Oz Intro - Day 5
Blue Mountains
23.10.2009 - 23.10.2009
26 °C
UGH! I was right about being tired! That was absolutely exhausting! The walks we went on took us from a view point facing the solitary rock, down through the masses and masses of eucalyptus trees, under the cliffs andback up to where we started again! It was amazing.
The first part of the walk was throguh quite a lot of undergrowth and wound its way down a hill towards a small creek, where we were shown a plant called mountain devil (evidently the Australians system of naming plants and places is pretty basic; mountain devil because it grows on mountains and has a seed that looks like a devil; Glenbrook because there was a small glen with a brook etc etc) and we were also told how there is sometimes a chance of seeing snakes and spiders. As we headed further in to the mountains we started seeing more and more stunning views of the rest of the Blue Mountain range. The blue part of the name doesn't describe the rocks or anything like that, it's actually because of the eucalyptus oil evaporating into the surrounding air and mixing with water to refract the light in a blue colour. Just in case anyone was interested! The rest of the walk took us to various viewing areas and up and down lots of steps. The overhangs we walked under were rather impressive, and the sights of the waterfalls and over the cliffs were unbeleivable. The most shocking thing was the fact we would see smoke on the other side of the range and the tour guide wasn't fussed about notifying anyone. The fire risk on the mountain, by the way, was high! We were also told a story about the three sister, originally of a tribe that lived on one side of the mountains, who fell in love with three brothers from a tribe who had been their sworn enemy for years. The three brothers wanted to marry the three sisters but this couldn't happen, eventually a battle ensued and the father of the sisters, a witch doctor, sent them to the mountain and turned them to stone to keep them safe from the battle. During the the father was killed, leaving the sisters as a great stone reminder to the clans and tribes of the importance of adhering to local beliefs and traditions.
The second part of the day was down a 600 step flight of stairs to the worlds steepest railway. A long walk down, some more beautiful views and a pretty hairy ride back up in the 53 degree rail way track!
Pretty easy evening and I'm going to bed early today! I get to have a chat with Simon about what I'm going to get up to and how I'm going to do it while I'm in Oz =)
Posted by killi 23.10.2009 15:30 Archived in Australia
