-Travelling via train from St James to Blackstone(due to trackwork)-
-Shuttle bus from Blackstone to Katoomba-
We supposed to catch the explorer bus (a bus that travels around Blue Mountain) to our next accomodation but we missed the last bus. Bo Bian.. we have to walk all the way to our lodging... walkable distance but it's super duper chilling outside!! How long did we took to walk? I can't remember..it was such a relief when we reached Belgravia Guest House..As no one was staying in the Guest House, we paid Au$12 more & upgraded our stay to La Maison Boutique Hotel.
There are also sauna inside the hotel hence after a meal of instant noodle, we soaked our tired body in the sauna and have an early sleep..
19 May 2008
[Blue Mountains: In 1788 the Blue Mountains were originally named "Carmarthen Hills" and "Landsdowne Hills" by Governor Phillip, however, it wasn’t long after, that the distinctive blue haze surrounding the area saw the change in name to the Blue Mountains.
The Blue Mountains is densely populated by oil bearing Eucalyptus trees. The atmosphere is filled with finely dispersed droplets of oil, which, in combination with dust particles and water vapour, scatter short-wave length rays of light which are predominantly blue in colour.]
Woke up early to see the Blue Mountains.. we had toasted bread and cereals at the hotel dining area. Blue Mountains is the coldest place in our itinerary as we are at a higher altitude. All my cold protection has to be used - gloves, scarf, jacket etc..a stove stands right in the middle of the kitchen area to keep us warm.
Seeing the Blue Mountains was first on our agenda. We have planned our trekking journey starting from Echo Point lookout to our endpoint - The Scenic World (where we could choose to take cablecar, railway train & scenic skyway)
We walked from our lodging to Echo Point lookout..and reached Echo Point lookout
See how blue the sky is?
This is the Echo Pt lookout~
Overlooking the Blue Mountains..
The 3 protruding rocks are called The Three Sisters.
[The Legend: The Aboriginal dream-time legend has it that three sisters, 'Meehni', 'Wimlah' and Gunnedoo' lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe.
These beautiful young ladies had fallen in love with three brothers from the Nepean tribe, yet tribal law forbade them to marry.
The brothers were not happy to accept this law and so decided to use force to capture the three sisters causing a major tribal battle.
As the lives of the three sisters were seriously in danger, a witchdoctor from the Katoomba tribe took it upon himself to turn the three sisters into stone to protect them from any harm. While he had intended to reverse the spell when the battle was over, the witchdoctor himself was killed. As only he could reverse the spell to return the ladies to their former beauty, the sisters remain in their magnificent rock formation as a reminder of this battle for generations to come.]
Another view of The Blue Mountains From Echo pt lookout, we started our trekking towards Scenic World through the giant stairway, three sisters and several lookout pts. . . . Photos we took along our 2 hours+ trail...
Yes! We are strong walkers..hahha...
Some stairs were really steep like this! I have to hold on to the handle tightly while walking down the stairs.. Some walker were coming from the opposite direction and i really pity that they have to climb up the multiple stairs while we happily walked down.. *hee*
Ya.. it's me holding on to both sides of the handle.. it's scary you know. Towards the end of the numerous stairs we climbed down, I was having feeble knees and weak limbs.. every step i took makes my leg trembles a bit.
Yes! Halfway through the walk!!!
A tree that could be struck by lightening?
Towards the end of the walk and before reaching The Katoomba Falls, we saw this:
And we climbed down frm the trail to take photos (which was not allowed... =P)
mini waterfall from Katoomba falls?
After walking a distance away from the place we climbed down, we saw the pathetic Katoomba Falls (the water stream above me)... Winter time so....... no water..... sigh........
Finally.. we have reached the end of the trail... And of cos.. we reached Scenic World~
The Scenic Railway Train..
walking along the Scenic walkway... nothing much to see except trees and cliffs ard us..
The Scenic Cableway..
remember we were climbing down the steps.. now we are taking the cable car up the mountain.. (Heng no need to climb up any stairs.. so totful of the tourism org there =D)
我们算是看够了Blue Mountains吧。。so next we hopped on to the Blue Mountains Red Explorer Bus which will take us around the Katoomba. By the way, the bus ticket is super expensive. AU$28 per person... and it only took us less than half a day to tour Katoomba... which means we only literally ride on the bus for less than half a day. Both of us were quite 心痛..
The Expensive BUS..
On the bus..trees alongside the road were pretty.. We alighted only at 2 stops. The first is Leura Mall. Dun be mistaken that it is a shopping centre.. it is simply a street with shops alongside the street. But it is a short street with i think less than 20 shops..Sigh, nothing much to look at..
The most interesting thing we saw in the Leura Mall. The sign on the bench said: "Seat for Bored Husbands" Lunch was simple: Fish & Chips & Bbq chicken..
I saw on the Blue Mountains website that there is a chocolate factory in Katoomba. I was soooo excited to go there because i was imagining Charlie & the Chocolate factory kinda of factory in my head!! I was excited to see their choco-making demostration too! 可是最后我好失望！！！！！
Entrance of the Chocolate Factory.. i was still harbouring hope that it will be a fun place~
To be exact, it is not a factory.. it is just a cafe... I was utterly disappointed when i reached there. In addition, both of us rushed there just to be in time for the choco demoo but they conducted it at an earlier timing..so we missed it..
Since we are already there, i ordered DIY chocolate for myself. But it was not nice cos we had to add in the amt of choco bits and milk by ourselves. The proportion i supposed is not right.
It was getting dark as the sun is setting.. Both of us walked over to the Honeymoon Lookout to have some romantic moments.. (How i wish but the reality is... to see the sunset view so that Kai could get some good photos..)
Before the sun sets.
And the sky turns darker..
We were lucky to meet a full-moon night...Kai really got a good shot of it.. We walked back from Echo Point to our lodging.. it was really cold so Kai helped me to da bao dinner while i stayed in the hotel to wait for him.
When i pen down this blog and think back of the nature I saw..it was beautiful and magnificent.. 令人很难忘。。尤其自身走进大自然，仰望着蓝天、巨山、夜空的感觉是非墨笔可形容的。。希望大家也能从照片中欣赏到Blue Mountains的魅力和宁静。。
-End of Blue Mountains blog-
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