Just two hours drive from Sydney are the beautiful Blue
Mountains. Not blue at all, the mountains are acutally a sandstone plateau
riddled with steep gullies eroded by rivers over thousands of years. The purple
haze that gives the mountains their name comes from a fine mist of oil exuded
by the Eucalyptus trees. There are so many amazing bushwalks and tracks as well
as insane canyoning and rock climbing within the Blue Mountain region, I have a
feeling Tim and I will become regular visitors. We headed to the town of Wentworth which is right in the
heart of the mountains, and surrounded by beautiful scenery. Wentworth Falls
which lends the town its name, launches a plume of droplets over a 300m drop. Our
plan was to hike right to the bottom of the falls and walk along the Valley of
Waters which is an amazing trail with waterfalls, gorges, woodlands and
rainforests.
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| Trail Map |
We started at the Overcliff – Undercliff track. These follow
the edge of the cliffs south of Wentworth Falls and features incredible views
of the cliffs and Jamison Valley. Despite it not having rained for a while,
once we got deeper into the bush, the trail was fairly muddy and untrodden. But
it was nice that there was so much water around, because after spending so much
time in the US hiking in drought-striken places, we saw so much wildlife and
we could hear the waterfall way before we could see it due to the amount of
water pouring off the top of the cliff. With the 25 degree C and sunny weather
it’s difficult for a Brit to comprehend that this is actually the end of
winter/beginning of spring for Australia. Bright wildflowers were beginning to
emerge and everything was so lush and green. The trail passes along some quite
dramatic cliff edges which was quite exhilarating – especially in the slippery
mud. Once we hit the undercliff track there was quite a lot of scrambling and
ducking as we passed through caves and large rock overhangs.
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| View from Overcliff Track into the Jamison Valley |
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| Overcliff Track |
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| View of the top of the Wentworth Falls |
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| Tim in one of the Undercliff Track caves |
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| Undercliff Track - Rock Overhangs |
We walked over the top of Wentworth Falls and joined the National Pass trail.
The water was flowing pretty fast and deep already so can’t imagine what it
would be like after a heavy rainfall – it was already quite tricky clambering
over the slippery rocks. There are quite a few sections of the National Pass
that are impassable after rainfall and flash flooding can be a risk. The
National Pass is carved into the side of the cliff (pretty narrow trail with
some amazingly steep stairs – not for those afraid of heights!). Unbelievably
it was built with picks, shovels, crowbars and dynamite between 1906 and 1907. After
passing through about 1km of trail with spectacular views below we hit the
Stack Stairs which were to take us down to the Wentworth Pass and the Valley of
Waters. The Stack Stairs were pretty fun – basically like a CAT ladder, vertical
metal stairs ran down the side of the cliff face (some were contained in cages,
some weren’t!) and all you could see as you walked down was the very bottom of
the valley, over 1000 feet below.
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| Top of the Wentworth Falls |
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| Passing over the top of the falls |
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| National Pass - health and safety barriers ruining the fun |
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| Stack Stairs |
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| Nearly at the bottom |
Once
we hit the bottom the humidity was crazy, the trail was really dense rain
forest. Plunged deep into the valley, the trail was quite challenging but not
too bad and before long we reached the bottom of the Wentworth Falls. It was so
beautiful, the water falls all the way down the cliff and collects in a large
pool at the bottom. The cool mist provided us a bit of relief from the humidity
because from here the only way back was up! Heading back up to the top, the
trail was much less obvious as we had to cross quite a few creeks and climb
over moss covered rocks. Once we got a bit higher, the lush ferns and moss gave
way to the eucalyptus trees and angophoras. About halfway back up to the top we
passed Empress Falls – an impressive cascade. There was a group of canyoners
abseiling down it which looked like so much fun! Tim and I are desperate to try
it as soon as we secure ourselves some harnesses and helmets. The last couple
of km back to the top were brutal on the legs as the trail was steep and very
wet in places.
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| Wentworth Falls |
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| Wentworth Falls |
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| Canyoning Empress Falls |
Once back at the top we drove to nearby Katoomba, the
biggest town in the mountains. The streets were steep but super cute with art
deco buildings lining both sides. Driving through Katoomba we reached the now
infamous Echo Point (as visited by Wills and Kate on their tour). After having
seen no-one whilst hiking we suddenly emerged into tourist-ville, with hundreds
of people lined up on the edge of the viewing point snapping away with their
cameras. The view offers the Blue Mountains most famous sight, the weathered
sandstone peaks known as the Three Sisters. The story of this rocky trio is
that the sisters were turned to stone by a sorcerer trying to protect them from
the unwanted advances of three young men, but died before he could turn them
back to humans. There is a nice little walk down called the Giant Stairway but
after our morning’s hike our legs were done so we joined the gaggle of other
tourists taking photos before driving back to Sydney.
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| The Three Sisters |
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