Before I ever visited the Blue Mountains area I had heard that, as far as mountains go, they were less than impressive.  Yes, they are technically not mountains, but a plateau that eroded, blah blah blah.  And they may not be quite as high as the peaks in Yosemite, but they are far from the tiny hills they have been made out to be.  Standing at Echo Point in Katoomba, a funky backpacker-friendly town on the edge of the mountains, you look out over the Jamison Valley at an impressive expanse of tree covered land.  On each peak, the cliffs make a sheer drop off for at least 100 feet before disappearing behind the deceptively thick cover of eucalyptus trees and bushlands.  And with the odd blue tinted mist hanging in the air, the mountains looks very worthy of their reputation for swallowing up early settlers and modern British backpackers.

Most of the hikes from the Katoomba area follow the cliffs around the edge of the valley, descend into the bottom or, if you are feeling very ambitious, climb back out again.  We learned, luckily the easy way, that the best thing to do is climb down rather than up, when we took the approximately 1000 Furber steps down toward the valley floor.  The steps, made of everything from packed earth to cut stone and even metal staircases where the earth has worn away, also vary constantly in height, width and likely hood of making you fall on your butt (which I did).  But only by actually getting to the valley floor can you really appreciate the varied environments the Blue Mountains have to offer.  The dryish, scrubby bush at the top of the peaks changes to a cool, shady, almost tropical forest at the bottom, where tall green trees grow out of the thick bed of ferns.  The shady nooks between the cliffs contain hidden waterfalls that trickle down to form dark creeks winding amongst the rocks and trees.  And like everywhere else I’ve been in Australia, the birds in the Blue Mountains provide a consistent soundtrack for your journey.   The squawks and pips of the birds foraging in the bush eventually get overpowered by the echoing shriek of the cockatoos soaring overhead.

Once we had finally reached the bottom of the steps, we had the privilege of being zoomed back up to the top by the Scenic Railway, a journey well worth the $10 ticket price, especially going up.  The 51 degree incline railway shoots up between the trees and through a dark tunnel in the mountains, with the speed and rumbling reminiscent of the theme park ride.  The theme park experience continues at the top where you exit the railway straight into the gift shop of Scenic World, a hub for all visitors eager to take a trip on one of the many scenic trams or see the IMAX show about the Blue Mountains.  We didn’t stay long.

After a pleasant night in the civilized comfort of our room in Katoomba’s Lurline house, we set off on our journey to head the opposite direction from Echo Point toward the town of Leura.  Strong winds during the night had littered the hiking paths with long curls of eucalyptus bark.  And the Monday morning hikers were sparse compared to the Sunday afternoon crowd.  The first stop we were sure to make on the way to Leura was the bridge out to the iconic Three Sisters (much smaller in person than they would appear on a postcard, but still pretty impressive).  From the point overlooking the peaks the only sound we could hear in the valley below, was the faint tinkling bell birds.  The extraordinary call they made, really did sound like the bells of a million tiny little dairy cows escaping from their pastures.  The trip down to the Three Sisters also gave us a taste of The Giant Staircase, another way to descend to the valley floor using an incredibly well worn staircase.  After the Furber steps the previous day, I was content to stay towards to top.

After another few hours of going up and down a surprising amount, we found ourselves at the lovely Leura Falls, another beautiful gem hidden beneath the trees.  And eventually we managed to hike our way out of the valley and into the town of Leura.  Although a little more refined looking than it’s well worn counterpart Katoomba, Leura still offers the same thing that I suspect most of the towns on the Blue Mountains train line do; one central street with restaurants, antique shops and local crafts, that disappears after a stretch of about two blocks.  When we found out our train was going to be delayed for  two hours, I got to know those two blocks very well.

Since it only takes two hours on the train to get you too the Blue Mountains, and once there you have no shortage of ways to exercise your thighs, I will certainly be going back again.  Hopefully next time we can camp somewhere in the peace and quiet of the valley, without getting swallowed up by the mist.

Check out the rest of Gabe’s photos and my photos on Flickr.