Anyways, on to important business. I spent Thursday-Saturday this week in the Blue Mountains (which, by the way, are blue because of the sunlight reflecting off the oil released by the eucalyptus trees, or something). I took over 400 pictures and was very happy with so many of them, however, going through and picking out the good ones, I am never happy with the selection I pick out. I need an editor! Haha.
We departed on Thursday, expecting a 5 hour train ride. However, due to some track work, we were forced to depart the train and take a bus for a stretch of track, stretching our trip to nearly 6 hours. Katoomba is only 239km from Newcastle, meaning we averaged about 25 MPH the whole trip. Kinda depressing once I put it that way.
Upon arrival, we checked into a youth hostel and went for a walk. Katoomba is a tiny, sleepy town tucked into the mountains, and even on a Thursday evening, there was really nothing happening. It actually reminded me a lot of Platteville, especially main street, which had the same look and feel. We got some supper and then called it an early night.
We met Catherine at 9 the next morning. There is a trolley that runs between all the tourist attractions. $20 of your Australian dollars will not only offer you unlimited travel on said trolley, but also a day's worth of travel on the expansive Katoomba city bus system! First scheduled stop was a local wildlife preserve. We were given a tour of the grounds by an Aboriginal guide and showed plants, tools and rocks and how the Aboriginal people used them. After the tour, we were allowed to take pictures and wander around the trails. The scenery was absolutely stunning. Nate and I picked the most challenging trail, going straight down the side of the mountain.
We began the descent down the trail, stopping to take pictures when appropriate. You'll have to excuse the dark photos, those definitely came from his camera!
After this, we hopped on the city trolley and rode the circuit until we got to Echo Point and the Three Sisters, probably the most iconic point of the blue mountains. We watched a rather disappointing sunset and started walking back.
The Aboriginal story of the three sisters is basically that three sisters were being chased by a fearsome mythical creature. The witch doctor turned them to stone to save them, and then turned himself into a bird to save himself. He was unable to find his magic bone afterwards and can't turn the sisters back to girls. The end.
Again, some absolutely stunning scenery.
Telephoto of the valley floor. I liked this alot.
There was a very, very expensive looking hotel set back from the road a ways in town. Catherine had mentioned that there was a bar inside that was probably open to the public. In the interests of being thrown out due to dress code, we wandered inside, to the cocktail lounge. Upon arrival, my first words to the bartender were "Are you wearing a pocketwatch?" He pulled it out by the chain and said "Yes?" "My goodness, we are underdressed".
The girls all ordered $14 fruity, icecreamy dessert alcohol things...I just stuck with a $6 bottle of beer. The girls chatted with the bartenders for a bit. It turns out they had "met" the night before, due to the four of them letting out an unrelenting roaring wall of noise wherever they go. One of the barkeeps was standing outside and heard childish yelling and giggling from blocks away.
I finished my beer and was about to order another one when a funny thought crossed my mind. I realized that this is A) Probably the only bar I've ever been in that would serve Martinis, and B) Quite possibly the only time in my life I will ever have the opportunity to drink a Martini wearing a dirty t-shirt and jeans. I strolled up to the bar, casually leaned on it, and said "Two vodka martinis" in the snobbiest way possible. "Why, certainly, sir!" said the bartender. Everybody laughed.
Final day. We met at 8:30 for an abseiling (rappelling) trip. The normal abseiling site that past groups went to was under maintenance, so we went to an alternate site. The drops were larger, the views were better, and more importantly, the "exposure" was greater. The best way to explain exposure is that rapelling down a 15 meter wall is not daunting in the least, but when you're walking up to the edge of a 15 meter cliff and you can't see the bottom, except for the valley floor, several HUNDRED meters below, you nearly crap your pants. Great times.
Nate and I and two of the girls did four drops, a 7 meter training one, a 15 meter challenging one that was a lot of fun, and then a 45 meter one twice.(yooowwwzzaa) One of the girls did all three drops, the last one is deathly afraid of heights and only did the first two, crying and cursing the whole way down, going down with an instructor. (which we all had a laugh about afterwards, and were actually very impressed she came back for more after the little one). It was an absolute rush and a really great time! I got more comfortable after the first two and learned how to hop down difficult spots in the rock face rather than walking. On my last trip down the 45 meter drop, I tried to go as fast as I could, resulting in a LOT of friction and a neat burn on my side (through the harness and my t-shirt!)
All of these are either the 15 or 45 meter drops.
The view from the top.
For the rest of the day, we wandered over to Scenic world, which was near the three sisters again, but was a delicious tourist trap. I wouldn't have paid the $19 to get in and ride down to the bottom of the valley and back up again, but since it was paid for in the program fees, I'm glad we went. We went down on the world's steepest railway. You practically lay down in this train, and then it goes forward, down at a 52* angle, and suddenly you are sitting up again! The ride to the bottom takes about 30 seconds, you are let to wander around on some trails, and free to choose your own transportation back to the top, foot, railway, or skyway. We took the cable car back to the top.
Finally, they had a bird feeder nearby and I grabbed some nifty shots of the local population.
Now that I've done an absolutely phenomenal job of procrastinating one of my three large assignments due this week, I think I should probably get started on that!
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