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Saturday March 6, 2010
Greetings from The Blue Mountains,
On Thursday we left Canberra and drove about 325 Km up into the Blue Mountains, situated about an hour's drive west of Sydney. We choose the tourist route instead of taking the motorway into Sydney and then heading west, passing through a few small towns, making the journey a little more interesting but perhaps a little longer. The road was fairly good, winding its way through rolling farmland before climbing into the higher elevations. The Blue mountains are really a huge escarpment, similar to their namesake in Ontario but agreat deal bigger. Our destination was the town of Katoomba at an elevation a little over 1000 m and perhaps the largest town in this area. We were staying in an "apartment" but it turned out to be a period home that had been converted into 3 apartments (see pic). Not only did it appear old from the outside but we think the furnishings inside dated from the same period complete with the old-style toilet with a chain to pull, something not seen since the old days back home. However, it did have central heating and a TV and became quite comfortable once we settled in.
The views from some of the many scenic outlooks were simply spectacular, particularly the view of the "3 Sisters" (3 prominent peaks) and the views over the valley. On Friday in rained most of the day and we were only able to make limited use of the many hiking trails in the area, however, today was again sunny so we made an early start and got to see even more spectacular views with the mist still in the valleys (see pics). We travelled down into the valley about 300 m below on a railway that is reputed to be the steepest in the world that descends at an incline of 52 degrees. This was originally built in the 1870s as a way of hauling coal from mines situated below. Once in the valley we were able to walk on a 2.5 Km boadwalk within the rainforest before ascending by cable car. We then took another cable car across from one peak to another, providing more spectacular views (see pics).
Tomorrow (Sunday) is our last full day in Aus and we will be driving back to Sydney where we will have lunch with some Aussie friends before spending the night in Manly, close to the famous beach. At this time it is not clear when the next update will occur so stay tuned!
David and Barbra
