The Blue Mountains

It’s already been a couple days ago, but until now I just haven’t really gotten around to updating the blog. Last friday I took the train to Katoomba, a tiny town (8000 people only) in the Blue Mountains. What’s really cool about the public transportation system in Australia is that as a compensation for the large distances; travelling is ridiculously cheap compared to The Netherlands. The 2 hour train trip to Katoomba only cost 8$. It’s not a boring trainride either; there were parts where the train literally went through jungle-like landscapes, and others where you have great views over the mountains.

Arriving in Katoomba itself was rather depressing at first: It is an old, grey town filled with poor people and cheesy touristic attractions. Luckily, the town was not really what my trip was about. When I arrived at the hostel the lady behind the counter was nice enough to provide me with some maps and walking routes through the Blue Mountains National Park, which was invaluable, as, once again, my planning had failed a bit. As I had nothing else to do the entire day I just picked a route and started walking through the forest (they very accurately call these walks “Bushwalks” – a word I think we should really introduce to replace the old fashioned “pinnen”; Tim, Bas & Stijn will know what I mean for sure).

That’s when it got really exciting. I already heard that the Blue Mountains were nice and worth a visit, but I was totally surprised by what I found there. There are actual parts of rainforest you can just walk through! The first day I pretty much stayed on the more walked, more touristic routes, which wasn’t all bad as there were a lot of signs with interesting information about the area and crazy creatures that apparently live there (I didn’t run into any – thank god – but there were lots and lots of exotic birds all over the place.)

 But during that day I talked to some locals who advised me to go up to a place called Ruined Castle. I have absolutely no idea why they call it that, as there is no, nor has there ever been, anything like a castle. What I do know is that it’s the most beautiful walk I’ve ever walked. It’s quite hard to describe what it feels like to walk through such a changing landscape, one moment it’s mountainous, the other it’s rainforest. Some really awesome things about the walk were that there were a lot of times that there wasn’t really a clear path at all, you wouldn’t see a soul (or any sign of civilization, reassuring you that you didn’t walk through a time portal back into the stone age) in half an hour, and that you’re continuously surrounded by things you want to take pictures of (I took over 300 – just of landscapes!)

I’m quite sure I could stay in the Blue Mountains for 2 weeks and still not see everything – all of a sudden 2 months here doesn’t seem that long at all. But Cairns and warm weather awaits, so there’s no reason to be sad really :)