Up and Down in the Blue Mountains

December 17th &18th

Dragging ourselves away from the Daintree, we take a 3 hour flight from Cairns to Sydney arriving mid-evening. The following morning we rent a car and drive to the Blue Mountains. The very name conjures up images of winding country roads, alpine villages and cool, fresh air. I put my goretex jacket and warm fleece into the day pack along with the sun cream. But names can be misleading. In the 1800s, early European settlers were unsure if they’d ever find a way through the mountains. Today a four lane highway runs straight through, and instead of alpine villages we find a suburban sprawl packed with tour buses. And it’s almost as hot as Uluru.

I leave the fleece and goretex in the car, and we elbow our way past camera happy Japanese tourists at the famous look out points – Wentworth Falls, Echo Point and The Three Sisters. The Blue Mountains appear as high sandstone plateau surrounding heavily forested valleys. There are eucalyptus trees as far as the eye can see, and they really do produce a blue haze. Several walking trails are closed as it is so dry that there is a high risk of fire, but we follow a path round the top of the mountain from The Three Sisters to the scenic tourist centre, where gondolas take the less energetic between the look-outs, and down into the forest below. We discover steps leading down and follow them. There are a great many steps. We pass several sweaty people climbing up them. My legs are turning to jelly just going down. After half and hour we reach the site of an old coal mine – you have to wonder how they discovered coal way down in the mountains, but it was apparently profitable for many years, supplying the Australian railway system. We decide not to puff our way back up the mountain, and are hauled to the top on the near vertical funicular railway that used to be used for coal trucks. We celebrate our arrival with our second ice cream of the day while waiting for the bus to take us back to town.

That night it rains. And rains. And rains. I dig out the fleece and the goretex. It is much cooler in the morning and we plan to drive further into the mountains, check out another famous viewpoint – Govetts Leap, and then tackle a three hour walk into the forest. There are no half measures in the mountains. We arrive at the lookout and can’t see a thing, the whole area is shrouded in a white mist. Our other senses are working overtime - we can hear the Bridal Veil falls clearly, and the eucalyptus smells heavenly. But there doesn’t seem much point in walking through dense fog, so we drive on and reach the highest point in the mountains and look down at the bowl of white cloud below. It’s not going to clear anytime soon. We abandon day two in the mountains and head for Mount Tomah Botanical Gardens. We show our true English spirit by walking round the gardens after lunch, even though we can’t see the tops of the trees as the mist is so low.

The gardens are on the Bells Line of Road – the winding alternative route back to Sydney. I’m sure it’s very pretty, but the only thing I could see were car headlights coming out of the fog. The mist finally cleared but our problems weren’t over. If you think London’s congestion charge is confusing, try Sydney’s road tolls. The tolls wouldn’t be a problem if you could actually pay them with cash. On some roads you have to have a prepaid e-ticket – but you don’t necessarily realise that until you’ve driven into the “you are about to be fined” zone. Avoiding them became far too stressful for the SatNav and the driver (me) so we gave up and drove straight over Sydney Harbour Bridge into the city. It’s the only way to arrive.