John and I rented a car on Saturday and explored the Blue Mountains. This was my first time driving in Australia, which was surprisingly easy. Although right hand turns were a bit tricky. I turned out to be on the cautious side, probably waiting a bit too long to make the turns. Neither of us hit anything all day, though, so we did good.
We began the day by driving from Windsor through Richmond, so that I could see where John worked, and then up to the Blues.
Getting to Katoomba was insanely easy, follow one strip of road and you're there. We stopped once on the side of the road to admire the view.
Once we got to Katoomba, we walked around, window shopped, and got a snack. I am pleased to say that I tried my first Flat White at a cafe. This tasted surprisingly like a latte and looked like one too. This is curious because lattes were also on the menu. Next time, I will get a latte and make John get a flat white so we can figure out the differences. We also went to an outdoors shop and discussed good climbing destinations with the owner... John really wants to go climbing!! So much so that all day he kept saying I could climb this and that and so on... Even when we were underneath a waterfall. Granted it was a weak one, but the rock was still wet and full of moss. None the less, I got the message. We may have to go climbing next weekend.
After getting a feel for the town and having a snack, John and I went on a hike called the Devil's Hole Track. It was roughly a 1.5km round trip hike down a valley. It was incredibly beautiful. The hike began on the side of a road, walking slightly downhill into the forest. There had been a recent forest fire and so everything looked dry and somewhat singed.
As we descended into the Valley, the climate totally changed. We went from an arid sun dried landscape to a wet almost rain forest gully.
Note the rock formation that I am standing under. John was salivating the whole time!
As we got closer the the opening of the valley into the forest the climate changed again. Now it seemed like we were in a forest and desert at the same time. Here is a view of the side of the cliff and and dry weather adapted tree. I have no idea what it is, but the colors are fabulous.
Walking along the cliff, we occasionally went under roofs of rock that looked like this:
We couldn't figure out what type of erosion was going on here. They obviously weren't water pockets because this is on the underside of a roof. I will have to look into that.
After the hike, John and I decided to drive to see the Three Sisters. A very touristy and famous rock formation in the Blue Mountains.
These peaks were once a popular climbing destination, until it was banned in 2000. Initially, a 5 year ban was placed on climbing the Three Sisters for environmental reasons. Climbers were contributing to erosion by causing damage to plan life that could hold together loose rock. Then in 2005 it was determined that the Three Sisters held cultural significance to Aborigines and climbers disrupted that.
(See reference) Needless to say, John was not able to do any rock climbing here. Maybe one day.
That was our Saturday. After a long day of walking and driving, we came home, did a little grocery shopping, and passed out.
Cheers,
Carrie
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