Traversing the Blue Mountains

We devoted one entire day in Sydney to the Blue Mountains.  Eric says they remind him of a forested, tropical Grand Canyon.  I can definitely see why he'd say that.  We rode a train about two hours out of the city, hopped on some charming double-decker buses, and climbed on a tram that took us up to a summit.  Then we rode a roller-coaster-train back down the mountain.  The seats were actually installed at a 45-degree angle because of the steep descent.  The trip down felt exactly like riding a roller coaster in slow motion.  For some inexplicable reason, I actually wasn't terrified out of my mind! 

The train dropped us off in the middle of the mountains and we leisurely strolled back to the main road.  On the way, we glimpsed the famous "Three Sisters" rock formation pictured below.  We also passed a bronze horse statue that Eric insisted I pose on.

We came upon this really interesting enormous tree.  For some reason the center of the tree died, but the rest of it survived leaving a hollow center.  Eric immediately climbed right inside the center to take some pictures.  I was less fascinated with the inside once I saw the cluster of inch-long red ants swarming around.  All I could think of was Leiningen Versus the Ants, and I hightailed it right back out of there.

Here I am testing the Tarzan-hypothesis.  Just in case you've been staying awake nights wondering about it, we concluded that it's totally bogus.  There's no way a person could actually swing from tree to tree on jungle vines.  First, they're really stiff, almost like tree branches.  Second, there's no earthly way you could swing from one tree to another without careening into something and doing yourself some serious damage.  

Before we'd embarked on this little adventure, Eric procured a Blue Mountains guide book with maps and descriptions of which trails to take to see which destinations.  You could hike between destinations on foot, or you could make your way to the main road and ride the bus from destination to destination.  We wanted the "full experience," so we opted for hiking.  We hiked up to a magnificent summit, and then back down to the bottom of some truly breathtaking waterfalls.  I will never forget the awe-inspriring scenery.

However, by about our 8th hour of traversing the mountainside we'd reached the bottom of the waterfalls.  Looking back up at the looming mountain above us, I started to regret our decision not to utilize the bus for at least a few of the 16 or so stops we visited.  My legs staged an unpleasant coup against my mind, and the ugly blisters on my feet literally bled through my socks, permanently staining the insides of my favorite tennis shoes.  Eric didn't have that problem because he was sporting his typical foot attire--sandals.  It's beyond me how he didn't impale his foot on a sharp rock or fallen stick.  The next day, both of us definitely fully understood why stair-climbing machines are such effective pieces of gym equipment.  

We got to the final destination about 30 minutes before the last bus arrived to take us back to the train station.  We sat on a bench, massaging our aches as we marveled at the majesty surrounding us.  This day will be one of those that I remember always and tell stories about to our grandchildren.