Feeling Blue

Thursday 6th March


Today I went on a day trip to the Blue Mountins and the Jenolan Caves. The beginning of this trip was less chaotic than those in Thailand, but I think it was only because I spoke the same language as the operators. Because of cross booking and so on I still ended up on a bus belonging to a different tour operator than the one I booked with. It did confuse some foreign people so for them I guess it was as chaotic.


Anyway I ended up on a tour with John the bus driver. He was very entertaining, and although a number of his comments were scripted, there was enough where he was reacting to things happening around us for him to give us some good off the cuff remarks. He had to, because the traffic out of Sydney was quite busy. It took us quite a time to get to our first stop, ScenicWorld, which is neat Katoomba in the Blue Mountains.


Basically all this is, is a tourist site built around a few cable cars and a funicular railway that is said to be the world steepest. There are also jungle walks and so on. As we arrived late, and were on a tight schedule (more about that in a minute) we only had time to do the funicular and a cable car back up. The funicular ws quite steep, it says its at 56 degrees, but to be honest at times it feels almost vertical. I think it feels steeper because you are sitting, not standing like in a lift. The cable car back up wasn´t as exciting, it was a big cable car capable of taking 60 people, so it didn´t swing in the breeze like others.


Then we were off to the Jenolan Caves. These caves are quite a distance beyond Katoomba, about 75 km, so it takes quite a while to get there. It hadn´t looked as far on the map, and in fact isn´t as the crow files, but it is a tricky journey. When I realised how long it was going to be, an extra 2 1/2 hours on the bus, I thought I´d made a mistake instead of just picking an easier tour to Katoomba only, but the trip itself was worth the extra time and money, never mind the caves.


The road to the caves was up and over a couple of mountain passes. When you get a bit higher the terrain became more of a mountain pasture scene than the jungle of the Blue Mountains, which I liked better, probably because it reminded me more of home. But the best bit was when you got to Jenolan. The last 8 km are very narrow and winds down a mountain side. The road is so narrow that they have to close it and make it one way for the buses, which is why we were on a deadline to make that window. Two cars might be able to pass, but a car and a bus could never pass. And we weren´t too bad, we were only in a 21 seater bus, there were 45 seaters going down ahead of us, and the driver told us that sometimes they get double deckers as well. That would be pretty hairy.


The caves themselves were pretty good. There are hundreds, we just visited one, the Lucas cave system. They had all the usual features, and some fancy lighting. The little village of Jenolan though has to have one of the most stunning settings ever, in this clearing surrounded by mountain walls, and the only way in is through a big natural arch. And there are some nice lakes and walks around it as well which we had a little time to do. Its only drawback is that you can only get in and out at certain times.

On the way back we got the big picture stop of the famous three sisters rock formation from Echo Point. It was actually quite empty, and it was a good time to take pictures from a lighting point of view, so it was good that it was left till last (I believe on other tours they do it early in the morning and its quite crowded). Anyway after that it was back to sydney, again with the heavy traffic, so we were back late, at about 7.40. Overall the trip took just under 12 hours, and of that we were on the bus for 7 1/2. I can't think how it would be done faster, but it did seem like a long time. Still it rested my dodgy ankle.

That evening I went for dinner in Wagamamas overlooking Darling Harbour. I'm not sure that its a better view than the one that overlooks the Tower of London, but its certainly a better view than the one in Dublin. Then I went to take some nighttime pictures of the sights. Darling Harbour did look a bit more lively under the lights, and the Bridge lights up well, but again I was slightly disappointed by the Opera House. Maybe there was something on and they didn't have it lit up as much, but it seemed quite dim in the pictures.

I decided to go to see if Kings Cross was any worse at night, and it was, but not by much. In general the strip clubs are fairly reserved, and there wasn't to much hassling of people on the street. Or at least I wasn't hassled much, but any groups of lads who looked like they were on a night out were getting targetted by the bouncers. Its the first time being a single bloke has stopped me from being hassled.

I headed back in towards the central station to get the bus home. But as I was passing a pub I saw some sport on (England v New Zealand in the cricket, but sport is sport, and Janet doesn't have the sports channels), so I popped in for a couple of drinks, just long enough to watch England fail against NZ, and long enough so I needed to get a taxi home.