Thursday 14 February Blue Mountains

With the weather set for fairer than yesterday we set off early to catch the bus to Central train station and the 8.24am to Katoomba 1000m above the coastal plains. The early explorers 'discovered' Katoomba when they were searching for a way from the coast into the hinterland. At first these intrepid men followed the river courses but came to a halt at the foot of steep waterfalls plunging off a sandstone escarpment. Their next, and more successful attempt was to climb the ridge and hey presto Europeans found their way in. They also found coal in Katoomba

three sisters

under cliff walk

With only a few hours to see everything in town we bought tickets for the hop on off trolley tour and tickets for the Scenic Skyway and the Scenic cable car. The original Scenic railway is undergoing a major uplift and was closed. When it was a plain railway it descended from the top of the cliff to coal pits in the valley at a 52° angle. Twenty five years ago when I was last here the Scenics weren't built and the traditional rail was the only way up and down if you didn't want to walk. David and I rode the bus to the Skyway and rode across Katoomba falls to the World of Scenic Rides where we swapped to the cable car and rode down into the valley and took the scenic walkway where we saw the ruins of the coal mining era and more interestingly, a pair of Superb Lyre birds making a lot of noise and scratching up the leaves looking for grubs.

Taking the cable car back to the top of the escarpment we hopped on the trolley bus and went to nearby Leura for lunch before hopping another trolley to one of the lookout points. We made the obligatory oohs and aahs, I took some photos, and as it was a particularly clear day we could see all the way to the coast at Wollongong. One can't come to the Blue Mountains and not do a bush walk; we did the Prince Henry cliff walk around the the famous Three Sisters, three pinnacles of rock, took more photos and that was it Katoomba ticked off, no t-shirts or mugs as souvenirs just good memories.

3 sisters, 2 cruisers and 1 pink backpack