Blue Mountains, Australia

To get away from the hectic pace of city life, I've escaped to the mountains for a couple of days. The Blue Mountains are practically in the suburbs of Sydney, but are a total contrast to it.

Don't you just love those rushed transfers at railway stations and so on? My train in from the suburbs arrived at platform 25 of Sydney Central at 08.55 this morning, and the train to Katoomba (the main town in the National Park) left at 09.02 - from platform 4. In the 7 intervening minutes I had to get a ticket as well - thankfully the machines are very capable, and I stuffed a $20 note into it in exchange for a trip up here, with change. I then realised I had no idea how long the journey might take, so thrust another $2 coin into a convenient vending machine on the station platform, my eye on the guard who seemed ready to raise his flag at any moment.

Phew! As you might guess from the location title, I did make it onto the train, which took 2 hours to get the 100km or so to Katoomba. Sydney uses innovative double-deck trains on all its CityRail lines (including out here) which are very clever. Everyone rushed for a seat on the top deck for this route, as when sitting downstairs the only view you tend to get is of people's footwear on platforms!

It's almost nostalgic to be back in a YHA hostel again, after (gee) almost a week's break. Nostalgic's the word too, as the Katoomba YHA is in a 1930s theatre/hotel. It's been redecorated nicely, which goes to show that cheap doesn't mean rubbish.

Katoomba (and the Blue Mountains as a whole) is a town on cliff-top, with sandstone that is being weathered constantly, causing rockfalls relatively frequently. One of these closed the "Giant Staircase" of 900 (!) steps leading down to the valley floor from the Three Sisters, a limestone feature rather like the Needles on the Isle of Wight... except for, well, quite a lot. The whole area is a tourist trap unfortunately, and so I found myself once again bumping into Japanese tourists (who seem blinkered to everything except taking photos and buying baseball caps). One good point though is that the money helps protect the environment from muppets trampling all over the place, and there are clearly marked walks and trails all around the area.

The walks around are almost littered with lookouts, most of which are named. I found myself sorely tempted to affix strategic commas and exclamation marks to "Darling Lookout" in particular...

Walking from the Three Sisters and associated lookout along the cliff-edge (not quite) to the other side of the town, I found myself wondering what the oft-signed "Scenic World" is. I had a feeling it had something to do with the cable car and funicular that you can use to get up and down the cliff more easily, and I wasn't far wrong. I even considered taking a ride, until I saw the price - $10 for a five minute ride! I payed about that for a two hour ride up here from Sydney. Muttering in vague disgust, I walked out of the gift shop, shrugging off some more Japanese tourists on the way. Fighting my way past the Kiosk ("Kangaroo burger and chips $10 - when in Rome...!") and the caravan park, I eventually made it back to the hostel.

Hmm, sorry if that sounds rather negative. It's actually really beautiful scenery around here, and the climate is a refreshing break from Sydney. This evening when I went out I actually felt cold! It must have dropped to, ooh, 16º or so...

Tomorrow I shall visit the (apparently) famous Jenolan Caves, and the Wentworth Falls - hopefully they might have some water in, I found the Katoomba Falls rather underwhelming, as they resembled a dripping tap - before heading back to the city for the weekend.