The Blue Mountains are west of Sydney and have so much amazing scenery and things to do, it was hard to pick one hike only. There are many kid friendly ones to choose from, but rather than go it alone, we decided to hire a guide company to take us through a trail that is a little less popular. We didn't want to run into hundreds of tourists, and we wanted a decent hike well suited for us. We hired Blue Mountain Guides. They are privately run and will customize the day to whatever you would like.
We started out from Sydney on the train to Katoomba. Originally we wanted a 6:20 am train, but since there was rail work on the lines, the only times available were 5:20 and 7:20. We obviously chose the 7:20 option, since dragging our asses to the train station for 6:20 was going to be hard anyway.
The train out to Katoomba costs $8 per person, or something silly like that. Very cheap. But it came included in the weekly ticket we bought for Sydney transportation. We played a few games of Uno and relaxed.
We met Darryl at the station and he drove us to a golf course, which is the start of the Robert's Pass. This is the trail for the Jamieson Traverse - a trail alongside a valley near The Three Sisters - the iconic rock formation popular in the Blue Mountains. The views were amazing right at the start, since we start on a plateau, then walk down, and back up again. It is the reverse of our hikes in the Rockies.
The Trailhead of Robert's Pass
Darryl showing the us a flower that has a trigger built into it to put its pollen on the back of the bee instead of its legs. It was called a Trigger Flower. Very imaginative.
There were a lot of ups and downs on the trail. I think we did 9km with 900m elevation gain over 5 hours or something. We needed to take a lot of breaks, since it was very hilly. There were also parts that were muddy and washed out by landslides and we had to be careful.
We all joined the fall-on-your-butt club early on, and eventually we all also joined the shoe-stuck-in-mud club.
At lunch, we were attacked by a swarm (? sorry - a ganon of leeches, thanks internet!), and Trent was soon stopping every minute to furiously check for leeches on every part of exposed skin and orifice. It slowed things down quite a bit.
At one point we came upon a crack in the canyon wall that we needed to shimmy through. It was a tight squeeze for sure!
Trent and Avery sitting on the tree-chair.
Break time
Eucalyptus trees were everywhere. I love the bark and the clean look they have. They really stand out!
Once we got to the bottom, we started seeing some really cool waterfalls. It was the summer, so they didn't have a lot of water falling in them, but they were quite cool and good scenery to keep things moving along.
And then we had to walk up there. It was basically 45 minutes of stairmaster on the highest setting.
On this part of the trail, it merged with another popular trail, so it got a lot more busy. We saw some abseilers coming down one of the bigger falls on our way up. It was a good excuse to catch our breath. Everybody did a great job!
We stopped back at the golf course, and Darryl drove us into Katoomba to go see the Three Sisters. It was a very busy tourist destination, which was good to see, but exactly what we were trying to avoid on the hike, so I'm glad we did it the way we did.
The Violent Femmes were playing a stop on their 30th Anniversary Tour, and they had just opened up tickets in the front row of the upper level. Normally these are held for house employees but they are released on the day of the show if available, so Cathy and I got really lucky grabbing two of them.
The train made it back, and we hiked up that damned hill to the hotel, changed quickly, and headed back. It was surreal to be in the opera house for a performance, much less such a well known band. The seats were amazing and the sound was so clear. They played an amazing set, and it was a perfect night.
And then we needed to find dinner.
Did you know that the big happening town of Sydney, population 4-point-something million, basically shuts down after 10:00? It took us an hour and a half of searching and google-mapping to find anything, and nothing was open. I guess if there is nobody there, they close early, because, what the hell? We stopped at The Sheraton to ask, and the concierge was shocked by the question of a late night dinner. Anyway - we gave up, went back to the hotel, and ate leftover snacks from the care-package John's sister gave us for Christmas, and vowed never to speak of the bad end to the great night.
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