Don't worry we are still here!

After spending much of our time here in Australia doing the touristy stuff in the cities we decided that we needed a bit of a break and what better way to do that than to head up to the blue mountains, just 2 hours on the train for sydney. It was totally different to anywhere that we've already been and it was totally amazing. Just the train journey up there felt like we were on another world because the scenery changed so dramatically from scyscrapers to vast forests of eucalyptus trees. We arrived in the tiny town of katoomba and had to walk down a steep ass hill that we were not looking forward to having to climb back up again! We got to our hostel and i swear that it was like a hotel only that you had to share your incredibly huge room with 6 other people. The place was so clean making a change from the cockroach infested pit that we stayed in in sydney. After settling ourselves and making a mental note of where the cakes shops were that we had passed earlier we headed over to the main tourist attractions of the area, the three sisters. three spectacular rock formations sticking out into the gorge below with a drop that was a quite few hundred feet. This place holds special value with the aboriginees who have a story with so many different variations of it, its hard to tell which is the proper one. basically it comes down to some witch doctor transforming his three daughters into rock to protect them from some kind of evil, but they never got transformed back into their original selfs.
The next day we decided to do the walk round the three sisters starting at leura cascades and making our way across the top on the gorge to katoomba falls. We started off the journey quite slowly, taking in all the scenery from loads of lookouts along the way and being afraid of any kind of rustle we heard in the bushes. nevertheless we had finished the walk by lunch time and didn't feel like stopping so made the over confident desicion to go down into the valley and walk back to katoomba via the giant stairway. The stairway where most people were going down rather than coming up! We made our way down the furber steps round hanging swamps and down stairways and they were difficult enough with legs feeling like jelly by the time we got to the bottom. Thinking that it would take us ages to get back we pounded our way along the track only stopping for snacks and the loo. We were out in the bush and it would be at least another hour or two before we'd find any toilets. the problem was that this was a very well trodden path and proved difficult to find time to find the right tree to hide behind. it was just our luck that whilst claire was just dropping her shorts some guy decided to come round corner. needless to say we hurried off pretty quickly before making another attempt. Throughout the day we had seen countless numbers of lizards, a black cockatoo and some parrots. it was just after spotting the parrots that we had started to make our way again when laura stopped said 'don't stop' and carried on walking. naturally claire stopped to look to discover what looked like a black hosepipe before realising that that would be a bit stupid and that she was standing a few feet from a snake and proceeded to run quicker than most will ever see in their entire lifetime. After our close encounter with faced with another challenge, the giant stairway! They say its 900 steps, should not be undertaken by anyone with breathing or heart difficulties and take about 45 mins to walk up. we did it in 20! after that we went and bought some cake as a treat.

After yesterdays trecking we were feeling a little cocky and decided to walk the grand canyon (the aussies seem to copy the names from everywhere) at blackheath. Instead of the getting the bus to the start we thought we'd save a few pennies and walk the 4km from the train station to govetts head (just the start of our walk). from there we did a spot of bushwalking in the middle of nowhere along a track to neats glen (the start of the circular route round the grand canyon). The day was already starting to get on and we were still very early in our trip. Halfway down the steps we stopped for lunch and had an unexpected dinner guest, a lizard eating the ants that were surrounding us. it was the ultimate aussie dining experience! When we got down into the canyon the place was amazing. we were surrounded by cliff faces and had to walk through this narrow valley follwing the river. We felt truely alone out here until a mass of school children came walking past us going in the oppposite direction. Anyhoo, as we carried on we walked through a tunnel (made easy because a family had just come though so we were pretty sure there was nothing in there that could kill us). The majority of the track was in the cliffs themselves made by previous flash floods that had carved away the rock. it had rained yesterday evening but we hoped that it hadn't been enough to cause a flood. there were railings in some parts but they didn't look very secure as most of them had fallen down from neglect. when we finally started to ascend out of the canyon we met a couple who had just come across a lyre bird. a bit like a peacock but not as flashy but more talented as they can mimick other bird calls. once again we climbed to the top as quickly as possible and ended up looking a little worse for wear from it, but the view from evans lookout was definately worth it. it was far more stunning than that of the jameison valley with the three sisters in it. After our 5km treck round the grand canyon we had a 6km walk back to the train station. on our way back we stopped to ask a lady hpw far we had to go and bless her for being honest that we were only half way but it didn't really help. once we finally got back into town we realised that we had quite a wait so went and got some cake to help pass the time.

we got up a 5:45am the next day to go watch the sunrise at the three sisters. we arrived just in time as the sun started to come up and it was stunning! the colours were amazing, watching the oranges and pink mixing in the mist in the valley below is a sight to be seen. at which point some americans from our hostel turned up and we left.

The blue mountains is by far the best thing we've done in australia, you really have to see it to believe it.

Keep you posted with our chronicles