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Published: November 20th 2007
Top of the Morning
The view from my room. Just had to squeeze this in.I started off the week heading to the Blue Mountains. The Blue Mountains are about an hour and a half outside of the city and you generally hop on a bus tour to go. My little tour picked me up in town and we started our sightseeing at Olympic Park (why, who knows, it’s there right) and then we were off via the Great Western Highway. I can’t tell you much about the beginning because I was sound asleep….but, once we got there, I had quite the adventure.
A side-scam of these tours is to lure you in to paying for a few extra things. So when we ended up at “Scenic World,” which basically offers three different ways to travel across part of the mountain range (all at a pretty penny) I opted for option four, which was to explore part of the mountain on foot. After all, I had just had two hours with my group. I didn’t need any more quality time.
For anyone in Boy Scouts reading this please don’t cringe when I tell you that I probably broke a few dozen scout rules when it comes to exploring the outdoors. First, I didn’t tell
anyone where I was going (including my happy-go-lucky-but-didn’t-say-where-not-to-go tour guide. Oh, and his name was John). Then, I didn’t have a proper map - also not my fault, since the tour company only issued maps relevant to Scenic World and failed to let us hikers know. Finally, I took off without provisions, maybe half a bottle of water tops. But we’ll get to how I fixed that in a minute. Anyway, off I went to go check out the mountain and the small waterfall called Katoomba Falls, which I could hear fairly well, so I reasoned I could make it in the hour and a half I had before the tour pressed on.
Needless to say, “hiking” as it applies here is a purely rudimentary term. I more or less stomped, jumped, or scaled down rickety, tetanus-shot-in-waiting metal stairs that were at extremely unnatural angles (the mountain used to be a mining site). I just kept going and going and going, having a ball….finally, I came across a bubbling stream that was fed by the falls. My tour guide had made it a point to say try the water, since it was a mineral spring, filtered through the sandstone
Three Sisters
A rock formation in the Blue Mountains. mountains and was very clean. Now normally I would say hell no, but even I knew better than to get dehydrated in the middle of a hike. I pushed aside my usual concerns- dysentery came to mind - and refilled my water bottle. I was totally shocked at how clean it was. Aside from a few sandstone grains, it was clear as glass. Beautiful.
After this stop I continued on towards the falls. Now at some point, and thank the frigging gods, my inner voice said about three things at once, all in a rather panicky tone. Something like “Hey, have you noticed your map doesn’t seem to match up to your path in any way, shape, or form? And when, exactly, is the last time you saw a sign or marker? Oh, BTW, you have less than 30 minutes to get back out. How do you think that might go at this rate???”
Well….needless to say, I have never, in my entire life, hauled ass like this before. To add insult to injury I’m on a godd***n mountain, so all the steps I went down, I now had to go back up. Which would not have been
a problem if I could have found the same stupid stairs (another scout rule broken). Out a pure desperation and lots of panic, I reasoned that any staircase going up would have to do. On my way I ran into an older German couple, who, bless them, spoke English and had a real map. The closest set of stairs would actually take my out of Scenic World, about three blocks away. So up I went, and dripping with more sweat than I intended for that day, I finally got out and trudged back to the packed parking lot. I prayed another tour bus wouldn’t run my idiotic ass over.
After I got back (btw my stupid tour group was 15 minutes late anyway) and we were up and running, I told John what I did. If you could ever combine a look of shock, concern, and amazement all at once, my guide did it. “Uh,” he said, “I didn’t realize people were going down the paths…you are, uh, supposed to stay in the catwalks.” Well, nice time to let me in on that one mate!!!Good grief, he has no idea how close he was to needing to call search
Batman
He was a little shy. and rescue on my adventurous ass.
Okay, so after this we were shoved off to a questionable establishment for lunch and then on to Featherdale Park. Featherdale is a small zoo that started off showing birds and now has most of Australia’s native animals. Still, it’s only about five acres so it can be gone through rather quickly. The best part is there are wallabies, emus and various other animals that are just running around, you can pet them, feed them, and snap up-close photos. I really loved it.
The tour ended with us being taken to a ferry where we headed back to town. Now normally this would not be so remarkable to put in my entry but for one thing…JELLYFISH!!! Real ones!! And lots of them!!! I noticed at about the second or third stop on the harbor there was something that look like a clear baggy bobbing around. But it didn’t float like a piece of garbage - it moved sideways, like a fish. When I leaned out and stared I could clearly tell it was a jelly - I think it was a moon jellyfish, which according to the Sydney Aquarium are harmless. It
Tiny 'bie
Just say it....awww. was enough though to make me realize there is a reason no one was swimming in the harbor.
On Tuesday I decided to do the Coogee-Bondi coastal walk. It’s a scenic route that takes you all along the coast line so you can see the various bays, rock formations, and beaches. Like so many of my adventures, however, they never quite turn out as planned. This time I relied on the helpful concierge to tell me about how long it was “Oh, about an hour I think” he said, so I thought that would be just the right amount of time for a walk. And again “walk” is an interesting term only because the looming staircases, steep inclines, and various other obstacles would make it totally impossible to do anything much above a crawl. I had kinda expected a straight shot on a nicely paved path. Hmmm…surprise!!
But, the views were beyond amazing. Every beach was different, and I was pleasantly surprised, although a little skeeved out, to see a cemetery plunked right in the middle. I actually had to clamor over graves to get back to the path (weird). At the end of it was Bondi Beach,
Moon jellys
Harmless eh? They look like lethal killers to me. one of the largest beaches on this side. It’s similar to the Venice Beach area in California and the area is very hip and bohemian. I can personally attest to the scenery. Oh, and the beach was nice too.
Now the only hiccup to this journey was the fact that it was twice as long as I was told. That’s right, two hours there and two hours back. All walking. Uphill, downhill, uphill. With steps and steps and more steps. Add into this mess sunscreen that probably sweated off an hour into this trip. When I noticed my left cheek burning, I didn’t pay much attention. When the other started to feel like someone was holding a match to it, I got a little more concerned. I mean, this was supposed to be a short walk. I didn’t bring the anti-sun arsenal I’ve been lugging around everywhere.
When I got back I checked my skin and it didn’t seem that bad. I slathered on more 30+ and decided to go to the beach and hit the sand. Where I feel asleep on my stomach for, oh, I don’t know, a good 15-20? Needless to say, I am sunburned in a way that is not normal. Sunscreen had wore off in the most unusual places…like, my elbow. And one swatch on my brow. And down the back - but not the front - of my legs. The tops of my hands are also well done. I went into a store to buy aloe gel, and they, not kidding, had no idea what I was talking about. “Well,” the clerk said, “We would keep that with the sunscreen if we had any. But since we aren’t total amateurs when it comes to dealing with UV rays we don’t need it. Head back to the states where you can handle Mother Nature better sweetie.”
He didn’t say that last bit. But I know he was thinking it. I did manage to find a place that sold it, but at this point, I’m not so sure it matters. It would be like throwing a glass of water on a brush fire.
Tomorrow, if I can move my body without screaming out loud, I am going to wrap up some shopping and hang out on the beach again. Probably with a blanket over me to block out further frying. I will do one last blog and then that’s it, I’ll be heading back (sigh), so I hope you’ve liked them so far.
Cheers all!
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Kim K
non-member comment
Quite the Adventures
Carol, thank you for sharing your adventures with us. Again, no pictures of hot guys on the beach....I am sure you saw at least one. ;)