Blue-ish Blue Mountains

On Tuesday, K and I visited the Blue Mountains which are almost due west of Sydney.  They start about 31 miles to the west of Sydney and can easily be reached by train ride from Sydney.

The highest peaks of the Blue Mountains are in the 3500-4000 foot range.  So, they are more like the Blue Hills versus Blue Mountains.  Nevertheless, back in the European colonization days, these rainforest covered hills provided a harsh and tough-to-negotiate barrier to the interior of the country. They were and still are considered home and sacred to the Aboriginal.

The mountains get their name from the fact that they have a large number of eucalyptus trees on them.  These trees emit an oil that evaporates and disperses light in the blue colors - a process known as Rayleigh Scattering.  Even after several days of rain and cooler temps, we could see a little bit of the "blueness" that gives the mountains their name.

The Blue Mountains used to be at the bottom of the sea.  But the continent was shoved up and so the sedimentary rocks were exposed creating some beautiful plateaus, huge drop offs, many waterfalls, and natural rock formations.

We took the train out of Sydney in the morning and were in the Blue Mountains by about 11am (its a 2 hour train ride).  You can stop off at several little cities to start your exploration of the Blue Mountains - we choose Katoomba as that is the major tourist stop and it has good bus coverage to get you around the major sites of the Blue Mountains (probably a mistake - more on that in a bit).  [Side note:  we saw a number of kangaroo on the trip to and from Katoomba - some pretty large ones too.  Many were out on a golf course we passed.  I can't imagine what you do if a kangaroo is in your lie to the hole.]

pictures of Sydney Central Train Station below - Sydney's big train station to all points Australia

 

The attraction to Katoomba and the other close cities is that they sit right on the Jamison Valley in the Blue Mountains.  This valley, in particular is gorgeous with more waterfalls, stunning lookout views, and unusual formations than many other places in the Blue Mountains - and of course they are all relatively accessible within a day from Sydney (no overnight bush walking, etc.).

 

Pictures can't put the size and beauty of this valley into great perspective, but I have tried my best with four pictures that span the panorama of the Jamison (arranged left to right)

 

 

The highlight of valley in this area is (or are?) the Three Sisters - a set of rock formations that jut out into the valley.

If you zoom into the picture above, you'll see that a bridge connects people to the left most stack.  That should give you some estimate of the size of these formations.  They are called the Three Sisters because of Aboriginal folklore - a tribal elder turned three women to stone to prevent them from being taken by a rival tribe and three men that wanted them.  The elder was killed in the ensuing tribal battle and he was the only one that could turn the stones back into women - bad luck for them.

 

Taking some of the hikes along the valley, you can find plenty of other formations and beauty.

 

 

Here is K making her way down the steep and narrow ladders to the one "Sister" stack - and the view from the one Sister back down the valley.

As I indicated, waterfalls are in plentiful supply around this area too.

The one hit I have against the Blue Mountain area is all the excessive commercialism.  K and I were a bit disappointed in the amount of extra stuff that was being packaged with our train ticket.  In many ways, it took over the natural beauty and served as a kind of theme park.  We just wanted to see the natural beauty of the valley and mountains and instead, there were rail car rides into the rainforest, cable car rides, and just plain junk galore.  Unfortunately too, the hiking paths and trails were poorly marked, sometimes in disrepair and just too crowded for people to enjoy the nature.

 

In one of the areas, K took quite a spill on a damp walkway.  She managed to get a bruise the color of the Blue Mountains on her elbow (is that the Virgin Mary or Queen Victoria I see in the mark?).

Don't worry Mom(s) - it looks worse than it is.  In fact, we didn't even know the bruise was there until she showered for the next day.  K is a trooper.

 

K tried to put this commercialism and touristy stuff in perspective for me - and I think here assessment is fair.  As she explained, for many people, this is probably the only way to see any part of greater Australia.  They neither have the means or mobility to get around to the country.  The convenience of the train, buses and tourist rides, makes the area available to the unavailable or those tight on time.  It also makes it a place you can bring the kids without them being bored or driving you nuts.  For businessmen that are flown to Sydney for work, this quick day trip is probably their only site outside of the city they get a chance to see.  So the tourism trade at play (what we called commercialism) works well for them all.

 

While I agree with her assessment, I also feel bad.  There is beautiful country here in Australia with wonderful and unusual wildlife to see.  I would hate to think that some peoples only exposure was through a very commercialized trip to the Blue Mountains.  And it was the only part of our entire two months away from home that K and I feel we could have skipped.  Or better yet - we should have just rented a car and skipped the tourist spots and gone straight to the more secluded falls, and valley sights - which is exactly what I recommend to anyone coming to Australia.  Stay away from Katoomba and the tourist traps - head to the natural beauty of the Blue Mountains if you can and avoid the traps.

 

For any Australians that read this post - everything else in your country has been absolutely gorgeous, well run and as a people you have been so gracious and charming.  So please don't take this one incident as anything of a slam against Australia or Australians.  Goodness knows, we in America have commercialized just about everything in our own country.

 

Sorry for the bit of a rant.  K and I still very much enjoyed our day (except for K bouncing on walkways) and  the stunning views that is the real Jamison Valley.  It was the only time in 2 months of travel across Australia and New Zealand that I ever felt we were in a real tourist trap and I want others to avoid that feeling if they can.  Too many other wonderful things to see and experience.

 

Speaking of which, K and I have spent the last two days touring Sydney in more depth.  What a wonderful city.  There is way too much to do here in the week.  I'll try to wrap up my posts from Australia and our fantastic trip with some coverage of Sydney on my next post - or two.