The Blue Mountain

(This article was first published in Small World Ezine on 30 April 2002)

I love to travel in autumn. It's not too hot, and the sun is not 

too strong. I love the colors of the leaves (it's boring here 

where I live because leaves are always green). And sometimes 

the cold breeze :-) 

Now it's Rainy Season down here, and Spring up there. 

How do we enjoy the fall? Yep... Down Under... Let's go to one 

of  Australia's most visited National Park... The Blue Mountains. 

Once upon a time, there was an old witchdoctor with three 
beautiful daughters. One day the daughters were playing on 
the edge of the cliff while their dad was in the valley 
hunting for food. One of the sisters, Meenhi, threw a stone 
at a little lizard, and it missed and went over the edge of 
the cliff. She had broken a cardinal law of the bush. NEVER 
throw a stone over a cliff. 

The falling stone woke up THE BUNYIP, a mythical creature of 
the bush, who angry that his sleep had been disturbed, 
lumbered toward them, making a terrible noise. The 
Witchdoctor, hearing all the fuss, ran toward his daughters 
to save them, but he was too far away, and so he pointed his 
magic bone at them and turned them into stone. The Bunyip now 
turned on the Witch Doctor, who turned himself into a 
Lyrebird and ran into a cave to escape the Bunyip dropping 
his magic bone. 

You can still see the Three Sisters Meenhi, Weemala, and 
Gunnedoo, trapped in the rock, and the Witch Doctor still 
searching for his bone scratching in the soil to this day
in the Blue Mountain National Park. They are also called
as the Three Sisters of Katoomba.

Here's how the stones look like today.

 

In the year 2000 over one million hectares of land was listed 
as the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. The Blue 
Mountains are magnificent at this time of the year. Superb 
mountain scenery with outstanding geographical features, 
beautiful gardens, great tourist attractions and a reputation 
as a gastronomic centre make the area a favourite destination. 

The City of the Blue Mountains is located, primarily, along 
an east-west ridge between the Grose and Coxs river gorges. 
The Blue Mountains National Park is in 2 sections; one north 
and one south of the main string of towns which follow the 
Great Western Highway and railway. This is the most 
accessible park in the region. It covers dissected 
sandstone plateau, forested river valleys and deep gorges.

While there, you can rest at any of the Blue Mountain towns 
of Blackheath, Glenbrook, Katoomba and Lithgow where you can 
find any kind of hotels/hostels, restaurants, tourist 
information, trekking services, etc.


Do not miss Katoomba's Scenic Skyway. There you can take a 
a seven minute scenic ride on a cable car 350 metres across a 
deep gorge, 200 metres above the valley floor. 

Oh and the Railway at the old coalmine (it's just beside the 
cable car station). The railway was built in 1878 for mining
purpose. It's said to be the world 's steepest railway. The
facts and figures are Here.  


It's a fun ride. No seat belts. When it starts you'll be in
a kind of half-lying position, but when it's travelling down
the valley, you'll be somehow in a standing up position 
because of the 52 degrees gradient of the rail and the cliff.
 
At the bottom of the railway you can enjoy short or long 
bushwalks through a temperate rainforest area. If you buy a 
round trip ticket, do not come up too soon.

This can be a one day tour from Sydney (without hiking). But 
you need to check the weather forecast before travelling. I 
went there in June. It rained that day, and after the rain it 
was so foggy that I could not see anything from the cable car. 
It 's like we travelled into the mist. It was boring but 
became scary when some boys started to scare their fellow 
passengers for fun. The cable car went only half way and the 
operator decided to return to the station. I missed the great 
scenery of the Three Sisters from the cable car, but on the
way back in the coach, I've seen it more than enough.

 

 

More:

How to get there:

Sydney is the closest big city (90 minutes drive). From any 
of the major big cities in the world, you can fly to Sydney 
International Airport. Stay there. Sydney has lots of fun and 
interesting places to visit. 

I remember I bought the Blue Mountains Day Tour from Sydney's
Circular Quay (discounted for students, juniors and seniors). 
If you want to enjoy more of the National park and explore 
the place yourself, you can go there by a rental car (drive 
to the left side of the street), train from any major railway 
station, or coach from any large terminal (as well as 
Sydney's Circular Quay). Here're details and map.


Once you are there you can rent a mountain bike to get around
too.