Traveling to...the Blue Mountains?

Rain and winds were predicted for Wednesday but we had already booked a bus trip out of Sydney to the Blue Mountains. Plus we had two nights of accommodation already paid for in Katoomba, heart of the Blue Mountains. We walked several blocks in the rain to our pickup point and loaded onto a bus in order to be taken to another bus. Hmmmm…..

This was just the beginning to a rather disastrous day. The 22-person van had every seat filled, every window was completely fogged, the driver/guide J. C. kept the air conditioning on high in an attempt to clear the windows and everyone was freezing, the rain was torrential, and we got stuck in a horrendous traffic jam. Three hours later, we arrived at a lookout point. The mountains weren’t blue, the mountains were nonexistent. We were in a complete white-out cloud mist. The only positive to the day thus far was the fellow bus travelers who were all friendly and good natured and from around the world.

mountains? where??

like my square umbrella?  on its last legs......

The driver carried on and we arrived at the supposedly spectacular Wentworth Falls. Here he proposed that we would hike to the bottom of the falls (922 ft) so we could see something! Following our fearless leader, all we like sheep started slogging through mud and puddles to begin the long descent. The narrow path, cut into the side of the rock face, was mostly steps but was well fenced. Even in the rain it was exciting and magical…and cold and very wet. The path went down and down. On reaching the bottom, the view up to the falls was impressive. Then our guide invited us to turn around and start climbing up. What goes down, must go up, huh?!

Weeping Rocks on the way to the bottom

It was an arduous climb but manageable. That is until at a stop along the way, J.C. counted us and several were missing. He told us to carry on upwards and he would go back. Mark decided that he should go back with the guide. Long story short, one young woman was probably dehydrated and had headache and nausea while another claimed hypoglycemia and a third was exhausted. Due to the wait, by the time J.C. unlocked the bus, everyone was cold, soaked, very hungry, and getting testy.

We drove to the town of Leura and were told we had 30 minutes for lunch--to find a restaurant in an unknown town, order, eat, and return. Most of us returned in about 50 minutes which we thought was doing really well. Mark and I shared a lunch table in a café with a young, humorous German couple from the bus.

Next stop was Echo Point Lookout in Katoomba. The view is supposed to be of a rock formation called the Three Sisters but was completely fogged in. At this point, a few folks took off unannounced on a hike down the cliff side, a couple of young men asked to be dropped at a bar, and most others fled to a coffee shop. J.C. finally made a phone call for directions and took us to our guest house accommodation for the night.

Although we felt like rats abandoning a sinking ship, we were almost giddy with relief. The guest house was warm, the gas fireplace was lit in the cozy sitting room, and the host invited us to have a glass of sherry. We put on dry clothes and slippers and hung our wet clothes in front of our room’s free standing heater (in addition to central heat!!). I heated boiling water for my hot water bottle and fell into a chair with it and my glass of sherry. Ecstasy!

That night we actually took a $7 taxi into town for dinner--only about a 10 minute walk --because we just couldn’t face getting all wet again in the wind and rain. After a nice dinner, we bucked up and walked back to the guest house……