Blue Mountains Hike

Here's a short post from my mom. I think she copied some of it from Wikipedia!

Church at St. Mary's Cathedral

Sunday, November 13 began with Mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral.  We then boarded a train for our two hour ride to the Blue Mountains; it was a nice time to nap, read a book, or just rest while watching the countryside roll by.  Once we arrived in Katoomba, we fueled our bodies for the upcoming rigorous walk by eating large quantities of Chinese food.  The Blue Mountains are a series of beautiful and rugged valleys eroded down through an ancient plateau.  We began at Echo Point, famed for the three-pronged formation known as the Three Sisters.

"Three Sisters"-get it?
Yes, I am hunched over and squinty. I thought I needed to duck out of the way of the formation,
and I thought I didn't need my sunglasses at this point. Wrong on both accounts.

We then began a 900 step descent down the "Giant Steps" – a feat for the sure-footed!  We continued to trek for about two hours through hidden valleys, lush rainforest, beautiful gum trees, and spiraling waterfalls.  It was a tiring day but one in which our spirits were renewed and nurtured by nature.  -Sue

Justin at one of the waterfalls.

Heading down the "Giant Steps."

Blue Mountains

On Sunday we headed to the Blue Mountains outside of Sydney. They actually do look blue, apparently because of the eucalyptus oil combining with the atmosphere to create a blue haze. It was kind of a trek to get out there, because they were working on part of the train route, so we had to take a bus for about an hour, wait for awhile, and then take a train for over another hour. But it was worth it. We started by walking through town and checking out the Three Sisters. This is a famous rock formation, and all of the tourists were there.


Then we started our hike (or bushwalk as they would call it here), and it was quite the hike! We went down the Giant Steps (all 900 of them-seriously), walked through the oh-so-green rainforest, saw several waterfalls, heard lots of noisy birds, and went back up a trillion more steps as part of the loop. We only saw a few people once we got away from the big staircase down into the valley. The whole thing took us a few hours, and our legs felt the results of those darn stairs for several days afterward! We felt like we were climbing a 14er in Colorado, huffing and puffing and wondering when we would ever reach the top. Maybe we're just out of shape (quite possible).

 

On our long walk back through town to the train station, we stopped in a little place for some Chinese food. Much to our delight, the prices were completely reasonable, the quality of the food was excellent, and the portions were large. You don't find that winning combination in Australia very often! We both fell asleep on the train and bus ride back to town and woke up sore the next morning. I think the Blue Mountains are a pretty cool place to visit if you have a spare day while visiting Sydney. We're kind of spoiled brats because we compare everything to the mountains in Colorado (and not much compares), but we were impressed with the waterfalls and green plants growing everywhere. It was also nice to just get out of the city. We sure did miss Molly the Trail Dog though; she would have had a blast out there!