After getting back to the western world and spending a few days in Sydney, a city I had high hopes for that it didn’t always meet, I was quite ready to get back into nature. A colleague had recommended that I should go to the Blue Mountains – so on a Tuesday morning I checked out of my hostel, got on a train and left for Katoomba.
Katoomba, one of the villages of the Blue Mountains and home to both the Three Sisters rock formation and Scenic World, a place where you can take different vehicles to get in and out of the forest (it’s less lame than it sounds, trust me), is about two hours away from Sydney by train*. The town consists of one main street and then fans out a little on both sides, like the veins of a leaf. But still: it’s not big.
Nevertheless, when I get off the train, I’m not sure which direction to set off in. I end up walking of in the same direction as some other people who I saw on my train, and not much later find them standing in front of the same closed, shabby door I was looking for. No one is answering. It doesn’t take us long to figure out that we’re at the wrong door (thank heavens, at least we’re not staying in a haunted house!), and not much later we find the one we’re after.
After we have all settled in, me and my fellow wanderers go for lunch at a Korean place on the main street. When we go into the café a few doors down for coffee after, we stumble upon a hidden backyard hangout, where a lot of locals have come together. We sit with them for a while, chat and hear their stories, do some groceries (risotto it is!) and head back to the hostel.
The next morning after breakfast, we head back to the local café for more coffee, before getting a bus to the Three Sisters – which a local has now informed us are (or used to be?) actually six or seven. After gasping at the amazing view from the lookout point for a little while, we start walking the trail leading from the Three Sisters to Scenic World. Along the way I can hardly stop myself from getting my camera out every few steps to take a shot: the scenery is breathtaking.
As we reach the first part of Scenic World, the “Skyway” (it’s a cable cart), it starts to pour. The cabin has a glass floor, meaning we can see all the forest below us, as well as the waterfalls along the edge of the mountains. There are four different “attractions” at Scenic World: the Skyway, the Railway, the Walkway and the Cableway. From the Railway and the Cableway, you can access the Walkway, which is a maze of different paths going between all kinds of beautiful, native trees. We spend the day going on all of the tracks both ways, walking around between the trees and soaking up the fresh, rainy forest air – and actually soaking, because the downpour is slipping in and out of the canopy above us.
The next day is already my last, before I head back to Sydney and to Canberra from there. We decide to go on a hike, recommended to us by other hostel guests. As can be expected, we take a wrong turn somewhere and end up taking a walk that’s far harder than what we intended. Our track is long and adventurous, filled with leeches. Every few minutes we stop to check our feet, scream (at least I did) when we find one, get it off and move on. In the end we decide to run part of the trail in hopes we’ll be too quick for the little monsters. We make it in the end, finishing of at some beautiful waterfalls.
Back in Katoomba I go for a burger at one of the veggie/vegan places in town (even in this small town there’s multiple, it’s amazing!) and then it’s time for me to go. Katoomba has more than redeemed Australia for my initial encounter with Sydney. I feel ready to explore the rest…
I’m back! I hope you’re ready for the rest of my Australian adventure…
Love, Ruby
Ruby in the Sky 
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