Five Go Mad in the Blue Mountains
Sunday afternoon and I’m walking down Victoria St when I hear my name called out. I turn around and there’s Jeanette sat on the steps of one of the other hostels. What a pleasant surprise. I didn’t expect anyone from the Face The Outback tour to be in Sydney. We had a chat for a while and caught up.
I lost Monday to a migraine. Never get a migraine in a hostel. It was rough going. Too much noise and even though my room mates were relatively sympathetic to my plight they couldn’t just leave me to it. I slept on and off throughout the day. What really didn’t help was the arrival of the new shelve and bedside units which we’ve got in the newly decorated room. It really is now our room, well for 4 of us it is and we get the odd change with the other 2 beds. Our own fridge and TV. Marvellous really. Headache finally abated around 9.30pm so I was left at a loose end for most of the night.
Earlier today 5 of us headed off into the Blue Mountains. Des, having rented a car on some dodgy long term rental, drove us off to Katoomba to see the sights and witness one of those pieces of beauty that this country has so much of.
Seemed like it took way too long to get out of Sydney. What a desolate place it is on the outer suburbs. The drive was fun and an hour and a half later we arrived at one of the more famous spots in the Blue Mountains, around the Three Sisters and Echo Point. Five backpackers in the Blue Mountains, always an excuse for some fun and a little madness, with a picnic of ham and turkey sandwiches, bags of lettuce, hard-boiled eggs, heaps of tomato, and lashings of ginger beer mixed with all those trees, blue hue and the Aboriginal Dreamtime story of the Three Sisters.
The story tells of 3 sisters, Meehni, Wimlah and Gunnedoo, who lived in the valley with the Katoomba tribe. They were the most beautiful of women and had fallen in love with 3 brothers from another tribe but tribal law prevented any marriage.
The brothers took offence and war between the two tribes started. A witchdoctor from the Katoomba tribe feared for the lives of Meehni, Wimlah and Gunnedoo so cast a spell to protect them. He turned them to stone with a spell only he could reverse. However, the witchdoctor was killed in battle and so the 3 rock stacks now forever remain and the 3 sisters are trapped for eternity.
The area is wonderful. The Blue Mountains themselves get their name from the blue hue that emanates from the trees, caused by eucalyptus. Having walked around, taken a ton of photos and learnt a little of the area from the visitor centre we then headed on to another point and took the fast and mad railway line down the mountain before coming back up via cable car.
After Monday’s migraine I was exhausted by the time we left the area and headed back to Sydney, sleeping in the car all the way back to the hostel.
