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On Wednesday and Thursday i was in the Blue Mountains. I got picked up from the city and we first drove to THe Sydney Olympic Park. We didnt go in any of the arenas, just drove around them. I had seen these when i had been here for Big Day Out. THen we drove towards the Blue Mountains National Park. THis isnt very far from Sydney. We headed into Glenbrook NP where we were planning to go for a walk and see the kangaroos etc. However there has been alot of rain in this area over the last few days and the is a river that flows across the road of the entrance to the park and this road was closed as the water level was too high. As it was we could have crossed in our minibus. Instead we went to Wentworth Falls next instead of on the way home. THe waterfall was flowing well due to the rain as it is normally only a trickle!!! We did a walk which took us down into the Jamison Valley and along the cliff to the waterfall and te\hen various lookouts to see the waterfall in full and then back up the valley to the top. THe walk was through the rainforest which was all wet, green, lush and muddy due to the rain! The views across the valley were awesome. The area is more of a valley and canyon then a mountain range. The 'mountains' are the edge of the canyons and are all flat tops so cant really be called mountains. However it is blue!! THis is due to an optical illusion from the sun. In the valley there are loads of eucalyptus trees and when the oil evaporates from the trees and meets the sun it looks blue on the horizon.
After our walk we drove to the small village of Leura and had some lunch. We did have some time to explore Leura but i knew i was coming back tomorrow. After lunch we went to Echo point which is the lookout point for the Three Sisters. This is the main tourist attraction in the BM. It is three rock formations on the edge of the valley. i have heard 5 different aboriginal stories about how and why there are here! After photo opportunities here we drove around the corner to Katoomba falls. To reach the waterafll we had to walk right down the valley and along a walk called the Fuber steps or 1000 steps. This is an old coal miners track. We walked and walked and got to the waterfall which isnt as big as Wentworth Falls but still impressive. We then carried on walking down the step through the rainforest. Luckily we soon got to the where the scenic railways runs from. This is the steepest railwy in the world and is how the miners got the coal back to the top. It is extremley steep and as we were facing backwards u literally are forced forwards due to the steepness but it only last a minute before you are back at the top. This ride is part of scenic world which also have 2 different cableay rides like the one in the picture. After this we drove into KAtoomba which is the main town in the BL and dropped me at my hostel. i was the only 1 staying longer in the BM.
THe hostel was very small and friendly and reminded me of the one in Berri. Did a yoga lesson in the garden with a few of the other girls there. The same girl who gave us our yoga lesson was also playing at the open mic night at the local pub that night. So in the evening we went to watch her play. we had to sit through some of the locals play first. One group was good but the others were not!!
Thus - INcluded in my ovenight package was a ticket for the hop on hop off trolley tours around katoomba and Leura and some of the places i went to yesturday. My first stop was Leura were i had more time to look around the shops, or that was the plan but very few of the were actually open! Had an iced chocolate fromthe chocolatiere which got some envious stares from the people which had only ordered coffee!!! THen i hopped back on and went around to Gordon falls. From here i was able to walk through the rainforest along the cliff to Leura casacades. The waterfall wasnt flowing as full as the others but at least there was some water in there!! the walk was mainly flat but it was very hot but the views made up for the struggle!! There was alot of water in the cascades. Once i cooled down at the end of the walk i was able to hop back on the bus and go to Echo point again. here i bought some souvenirs from the information centre and had my lunch here too. Then i was able to get the bus back to Katoomba. I had a few hours until i was getting picked up to go back to Sydney so i was able to walk around katoomba and find another chocolate shop!! i also had some gorgeous belgian waffles in the belgian waffle cafe. There wasnt as many little crafty/arty shops in Katoomba as i was expecting and definatly liked Leura more. Got picked up on time as was back in Sydney by 6pm.
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