Getting lost in the Blue Mountains
Trip Start
Oct 14, 2005
1
28
71
Trip End
??? ??, 2006
Katoomba,
Australia
Thursday, January 19, 2006
In keeping with the weather in Sydney my first day there was appalling weather wise, I was lucky that when I got to Echo point I could actually see the 3 sisters, for most of the day they were shrouded in mist. After being the dutiful tourist, and taking the standard shot of the 3 sisters, I embarked on one of the many walking trails, which due to the recent bad weather were very wet and muddy, but eventually led to the Katoomba Falls, it was not long after taking pictures from the underfalls lookout that the mist started to descend again, it was about 4pm, and I was struggling to see my hand in front of my face, being on my own, in the midst of the cool temperate rainforest at the time, I was a little daunted, and decided to make my ascent to the top of the cliffs and back to civilisation, after nearly 4 hours in the rainforest. After consulting my map I deduced that I was about 20 minutes from the hostel and that I just had to follow the road. Unfortunately the map was crap, and was not an accurate reflection of the roads. After I had been walking, in the rain, for 2 hours, I began to get a little despondent, I was very close to swallowing my male pride and asking for directions, but stubbornness kept me ploughing on.
Katoomba Falls
Eventually I saw a road sign that looked familiar to me, consulting my crap map, I finally knew where I was, 5 minutes later I saw another road sign that was on the map, this gave me enough information to determine I was walking in the wrong direction, after an about turn, and a huge groan at the size of the hill I had just walked down, I eventually set off with renewed vigour, and confidence in my direction.I eventually arrived at the hostel at about 7pm, hot, smelly and wet. I must at this point mention the hostel, it was fantastic, a friendlier nicer crowd you could not hope to meet, and a huge relief after the big city attitudes in Sydney. The small nature of the hostel meant that everyone got to know and recognise everyone, even in the short time I was there. There was as well, rarity of rarities, some Australians staying there, they had been up in the Blue Mountains on a 10 day meditational retreat, and on the Friday night they took me to a Tibetan Music concert, because there were a group of Tibetan monks in town, creating a Sand Mandala, an intricate and extremely detailed picture comprised entirely of coloured sand, that had shading textures to it, and they had been working on it for 4 days. It was destroyed on the Saturday to represent the impermanence of life. After the Tibetan concert, we visited a typical Aussie pub, with a one man Aussie tribute band, thrashing out classics such as "cat's in the cradle" and "Summer of 69". After that we went to a reggae club to see a 9 piece, Ska/Reggae/Funk/Soul band for 2 hours of horn fueled dancing music, and soulful singing.
Leura Cascades
All in all a very interesting evening, the kind that probably happens a lot in Katoomba, it has that laid back Bohemian/Art Deco vibe to the town, which you would probably call hippy ish, but without being a cliche.The real reason for being in the Blue mountains is to experience the natural beauty of the surrounding areas. After 2 days where I did 2 4-5 hour walks setting off from Katoomba, I decided to catch the train and set off from Wentworth, and explore the Wentworth falls. The walking tracks around Wentworth were less well marked, and were not as well trodden as the Katoomba tracks, so it was more of a challenge, especially when you do not bring a map, I don't really want to go into all the details, but I ended up completely lost. It was a very hot day, and after about 3 hours of being mesmerised by my surroundings, and not really paying attention to where I was going, I felt very tired. I was also at the very bottom of the cliffs in the Valley of the Waters, and the only way to go was up. So I sucked it up, and set off back up the cliff face. About an hour later, I was reasonably near the top, and I glimpsed some cut grass, cultivation, civilisation, I scrambled through to find myself on a golf course. After a few angry looks of golfers, I eventually found may way to the path, to discover I was at Leura Golf Course, Leura is the town between Katoomba and Wentworth, I wasn't just lost, I was really lost. I eventually I swallowed my pride, after seeing the three sisters in the far distance, and realising how far I was from Katoomba, I knocked on the next house I found, and sheepishly asked them to call me a taxi.
Sisters in the mist
The kind gentleman that opened the door, actually gave me a lift back to the hostel and dropped me off there which was nice.After 3 days in the Blue Mountains, incidentally so called because the number of blue gum trees in the area release their resin into the air and it gives the area a blue mist, colouring everything with a blue tinge, I was sorry to leave I could have happily stayed there another week, but I had my Surf Camp booked and I had to head back to Sydney for the pick up.
On arrival back in Sydney I found out there was a cricket game on, Australia Vs Sri Lanka, I had planned to go to Bondi Beach as I hadn't been yet, but as the cricket ground was on the way I stopped off at the SCG just to check out the prices. The atmosphere around the SCG was a lot different to what I had experienced at the MCG, there was a real buzz about the crowd, and there were alot moerw people in attendance than there was for any of the days in Melbourne. As I stood outside the ticket office contemplating if $49 was too much for a ticket, I get approached by some one offering me a ticket to the game for free, all I had to do was wear an old Australia cricket top with Boon on the back, a green cap with VB on it, and a big David Boon moustache. I think I can do that, although being a pom it was difficult to put on the shirt of the old enemy, but for a free ticket, why not. I also got to keep the shirt and cap, and got a free meal, and Australia lost to Sri Lanka. Bonus! A quick game of poker with some Americans, and a crazy londoner, and i'm $10 up, off to bed, to be up early for Surf Camp
