The Blue Mountains - First Experiences in the Australian "Bush"

The Three Sisters

Katoomba, February 20 – Our first encounter with the Australian “bush” would be the Blue Mountains about 2 hours to the west of Sydney. So newly equipped with our rental car and trying to get used to driving on the other side of the road, we headed to the hills of Australia's Great Dividing Range and the town of Katoomba, home to a rock formation known as “Three Sisters”.

View from Govetts Leap Lookoff

Katoomba like all the communities in the area is built on the mountain plateau overlooking a large canyon. Here we found a climate more akin to our Newfoundland summers, mid-20's during the day and mid-teens with a heavy dew in the evenings. This cool moist climate supported a lush and vast temperate rainforest that carpeted the canyon floor. This seemed to be Australia's version of the Grand Canyon.

Descending into the Canyon

We spent the next 3 days hiking and exploring this spectacular canyon. Trails led us along the edge of the canyon. Another trail equipped with many ladders and steep stairs cut out of the cliff took us to the canyon floor and into the forest before we returned top side by the world's steepest and we like to think scariest funicular railway. The railway started on a flat but quickly steepened to a 128% grade or over 52 degrees . It felt like being dragged vertically backwards up a rickety roller coaster. But we all agree the most spectacular hike was along the National Pass trail that descended halfway down the canyon wall before taking us for several kilometres along a narrow ledge.

Canopy of Tree Ferns

The trails let us scale up and down 100's of metres of sandstone cliffs leading us to spectacular waterfalls and some outstanding views. In the canyon, we were treated to a rainforest of beautiful tree ferns and huge gum trees shedding their bark. We encountered one of natures best mimics, the lyre bird as it foraged for insects and hidden in the forest was also the remains of past human endeavours. Old coal mines were now being reclaimed by the forest and human exploitation has been replaced with preservation. The canyon is once again filled with a vast temperate rainforest and has become a World Heritage Site.

Showing the Flag

The Blue Mountains are impressive but almost as impressive was the work of the trail builders that created safe passage ways into this spectacular landscape. Australians seem to love exploring the landscape around them and have taken a lot effort to provide access to it. We were happy to oblige ourselves of these opportunities and enjoyed our first excursion into the Australian bush.

For more of our pictures of the Blue Mountains check out our web album.