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Published: August 25th 2011
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On Tuesday I went on an overnight trip to the Blue Mountains, which are about 2 hours west of Sydney. They're given their name due to the eucalyptus trees that cover the mountains (that are actually canyons) and these let off a vapour that makes the air look blue.
As we left Sydney at 8am, the weather had decided it was against us and thick grey clouds were gathering overhead. It didn't take long for it to start raining, and the visibility was so bad we didn't think we'd be able to see the trees, let alone the mountains we'd got up early to see. Nevertheless we drove on, and first stopped at Glenbrook, one of the first towns in the Blue Mountains. A lot of the area is covered in grass and so is perfect for spotting wild kangaroos and birds, several of which we saw. We saw a female Eastern Grey kangaroo with a joey, both of which were not at all bothered by the 13 twenty-somethings approaching them to take photos and quite happily posed for a while before letting us see their legendary jumping skills. We also spotted several kookaburras, and our guide managed to find
a huntsman spider in a tree and pulled it out for us, which caused several of our group to run away screaming. These spiders aren't venomous but it would hurt to be bitten by one, so I wasn't among the few that dared rub its abdomen!
We moved on to Wentworth Falls, where the visibility had got even worse, and we could barely see a foot in front of us. We stopped to look at a 'look-out', where a supposedly beautiful view should have greeted us, but instead we saw nothing but grey cloud. Very disappointed, but hoping that it would clear up, we started climbing down towards the bottom of the waterfall, becoming very aware that every step we took down we would have to go back up again later. Some incredibly steep steps later, along with some amazing stories about how Aboriginals used the land to survive for 66,000 years, we reached the bottom of the waterfall, and could finally see what was around us. Absolutely stunning scenery, with an amazing waterfall, and some definitely blue mountains. Our guide (Smokey) who kept using phrases like 'fair dinkum', mainly to make me laugh it seemed, warned us that
what was about to happen was going to hurt, and led us back up the steep steps to the top. My legs have never been so wobbly, even after climbing Snowdon, and I reached the top ready to lie down for the rest of the week. The view at the top had cleared though, and it really was worth the wait and climb - beautiful blue mountains with more trees than I knew existed.
Smokey was in no mood to let us rest though, and after a quick lunch, we moved on to Katoomba, a lovely little town that has managed to become touristy in a nice way. Unfortunately, Scenic World has also been built not too far away from Katoomba - a very touristy and tacky place, offering the usual souvenirs and rubbish for insane amounts of money. We bypassed the touristy bit and climbed down the Great Stairway - 998 steps, which my thighs were not happy to hear about! About two-thirds of the way down we found a stunning view of the Three Sisters - a rock formation that Aboriginal legend talks about being three daughters of an Aboriginal man who had a magic kangaroo bone.
They went hunting with him one day and he left them on a ledge where he could see them at all times while he hunted. One of them picked up a rock and threw it down the valley where it hit another rock, which opened up and out came a mythical creature, who then spotted the girls and started to climb up the mountain to eat them. The father saw this creature and tried to perform magic on it but it didn't work as the creature was magical itself. It was getting closer and closer to the girls and he had no choice but to turn the girls into rocks, thinking he'd get back to them to turn them back. The creature then set its sights on the father, and turned after him. He backed himself into a cave, and had no choice but to turn himself into a Lyre bird so he could fly out. However, in doing this, he dropped the magical kangaroo bone, and was never able to turn himself or his daughters back, and so the three sisters still wait for him.
We then got the world's steepest railway back up to the top, and
stayed the night in Katoomba. The next day I went horse riding in the bush which was incredible - amazing views and kangaroos jumping across our path. An amazing couple of days that have got me itching to explore the rest of Australia!
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