A Room with a View

Trip Start Dec 03, 2004

Trip End Nov 31, 2005

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Flag of Australia Katoomba, Australia
Sunday, January 9, 2005

Arrived in Katoomba yesterday and was underwhelmed by the city itself. The population is about 9,000 people, so I don't know why I was expecting something spectacular; perhaps because everyone raves about the Blue Mountains. Then I found out what all the raving was about when I went for a walk in the evening down Main Street and saw the sign for "Echo Point and the Three Sisters" and decided to see if I could make it before dark.

I did; it's only a ten minute walk from the city proper to the edge of the Blue Mountains National Park. The Three Sisters looked exactly as they do in all the iconic photos. There were about fifty people milling around at Echo Point, jostling for the best photo opportunity, but since I didn't have my camera I headed down a gravel trail that ran along the clifftop to check out the other viewpoints along the way.

I kept meaning to stop and go back, but I was dragged along by the gorgeous scenery. The Blue Mountains are not really mountains so much as they are high plateaus with canyons cutting deep valleys and gorges between them, and Katoomba looks out over the endless green expanse of Jamison Valley, which is broken only by strange, towering rock formations and massive green-topped plateaus. The cliffs along the edge of the city are a gorgeous mix of grey and gold sandstone in wavy layers, and the path crept along the edge of these, every now and then breaking out of the eucalyptus and tea tree shrubs to viewpoints that overlooked the cliffs and valley below.

After about twenty minutes I went down a set of stairs to find myself at the Katoomba Cascade, a small waterfall; and from there it was only a five minute walk back to the Main Street. The city doesn't need to be impressive because it's so easy to escape into the gorgeous wilderness.

That night I enjoyed the tiny, cosy atmosphere of the Flying Fox, playing cards with an American, two Germans and a Japanese guy in front of the log fire (it's much colder in Katoomba than in Sydney). I tripped over a piece of paper advertising a discount on an abseiling/canyoning trip for the next day and went into reception to sign up. (For the Canadians reading, abseiling is what we call "rappelling.") Kate, a Welsh girl who is in the same room as I am, came in and signed up as well: so tomorrow we'll be exploring and adventuring all at once!