Blue Mountains

Friends of the sun,
Friends of the green,

today I will also tell you something about the green side of Australia, because after I spent almost 2 weeks only within Sydney or in the concrete jungle, I went for a whole day into the lush green of the Australian jungle or the Australian bush - I headed to the Blue Mountains with Hero (my old colleague from Hobbiton).

Once Hero picked me up in Sydney, we drove for 2 hours in the dark out of the city and into the middle of nowhere to a camping area. We didn’t see anything except for a very bumpy gravel road that led us around 10 km deep into the Australian bush.

The next morning we already felt quite a bit of the New Zealand atmosphere on this road. By the way, it was quite early as I had planned a rather strict daily schedule because I had received some recommendations for the region that I would have liked to see and hike. So we got up early and headed straight to the longest hike - the Grand Canyon Walk. On the way there, we admired the nature and the landscape. We both believe that if New Zealand has been admired, we recommend all travelers to visit Australia first and then New Zealand, as the landscapes in New Zealand are significantly more impressive than those in Australia. On the way, we found a super cute and incredibly delicious bakery where we treated ourselves to a tasty breakfast and bought all sorts of goodies for a nice picnic in the evening. My bread-loving self was fully satisfied here. Afterwards, the mood in the car was already muuuuuuuch better than before. ;)

Now that we had delicious bread, we just needed something tasty to put on it - so we headed to ALDI! Hard to believe, but yes, Australia has Aldi. We bought a few treats there, and I also got myself some extra snacks for my next flight the following morning. Hero's van was quite funny, as it was painted in the style of Scooby Doo - The Mystery Machine. We definitely immortalized ourselves in some photos on this short trip.

The track that I was recommended was a circular track that took us about 2.5 hours in total, and I must say that it was generally one of the most beautiful tracks I have done on my trip so far. A lot of greenery, lots of water in various forms, and everywhere my dearly beloved steps. These are even built across the different rivers, and it was truly a dream to walk here, discovering a new little highlight around every corner.

Unfortunately, Hero was a bit above the average hiker's height at some points on the track, which is why he had to bend down here and there.

At the very end of the track, we were rewarded with a truly amazing view of the canyon. We definitely chose the right direction to hike because having this view at the end of the hike is much nicer than starting with it.

For this view, we had to hike a bit, so for the next viewpoint, we chose an easier path, because for Lincoln's Rock we only had to walk 5 minutes from the parking lot to enjoy the view of the surrounding canyon.

However, that was not our last stop, because afterwards we went for another smaller hike with lots more steps to the Katoomba Falls.

The track and the waterfall are directly below the cable car constructed there, which is fantastic, because all the tourists want to admire the view but do not want to hike, which is why we only met 3 other people on the whole track, and we were mostly alone at the waterfall. An incredibly beautiful view of the 'two-tiered' waterfall and also of the 3 Sisters, which were visible in the background. The track theoretically leads all the way down to the bottom of the waterfall, but on the one hand, we were also no longer inclined to hike, and on the other hand, there was a sign at the top warning of a landslide, so we didn’t know how far we would have made it anyway.

So we enjoyed the view and then climbed a bit higher to see the entire waterfall from a bit further away.

And since we had already seen the 3 Sisters from a distance, we drove to the closer viewpoint from which we could take a closer look at the three stone towers.

What a fantastic day with so many wonderful highlights! I am so grateful to Hero for spending this day with me and for making it possible because without a car, all of this would have been much more time-consuming and exhausting! Plus, we had a lot of fun, and I am already looking forward to the next reunion (possibly in Europe. ;) )

After so many steps and stairs, we were quite hungry, and we made ourselves comfortable at a picnic table and treated ourselves to a classic picnic. Hero even made fresh fried eggs, so it was more of a dinner-brunch than a picnic.

Afterward, he was also soooooo sweet and dropped me off with all my stuff at the airport so that I could catch my flight the next morning without any problems. Well, almost without problems because my plan to nap a bit at the airport in Sydney while waiting for my flight was abruptly ruined because the airport in the METROPOLIS of Sydney is closed from 11 PM to 3 AM due to a complaint from residents regarding flight noise! The staff kicks all passengers out overnight, regardless of wind and weather - and not very kindly either, as the staff is annoyed that the guests don’t want to leave, and the guests are annoyed because this information is not actively shared online, and the only sign I found in the building was hidden behind a large plant. In short, my stay at the airport is not recommended. Just like my first stay when I was stuck for 13 hours in the transit terminal. Anyway, all that couldn’t ruin the wonderful day.

And then I was off to Singapore.
More on that in the next post.
Yours, Britta