn’t know what she was talking about…. Nothing to be seen for the next 50km… then I saw a tiny sign for one …drove up a lane and went into a rather luxurious place but at £100 a nt thought it was a bit much….and I was not so far now from Sydney – so I thought I will just drive back…which is what I did. More adventures getting lost in Sydney – cos when the road sign says Lane Cove Road – it doesn’t actually mean it goes to Lane Cove ( a spot where I know where I am!!!) …so a bit of stopping the car and looking at the A to Z – once again thanks to Jo and Stuart for leaving it in the car for me….it has saved me many times. I now feel that I have driven through almost every suburb in Sydney!!!!! Next time I will defo get a Satnav. But anyway eventually arriving at Lane Cove I stopped at the Thai Noodle bar and refuelled myself with a Seafood Mee Goreng….yummy.
So I was back home at Hunters Hill and yesterday spent the day relaxing, doing some houseworky things etc….you can’t be doing exciting adventurous things every day. Coming back I thought I had a tickly throat and now I know I have a rotten cold….and I can’t believe that in the First Aid kit I forgot the lemsips- that was always Michael’s cure – lemsip in hot honey and lemon ( he probably put whiskey in too)…and we never went anywhere without the lemsips. I even import them to Sweden for Richard…. So it’s a trip to the Pharmacy for me today for supplies.
So bye for now …catch up with you all again soon.
L xxx
Now I am in the NSW Library - free wifi- horray and it works
PS Been to pharmacy - lemsips here are not the same here havent got phenyl ephedrine in so pharmacist has given me Oz supplies for colds and flu - so am dosed up now and dried up thank goodness. Woozy head but felt I had to get out for some fresh air - and a ferry trip to city is no bother.

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Photos

Cable car
Shut your eyes Lesley and Marilyn.

Three Sisters
Story has it that Aboriginal girlsgot turned to stone by a medicine man. He probably couldnt get his wicked way with them!!

Comments

[bob and Prill]

Christmas
Hi Lynne, This is our Christmas Card to you. Have a lovely christmas with your friends. We will be thinking of you. All the best Love Prill and Bob Ps the wedding went very well. It was bloody cold though. -10 at night.

[Pauline]

Hope your cold is better soon.
Hope your cold feels better soon, Lynne. Photos, as always, are wonderful & am glad you are continuing to have a good time. Sat navs-=-yes, useful but I drove back from a village near Glasgow at dusk today & my SatNav decided it liked the look of the country route---high over hills, along a narrow road covered in ice, where the temperature dropped to minus 10.5! It was a bit of a nervy drive home but got here. No idea why they choose to do these things.... Thinking of you & Michael on Christmas Day, sending you lots of love & lighting a candle for you here in Scotland.

[Jan Rhoades]

How things have changed.
Oh Lynne, how things have changed. When I was a girl (a little more than a short time ago), we used to go to Katoomba with my Dad for holidays. We caught the steam train from Sydney (The Fish or The Chips) and then walked (with our luggage) to our accommodation. And then we walked and walked and walked for the next 2 weeks. We didn't ever have a car. My experience of the Scenic Railway was probably similar to yours except that the 'carriages' were very old, open and definitely a hair-raising experience. I have been across the valley on the Sky-Way (on another visit). This transport wasn't available when I was a girl. But when I went on it, it certainly didn't have glass floors. I think I would have cried too. As for the 3 sisters - well we walked to them as well. I realise you can't do that these days because of the crumbling etc. But we walked the Giant's staircase and down into the valley. No transport there either. My Dad was a great walker and we were expected to follow. Nights viewing glow-worms and lighted water-falls in valley floors. What fun. Your visit has brought back some fond memories. I want to go again and try out all the boardwalks and new modes of transport. Hope you continue to have fun. It's still raining here in Brisbane. Cheers Jan