Blue Mountains National Park: The Three Sisters and National Pass

Last Friday I finished the lab work I came to Australia to learn. Things went well and because I finished early, I had four days to explore on my own. Knowing I needed to get some school work done, but also wanting to get outside a bit more, I took the train out to Katoomba, Australia. Katoomba is a sleepy little town in Australia's Blue Mountains. It's built up on top of a hill and the main road goes down to the edge of a very deep valley. The main road is lined with little restaurants and kitchy stores, but it's relatively quiet and perfect for what I needed. I booked three nights at the Kangaroo BakPak and it couldn't have been any better. It's a small, cozy place outside of town with a great host, Mike, and as he said, "There's a difference between a party hostel and a social hostel." This has definitely been a social hostel but I've gotten really good sleep here and the people are very friendly and talkative.

I got dinner the first night with two girls from Toronto and got my first up-close encounter with a kangaroo...on my pizza! Kangaroo tastes a little like tender, grass-fed beef. It's sooo good! And though it's been raining and thundering at least once a day, it hasn't been persistent, and we get great weather both before and after.

Before getting dinner the first day, I walked down to the edge of the valley and had great views of "The Three Sisters" which are basically three sandstone spires (or hoodoos) that have been weathered out of the rock ridgeline near Katoomba. It's one of Australia's most visited natural features every year. Yesterday, I then went hiking with a girl from Germany who convinced me to wake up early (which was very hard because the previous night everyone at the hostel had a lot of fun with Goon - aka boxed wine). We took the train to Wentworth Falls and made our way to the National Pass. This trail starts on top of the cliffs surrounding the valley and crosses over top of Wentworth Falls. It then follows a very steep stairway cut into the sandstone cliffs, which drops down to the bottom of the waterfall. The trail continues along the bottom of one set of cliffs, but not far off the other side of the trail is another very large cliff. Because it rained the night before, the valley was filled with clouds and we saw some amazing, postcard perfect views - which my photos don't do justice!

View of The Three Sisters from Echo Point

View of Valley of the Waters from top of Wentworth Falls

Starting the descent down the cliffs to National Pass

View of Wentworth Falls from the bottom

The trail heading under some of the sandstone ledges

Valley of the Waters from the National Pass

Sandstone cliffs with the clouds going out

Valley of the Waters

Clouds evaporating in the afternoon sun

So tomorrow I head back into Sydney for two nights where I'm going to meet up with a few friends from Glee Club before giving a talk at MacQuarie University. Going to be a fun few days!