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Published: March 24th 2012
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First of all, many congratulations to my fabulous sister Yvette for completing her degree in biology! What an achievement.Nice work sis!
Thursday 22 March has been a much anticipated date as it’s the day that we met up with my great friend Peter, who came over from the States for a conference in Sydney. We managed to time our arrival in Sydney perfectly with the last day of the conference and immediately drove out to the Blue Mountains for a weekend camping trip.
We set up camp in the Bents Basin State Conservation Area at the edge of the Blue Mountain National Park. Nice work, boys, for putting up the tent in the dark! It was beautiful waking up to the morning mist and dew-covered spider webs. What’s more, the blue skies promised a lovely sunny day.
The next day, we drove out to Katoomba. This touristy, but nevertheless quaint and charming, town is lovely so we went exploring. The shops are quirky, the cafés cosy, the atmosphere bohemian and the architecture art deco. One of the shops, the David Darcy Gallery and Dog Shop, had us quite spellbound. Well known animal photographer David Darcy was involved in
the creation of the movie Red Dog and this shop/gallery was all about his photography and experiences. There is even top notch dog food for sale. We had a very interesting chat with the storekeeper about the history of David’s career and the stories behind some of his displayed photography. I so enjoyed our conversation with this remarkable woman, and the visit was a real treat for dog-lover Peter.
We couldn’t resist visiting Dan Murphy’s too… and stocked up on some yummy quality wine for the evening and beyond.
It was late afternoon by the time we left the town and drove into the Blue Mountains, so it was very fortuitous that we managed to catch the last railway ride down into Jamison Valley to admire the Three Sisters. The views of these and other rock formations were extraordinary and the ride on the world’s steepest railway (incredible!) was thrilling. We also went on a short bush walk to the Cascade Falls, watched some climbers scaling the cliffs and pondered over the unusual “Three Sisters” fountain. Aboriginal legend has it that the sisters Meehni, Wimlah and Gunnedoo lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe.
They fell in love with three brothers from the neighbouring Nepean tribe, but inter-tribal marriage was forbidden. 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 in danger, a witchdoctor from the Katoomba tribe took it upon himself to turn the three sisters into stone to protect them. He had intended to reverse the spell when the battle was over but he himself was killed and nobody else could turn them back.
I really enjoyed the beautiful autumnal colours of the trees in Katoomba and around Jamison Valley and felt rosy cheeked and full of fresh air by the end of the day.
The next day, we took a hike up to Caleys Lookout to admire the view over the Bents Basin area, before driving back to Sydney to explore the beachside suburb of Maroubra and check Peter into the airport hotel.
The traffic and (trendy/multicultural/many) people left us in no doubt that we were back in a big city.
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