Blue Mountains...More like Rain Forest

(sorry, photos won't upload...will try again in a couple days)

On Monday morning, Rebecca, Cory, Matt and I got up and met our bus tour for our week at the Blue Mountains. Checking out at the hostel was terrible because we all left bags in storage and the people at the front desk were not very helpful. So after a somewhat stressful morning, we got on our bus at 7:30am. Our bus tour guide showed up in a wig and fake teeth - I thought this could be interesting, but he ended up being really nice and had great stories. His tour bus name is "Nackers"...never found out why. So guess what, as soon as we started on our journey, it started raining and rained the whole way up to the mountains. It was nice though to see some other parts of Sydney and we drove past the Olympic grounds from 2000. You couldn't see much, but at least a glimpse.

Our first stop was meant to be a wildlife area where we would be able to see wild kangaroos and koalas...BUT since it was still raining the road was flooded and closed and we weren't able to get to the area.

So instead, Nackers took us to a 3-hour bushwalk (hike) through the Grand Canyon. Not really anything like the Grand Canyon, but was beautiful. Luckily, it stopped raining and we had decent weather during the bushwalk. So the Blue Mountains...I was expecting Mountains, like Rocky Mountains...but not so much...the highest point is 1200M and most of the terrain seems like a rain forest. The hike was nice and it felt good to get some exercise outdoors - away from the city! He told us all kinds of stories about the life up here and also about Aboriginals. I could not believe some of the horrific things that the "whites" here have done to them. Seems even worse than what the "American whites" did to the Indians. I love learning about the culture here and being around Aussies has opened my eyes to quite a bit about Australia. At one point, Nackers found some clay rocks and showed us how the Aboriginals made their colors and designs. They actually only have 4 colors - white, black, red and yellow - so if you ever find "Authentic art" with any other color, it is probably not authentic. See album for examples of the painting with the clay rocks.

When the hike was over, we drove to a cool lookout point and had lunch. It was SOOOOOOO cold, but the lunch tasted really good. While were were there, we saw these weird black and white birds and we don't know the name, so we call them Penguin Crows (see pictures). I just looked it up and I think they are magpies.


After lunch, it started raining again and got really cold, but we had one more walk to do. The Giant Stairway that would have a view of the Three Sisters and is 1,000 steps down to the bottom where you catch the Scenic Railway back up. The story behind the Three Sisters is that there were 3 sisters in a tribe who were being courted by 3 men from another tribe. It was an unwanted courtship, so the sorcerer from that tribe turned the sisters into rocks until the other men would go away. Unfortunately, the sorcerer was killed before he could change the sisters back and so they will forever be rocks.


Anyways, it was so foggy and raining so hard, we really didn't see anything at all. We just made our way down the wet path/stairs and got to the railway. IT IS CRAZY!!! The steepest railway in the world (holds the Guinness Book Record). It was awesome - like a roller coaster. We just wanted to keep riding it up and down. I tried to take pictures but it didn't do it any justice. At one point you feel like you could totally fall out of the train down, down, down. It was great!!!


After that, Nackers dropped the four of us off at the Blue Mountain YHA hostel (in Katoomba). It is a very quaint little place. Much smaller than the city and so much more laid back. I think we all fell in love right away. So after this long day, we decided to go out for some drinks. We walked around town a bit and then found the R.S.L. Club - cheapest drinks in town! We don't know what it stands for, but it totally reminded me of one of those old town country clubs where everyone knows everyone and you have to be either a family or over 60 to get in. Luckily, they gave us a guest pass and we had a few drinks. Then it was off to find dinner...but oh wait, in Blue Mountain most of the food places stop serving food at 4pm and since it was near 8pm (I hate eating so late!) we were out of luck. So after freezing our butts off, we made it to the grocery store and bought ravioli to make. We took it back to the hostel and had dinner and drinks until about 11pm. It was nice to get to know everyone more, but I felt so much older and mature after hanging out with them (I know, crazy!). At 11pm, they were all pretty drunk and I was tired, so we headed to bed.


This morning I got up and of course, went for a run! It was nice to be in a small town and not have to fight cars and stop lights. I made it to Echo Point, where I was finally able to see the Three Sisters, but it wasn't this magnificent thing like I thought it would be. I did enjoy my run though and got to see more of Katoomba. Barely anyone was on the road, so I loved the peace and quiet.


After showering and eating, the four of us heading back to Echo Point for some more bushwalking. Today was more clear and not raining, but still cold. It was a great day for 4.5 hours of bushwalking. We started at Echo Point and went along the Prince Henry Walk and then decided to continue on to end in the same place we were yesterday. The hike was great and we saw tons of waterfalls, trees, animals and cliffs. The worst part was having to watch out for leeches. Fortunately, we only got them on our shoes and caught them fast enough they did not attach to our skin. The bush (hikes) here is so different from anything I have done. They have tons of stairs and a lot of them our steel, so it doesn't feel very nature like. If it was stairs, it was rocks - which were slippery with all the rain. Things are also very steep here. In other words, I can really feel all the bushwalking in my legs - I love it!


Once we got to the scenic railway, Matt and I decided to walk up the 1,000 stairs back to the top while Rebecca and Cory took the railway. It was a great hike up, but VERY hard. Now I know why everyone takes the railway up. We were the only onces going up. On the way up, we saw more beautiful waterfalls and also a Lyra Bird. The cool thing about this bird is that they do not have their own song, but mimic all the sounds around them. They are capable of mimicking 80 other birds and can also do human sounds: chain saws, car alarms, snap shots from cameras, etc. The also dig at the ground all day long. There is an aboriginal folk lore behind them, but too long to write.

We are all pretty tired from the bushwalking today and starving. We didn't get back to the hostel until 3:30pm (left at 11am), so we decided to get food. But I first had to call my mom to wish her a happy birthday! It was great to talk to my parents - first communication with back home.

Tonight will probably just be a quiet night in - not much night life in Katoomba...but I am looking forward to relaxing.

I miss you all and love ya!

Kristen