Bushwalking in the Blue Mountains

G'day mate!  We wanted to escape the HUGE crowds that come to see the fireworks celebration that happens in Sydney for New Year's Eve -- so we headed to the scenic Blue Mountains (about an hour northwest of Sydney in New South Wales) for our own ushering in of 2017!  This area of Australia has dramatic scenery, areas for rock climbing, and plenty of hiking trails (called "bushwalking tracks" in Aussie lingo).  We experienced high cliff views, deep canyons (that required ladders to ascend) and gorges, with waterfalls that had gushing cascades of water. We also saw fern grottos and tropical vegetation along with vast towering Eucalyptus forests and spent a wonderful week at a Werriberri lodge happily hiking everyday.

The Blue Mountains are named for a unique phenomenon where the oils in the leaves of the many Eucalyptus trees give off a fine mist which can be seen as a bluish haze on the horizon.

Our base camp for the week  was a rustic cabin nestled within a grove of trees in the Megalong Valley near the small rural town of Katoomba.
In the mornings I would sit on the back porch enjoying the view of nature while hand sewing, listening to the calls of the cockatoos, and keeping a watchful eye out for 'Roos.




We did in fact see troops of Kangaroos very close to the cabin a number of times while we were there for the week-- once as many as six kangaroos were hanging out.  They would not allow us to get too close, tolerating our presence always with at least one kangaroo upright -- keeping a watchful eye on us.  Do you spot him looking at us while the rest of the group are feeding? We watched this group of 'roos at sunset.

Some of the forest on the 180 acre property where our cabin was located had been deliberately backburned by the government within the last few months to clear out old underbrush. This process helps lessen the severity of potentially catastrophic bushfires.  In the photo you can see how the green foliage is making a comeback from the last burn.

Our first bushwalk was the Grand Canyon Track. As you can see in the photos this area had a lot more forest and lush vegetation than its big brother namesake in Arizona.

View from the top of the trail.

The trail at the bottom of the canyon had a lot of tropical vegetation and was fairly wet.

We had our lunch here under the sheltering overhang.

This small pool was next to our lunch spot so I decided to test the water temperature--Yup, it was COLD.

On another day we decided to trek the Wentworth Pass track in the Valley of the Waters.  If you like natural waterfalls this hike was spectacular & YES, we did brave the COLD water to go for a swim in the pool at the base of the waterfall.

Oh my!  Water, water everywhere!

Isn't this a great swimming hole?  The best part was that we had the pool to ourselves.

 









Then, we decided to take a "hard" trek--- a 5 hour bushwalk on the Golden Stairs Track which involved a lot of climbing, sometimes on ladders bolted to vertical cliff faces.  Troy and I went all the way out on the Pulpit Rock -- glad there was a handrail there!!
 








The trek to the Ruined Castle was strenuous and was capped by doing a little bit of free climbing up a rocky pinnacle. We decided to have lunch here while taking in the sweeping views.

Not only did we have a great birds eye view of Jamison Valley, but also of the native birds called Pied Currawong, perched in a nearby tree.

Banksia flower

Eastern Water Skink

Here are a few other local flora and fauna we encountered during our various bushwalks.

Eastern Water Dragon

Edchina - spiny anteater

We were lucky and had really nice weather on our various bushwalks except for one afternoon when the rain clouds moved through with showers for about 2 hours. The woods turned very misty and mysterious.

While the kids did a serious rock climb (with equipment & ropes), I couldn't watch -- so Tony and I took a long walk as the late afternoon sun was casting a soft golden glow over this scenic valley.

We bid you G'day from the Blue Mountains of Australia. We were sad to be leaving but also very glad we had come and seen so many new sights and met some special people!!