The Blue Mountains

I can talk a lot. Always chatting with someone, always engaged in some discussion or just talking to myself. What I witnessed on my trip to the Blue Mountains got my lost for words. I will do my best to explain and describe it to you, but no story or even picture can do justice to the truly majestic sight I was lucky enough to behold.

Unfortunately for you it was the very last stop of the day where I got to see this amazing sight. So I guess you´ll have to read on a little bit more.

With only one more day left in Sydney before departing for Byron Bay I decided to take a day trip to the Blue Mountains. I booked it through the hostel. About 100 km west of the city lies an immense national park. In the center lies the town called Katoomba and the mountains stretch about 100 km in either the northern or southern direction.

A still sleepy fellow with hair to just above his shoulders, a beer belly and a general scruffy look picked me up at 7 am in front of the hostel. His name is Rod (short for Rodney) and he would be the driver and the guide for the day. He was quite a character. He had very dry humor, which I can appreciate. He was on point the entire day. Counting all people, making sure everyone had what they needed, but still had a very distracted look to him. He had been a Blue Mountains tour guide for the past 10 years and some of his jokes were a trick. It reminded me of the time I worked as divemaster in Curacao. Same jokes, different crowd. But it worked and the 12 guests, including myself, all had a smile on or face as we left the city behind us.

Rod explained that 99% of the Blue Mountains consist of Eucalyptus forest, but on some more shaded areas there is some tropical rainforest to be found. Such was the case at Leura Cascades, our first stop. “The view you’re about to see is nothing yet. You might think it is beautiful, but actually I is shit”, Rod said. “After this I’ll show you some places that are really amazing. The places where no big busses full of Chinese people can come. Secret places”, he said.

The Leura Cascades were actually pretty cool and I couldn’t wait to see the ‘secret’ places. After a short hike along a narrow path that winded up and down alongside the mountain lined with huge ferns, palm trees, tea trees and a wide range of plants I’ve never seen before we came across a chain closing off the trail. It had a sign on it which read: ‘Danger. Do not cross’. A few minutes before Rod had told me, “When you see the chain. Go underneath it and continue to the lookout point. I will meet you there”.

The view was great. You could see down on to the Leura Cascades and into a valley where the morning fog laid a thick white blanket over the forest. I looked like a river of clouds and was quite stunning. If this view was ‘shit’, I wondered what Rod had in store for us.

We tracked back to the little tour bus, which looked like the big brother of the Mystery Machine. Winding roads through a few small towns brought us to the next stop, called Pulpit Rock. The view was already a lot better than at Leura Cascades. The Blue Mountains look a bit like the Grand Canyon only the valley floor is covered in Eucalyptus forest as far as the eye can see. Eucalyptus trees have a faint blue glow to them hence the name, The Blue Mountains. On the other side of the valley a narrow but very tall waterfall could be seen. Next to it the rock face was covered with plants. It was locally known as the hanging gardens. Every so often the plants get too heavy and fall down, leaving bare sandstone patches on the green wall.

It was to be our next destination. Although it looked like it was far away it only took us 15 minutes to get to the other side.

The plan was to hike to the lookout point next to the waterfall, which is called The Bridal Veil fall. Then track back a little and follow the creek up stream. Rod would take the bus and meet us at the end of the trail. For some reason he asked me to be the last one in the group to make sure that everyone would arrive safely at the meeting point.

It was a very nice hike. Not too difficult, off the beaten path and through a beautiful part of the Blue Mountains. It took us about an hour to finish the trail and most were happy to be back in the bus and rest their feet.

“Ok gangsters. That is a hiphop reference. The next stop will be quite touristy”, Rod said dryly. “We are going to Echo Point and take a look at the Three Sisters. There is a legend, that I think is made up by the Europeans to make it more interesting, that goes as follows. Thousands of years ago there were 3 sisters who were in love with 3 warriors of a rivaling tribe. According to tribal law the sisters were not allowed to marry. But being warriors, the other tribe decided to take the girls anyway. A war broke out and to protect the sisters a witchdoctor turned them into stone. Unfortunately the witchdoctor got killed in battle and the sisters remain stone pillars until this day.”

We had about 25 minutes to look around. Afterwards Rod would take is to a very special real secret place, which can’t be found in any Lonely Planet or other travel guide.

The view at the Three Sisters was great gave a beautiful panoramic view. There were several mounts to be seen. One of them was called Mt. Jellore. My own mountain right here at the other end of the world. Who would have thought?

Here there were busloads of Asians and elderly people. One Asian guy had his headphones in and was singing out loud. Oasis, Katy Perry and Brian Adams were part of his repertoire. He could be one of those candidates for Pop Idol who think they can sing and gets kicked out at the auditions. It was hilarious. I feel kind of bad for the guy, since he was obviously oblivious to the fact everyone was laughing at him. But he did manage to bring a smile to the face of everyone there. Big up to the Asian guy!

The time had finally come. Our last stop of the day at Rod’s secret spot. A place called Sunset Rock. Just a small rocky ledge hidden in between thick bushes. The view was incredible. There were a few Germans in the group that could be quite loud. “Oh my god, this is amazing”, one of them shouted. “God has nothing to do with this”, I told her. “And can you keep it down. I’m trying to enjoy this view without you ruining the moment”. That helped for about 5 minutes, so I wandered off and followed the ledge to distance myself from the others in an attempt to take in this truly amazing sight.

An enormous valley with rolling hills covered in a blue-ish green forest. You could see pathways in the canapé where creeks and rivers flowed. It was hard to imagine that all this was eroded by water over millions of years. I listened to the silence. Never have I experienced such silence. No distant highway or other manmade structure to pollute the sound ways. Just the wind, the faint sound of a flowing river and the birds below on the valley floor.

It sat down on the edge with my legs dangling over the abyss. The clear blue sky covering the Blue Mountains which reached as far as the eye could see. The sunlight fading. At that moment I felt so small, so serene. Everything got put into perspective right then and there. We as humans think ourselves pretty important. But in truth, we are nothing. Just a little spec in the universe. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying we have no meaning and should commit mass suicide. We should just be more aware of our place in things. I could have sat there for hours and hours. Taking in the view, the sounds, the smells. Taking in something I can’t really put my finger on, but I was a truly humbling experience and one of the greatest moments in my life.

I had to pull myself away as it was time to leave. On the ride back to the city I closed my eyes and was right back on that ledge again. I thanked Rod a million times as he dropped my off at the hostel and gave him a good tip. He deserved it.

I need to go back there some day. Alone or with a select group of people. I feel it was over too quickly, but I am very happy to have witnessed such an amazing sight. It had been a good day.