Federal Pass

Trip Start Oct 01, 2008
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Trip End Dec 30, 2009


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Flag of Australia  , New South Wales,
Wednesday, November 12, 2008

There are lots of well marked walking trails in the area.We set out past the big Echo Point viewing platform and descend the Giants Staircase, a 900+ step path down the side of the cliff beside the Three Sisters. Some of the steps were carved out of the rock in the 1920s, some are on galvanised ladders. We catch up with a school party of children age about 10-12. At the back, there are a couple of plump older ladies who are struggling to keep up. Then there is a a young woman who asks me where the path goes. I thought that she was joking, so I said "down". After passing the children, we come down to the leader who again asks where the path leads. He genuinely didn't know where he was leading this party of schoolchildren.


The bottom of the cliff isn't the bottom of the valley as the hillside then descends into rainforest Sign at start of Federal Pass Trail
Sign at start of Federal Pass Trail
 . A path called the Federal Trail runs along the bottom of the cliff. It was inaugurated in the 1920s at about the time the Australian territories joined together. The walking is pretty easy and the trail is pretty deserted. We cross the Katoomba Falls , go round a corner and suddenly there are hordes of oriental tourists in a big gaggle, snapping each other with their cameras as they make the Churchillian V for victory sign (a standard pose for oriental tourists). We have reached the bottom of the inclined plane railway. Tour groups take the railway down, walk for 500m along a boardwalk with some exhibits from the old mining days and then go back up the cliff in a cablecar. Madness. We look around and then continue on the Federal walking trail. Soon the path is deserted again.


We see lots of evidence of old mine activity including the clean cut stumps of turpentine trees that had been cut down for pit props. The stumps don't rot easily and mining had largely finished by 1895, so it shows how durable the wood is. The path gets more tricky as we have to scramble over an old landslide.
We reach the Golden Stairs, a possible ascending path up the cliff but it would bring us out a long way from Katoomba, so we retrace our ssteps and join the masses on the steep railway.


We have supper at the Common Ground Cafe. Quirky wooden interior with good food. The staff and their children are dressed slightly eccentrically: Waltons/Amish. No wine list offered and I sense that it would not have been appropriate to request one. It turned out later that the establishment was run by a Christian sect called the Twelve Tribes. We had a good evening
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