Lins and Rich’s Travel Blog

Hey everyone and happy Easter, hope your all well and yes I am doing a blog entry before I get harassed. So since the last blog entry we have really been doing more of the same, working allot and going out a bit. Really just living life in Sydney. It’s a really nice place and could happily live here. Its allot more chilled out than London and everyone is really friendly though I think that’s an Australian thing more than anything. Anyway this weekend saw Lins and I get back into the traveling vibe. As it was the long Easter weekend we decided to use this as an excuse to go and visit the blue mountains which lie about 110km outside Sydney CBD.Rather than mountains they are a series of huge impassable cliff faces and valleys covering a million hectares. They originally posed a huge problem for settlers who could not find a way across them and many died trying. If they had just listened to the Aborigines instead of trying to wipe them out they would have got across a lot sooner as they had been strolling across for hundreds of years! To get an idea how vast the Blue Mountains are, even though it’s a short journey from Sydney there are still loads of areas unvisited by humans as it’s so inhospitable.Getting up early on Saturday Lins and I took the train west to Katoomba, the heart of the Blue Mountains. It’s a small town which basically thrives off the tourist trade with an influx of cafes and hiking shops but pleasant. While the town was pleasant the weather was not. Pick up a piece of white A4 and stare at it and you get some idea of the fog and rain that greeted us when we stepped off the train!!.Not people to be defeated by the weather we checked into our hotel (think shining, I swear at one point Jack Nicholson ran past me after two twins!) which despite first looks was actually quite cozy. Then armed with a guide we booked onto a bus that tours the area stopping at all the major sites. After a lovely meal in a nice cafe we headed out to one of the walks. We decided that the cable car and train was pointless in the fog and we would give it time to clear. The walk was only about 2.5 km but really nice, despite the rain lashing down. It followed the valley and tracked past waterfalls on lookouts. On a clearer day I’m sure the view would have been amazing but below is the view that greeted us 
After an hour’s walking we caught the bus again and headed to the edge cinema which has one of the largest cinema screens in the world. Here we watched a film about the world’s rarest tree. A number of years ago a botanist had been walking in a remote area of the park and stopping realized that he was next to a tree that dated back 60 million years. Thought to be extinct, when they were around we were the equivalent of mice!! Yet here this frankly bizarre tree was, 1 hour’s helicopter flight from Sydney. Standing at 30m tall it was not subtle but so remote that it lay undiscovered for all these years. Its location is now a closely guarded secret but gets you wondering what else is out there that we have never seen!After more eating in a nice cafe (and I wonder why I’m putting on weight) we retired with fingers crossed that the next day would be better. Waking in the morning the fog had lifted a bit and showed potential for the rest of the day. We jumped on the first bus and walked to Luma falls, the waterfall is 200m straight down and spectacular despite only getting glimpses of it. Following the track round we arrived at scenic world. This place houses the world’s steepest railway, now when they say it’s steep there not kidding. 52 degrees and around 250m down it’s like riding a roller coaster, its great fun. It descends through natural valleys and rock faces and I we wanted to ride it again!!To get back out of the valley you catch a skyrail back up (short cable car), on the way up for 50 secs then fog lifted and we saw across the valley at the breathtaking views then in an instant it was gone again! After the skyrail there is another cable car that stretches all the way across the valley with a glass floor which would have been better if it had not been for the solid fog though we did catch an up close view of the falls again.Time was now running out and we were starting to get a little annoyed that all we could see was fog. We stopped in the small town of Lura which appears to be the gourmet capital of Australia, everything is gourmet which in my opinion means all the food is the same level and not gourmet at all. After eating a distinctly none gourmet chicken Turkish we made a last effort to see the famous site of the three sisters. The three sisters were apparently girls from an aboriginal tribe that were turned to stone by a witch doctor. Have to say they were very big girls! Walking down to the view point via the blue mountain chocolate shop (mmmmmm, again getting fat!) a miracle occurred, the fog had lifted and for ten minutes before the bus to the train station we got to see the stunning views across the valley.  Despite the fog and the rain we had a great time and I think we appreciated it more because we only got a glimpse. Well better go now, do not want to spend all my time on a computer on my day off! Currently planning our return date and will advise shortly!! Can not believe we have been travelling 225 days. The time is flying past at a stupid rate! Booooo