Mams and I got up relatively early (5:30AM
uggg)and caught the train towards the Blue Mountains National Park near the town of
Katoomba. I kind of enjoy the train ride as a chance to see the city a bit and comfortable trip into the mountains as well as start my audio book 'The Count of Monte
Christo'. We walked downhill from the train station through the town towards some of the hiking trails. We headed along the cliff side road to enjoy the views a bit and found the paths that lead us to the trails in the canyon. We headed down the Dardanelles Pass Walking trail that lead us down the '
Three Sisters' which is a well
known rock formation. There were a lot of steps taking us all the way down, so the plan was to catch the giant
Stairwell Trail on the bottom and head over to
Katoomba scenic World, which is itself a popular tourist attraction. The walk along the
rainforest floor was really nice and many of the views up the
walls and across the valleys spectacular. I had intended on taking the steep, inclined railway back up to the Scenic World complex, however when we arrived it apparently was not operating. So after going around the walkways, we had to take the gondola (Scenic
Skyway) back up the cliff. It was nice, but I really wanted a chance to experience the s
cenic railway that they had because of the different angle of ascent. The complex has at one time laid track for a roller coaster (much of which we could see when riding up), however it apparently was never used. Seeing it
reminded me of pictures I have previously seen of abandoned amusement parks.
The staff apparently are not used to people taking one-way trips up the valley floor (as most go down, walk around, and then ride back up) so they couldn't figure out how to sell a ticket, so eventually we were just allowed to pass through. We did, however, purchase a ticket for the Scenic
Skyway which is a cable car that takes people across the valley over the beautiful
Katoomba Falls. the unique aspect about this is that the floor turns from opaque to transparent during the trip so people can look down through the glass beneath their feet.
We walked back into town (uphill this time!) and grabbed a bit of food before doing some shopping. I tried my first ginger beer which tasted exactly like the ginger slices placed on sushi, only liquefied. When we go back to Sydney we walked around more of downtown, including many of the areas used for the Summer Olympics several years ago. We even ran into a couple of
hashers when Mams recognized one of the
Interhash shirts from
China a couple of years ago. I really enjoyed walking around downtown and enjoying the food (several oyster stops), the beer (several bar/pub stops), and the sites. We stopped by one place called the '
Icecube' and since it was slow, the barkeep just started giving us a few of the light-up plastic ice cubes. Too cool. That place had the best oysters that we had yet experienced. We were a lot tired and decided to take a cab back to the hostel for the evening.
Mams and I got up relatively early (5:30AM uggg)and caught the train towards the Blue Mountains National Park near the town of Katoomba. I kind of enjoy the train ride as a chance to see the city a bit and comfortable trip into the mountains as well as start my audio book 'The Count of Monte Christo'. We walked downhill from the train station through the town towards some of the hiking trails. We headed along the cliff side road to enjoy the views a bit and found the paths that lead us to the trails in the canyon. We headed down the Dardanelles Pass Walking trail that lead us down the 'Three Sisters' which is a well known rock formation. There were a lot of steps taking us all the way down, so the plan was to catch the giant 
Stairwell Trail on the bottom and head over to Katoomba scenic World, which is itself a popular tourist attraction. The walk along the rainforest floor was really nice and many of the views up the 
walls and across the valleys spectacular. I had intended on taking the steep, inclined railway back up to the Scenic World complex, however when we arrived it apparently was not operating. So after going around the walkways, we had to take the gondola (Scenic Skyway) back up the cliff. It was nice, but I really wanted a chance to experience the scenic railway that they had because of the different angle of ascent. The complex has at one time laid track for a roller coaster (much of which we could see when riding up), however it apparently was never used. Seeing it reminded me of pictures I have previously seen of abandoned amusement parks. 
The staff apparently are not used to people taking one-way trips up the valley floor (as most go down, walk around, and then ride back up) so they couldn't figure out how to sell a ticket, so eventually we were just allowed to pass through. We did, however, purchase a ticket for the Scenic Skyway which is a cable car that takes people across the valley over the beautiful Katoomba Falls. the unique aspect about this is that the floor turns from opaque to transparent during the trip so people can look down through the glass beneath their feet.
We walked back into town (uphill this time!) and grabbed a bit of food before doing some shopping. I tried my first ginger beer which tasted exactly like the ginger slices placed on sushi, only liquefied. When we go back to Sydney we walked around more of downtown, including many of the areas used for the Summer Olympics several years ago. We even ran into a couple of hashers when Mams recognized one of the Interhash shirts from 
China a couple of years ago. I really enjoyed walking around downtown and enjoying the food (several oyster stops), the beer (several bar/pub stops), and the sites. We stopped by one place called the 'Icecube' and since it was slow, the barkeep just started giving us a few of the light-up plastic ice cubes. Too cool. That place had the best oysters that we had yet experienced. We were a lot tired and decided to take a cab back to the hostel for the evening.
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