March 1-3, 2023
“And it is old. For 60 million years since the formation of the Great Dividing Range, the low but deeply fetching mountains that run down its eastern flank, Australia has been all but silent geologically. In consequence, things, once created, have tended just to lie there. So many of the oldest objects ever found on earth— the most ancient rocks and fossils, the earliest animal tracks and riverbeds, the first faint signs of life itself—have come from Australia.”
- Bill Bryson
If you take a casual perusal of top ten things to do when visiting Sydney, you will find 4 of the 10 suggestions advise leaving Sydney. It’s odd but true. Don’t get me wrong, the is is a beautiful, world class large city with all the amenities you could ever want or desire. But, these lists often suggest leaving the metropolis for a day trips to the Blue Mountains outside the town.
Here are some glimpses of downtown Katoomba in the Blue Mountains
The Blue Mountains are a region that is part of the western outskirts of greater Sydney. It is about a 90 minute drive from downtown and offers a welcome relief from the urban grind. It is part of the ‘Great Dividing Range’ that runs North to South along the eastern coast of Australia.
We drove out of Sydney towards to town with the wonderful name of Katoomba. It sounds like it is from the movie Jumanji.
More on this part of the journey in a moment -
Before we left Sydney we had a couple of small trips to see more of this glorious harbor. The ferry system here is wonderful. It is public and leaves at regular intervals to take you all over the huge bay at little cost. We took a ferry upriver to one of the sources of this enormous harbor, the Parramatta River.
It was very hot that day and the sun was determined to drain our desire for a nice hike. We pressed on to the Rugby Stadium where we heard we might see something unusual.
Along the way we encountered a flock of cockatoos. They are quite common here, very noisy, and considered by the locals to be a nuisance. These were white Sulphur Crested Cockatoos. They showed little fear of us as they pecked and scratched the ground of worms like a squad of Drag Queen Robins.
We walked on looking up in the trees for our goal about ready to give up due to the heat. I looked ahead and thought I saw strange pine cones hanging from branches.
“Those are not pine cones…., “ Colleen said.
We found what we were looking for. It was a colony, or ‘Camp’, of Flying Foxes or ‘Fruit Bats’.
These creatures are the largest members of the bat family and have wing spans up to 3 feet. They are endangered, like so many animals, from loss of habitat. Their diet is fruit, flower pollen, and the occasional a small child there by decreasing the surplus population.
(No, that last part is not true….I think).
They are actually contribute to pollination of over 70 trees and plants.
Despite their fearsome appearing wings they are really quite striking. The head is angular and lean with attentive ears suggestive of a fox. They are covered with soft brown orange and black fur. Their young will often cling to their mothers for the first several months even during flight.
During the day, they hang upside down by a tendon attachment that allows them to rest without expending energy. They spend the day gently flapping the wings to keep cool. It was really was a unique experience to see these animals.
We also visited two to the more well known beaches. The quintessential Australian experience is the beach life along the gold (East) coast of the country. The long costal highway is doted with beach and surfing communities. You can spend your entire trip just here and be very happy.
These are a few images of Bondi Beach, one of the more famous ones here. It was a cloudy day when we went and the beach was not well populated. We were surprised to find the area a little run down and used looking for such an iconic location. But, even in the short time we were there you could appreciate the beautiful curve of the shore and the great waves crashing in. It is easy to imagine on hot vacation days, the beach lined with overly developed young men and women parading around like they were at Carnival in Rio.
In our view, the better of the two beaches we visited was Manly Cove. I found the name “Manly” funny and very Australian. I thought it was named, like so many things , after someone with that surname.
Nope.
The first British Governor, Arthur Phillips, of the colony was exploring his new acquisition. He sailed into the cove and found a thriving Aboriginal village. He thought the men were particularly strapping and virile. So he named the cove "Manly" and the name stuck.
Due to my inherit "Alpha Male" status I felt much more at home here (Adjusts speedo)
Manly Beach was decidedly more upscale than Bondi. It sported beautiful shade trees and a well maintained boardwalk perfect for strolling. The stores and restaurants, while still catering to tourists, were better kept with nice choices. We enjoyed the visit there much more.
I am sure there more spectacular beaches north along the Gold Coast, but we will not have time to see them.
On Wednesday morning we left for the Blue Mountains. As we drove out of the city, our first impression was the idea of calling these hills “mountains” seemed overly generous. There were increasing groves of Fir and Spruce evident. The ever present Eucalyptus trees were everywhere. But there were no towering peaks with steep hillsides one would think of with a mountain range.
Part of this finding is due to the extreme age of the Great Dividing Range. It has not changed much geologically over its several hundred million year existence. Time wears down the peaks.
The other reason is they are just small. The American Geological Society defined a “Mountain” as an elevation greater than 1000 feet above sea level. We are at around 3,000 feet here, so I suppose they are mountains, albeit anemic ones.
Despite my quibbling about the size of the mountains they do offer fetching and dramatic views especially at the Jamison Gorge which runs next to Katoomba.
Much of Austrailia is inhabitable desert and bleak landscapes. So, green hills, while not the Alps, still are a welcome and very pleasant change to an often hostile land.
The ‘Blue” name comes from a blue haze seen in the hillsides especially from look out points. It is caused by the ‘Rayleigh scattering’. If you look at some of the photographs you can appreciate the light blue haze over the forest below.
This is a phenomena first described by a scientist named Lord Rayleigh’. It has to do with the oils from eucalyptus trees mixing with the dust in the air causing the light to fracture when hitting it. The dominant part of the spectrum that results are the blue hues which gives the effect that which 'Rayleigh scattering’ in this area in known.
The most well known site to see here are Meehni, Wimblah, and Gunnedoo, better known as ‘The Three Sisters”. This sandstone formation involves three monolithic towers that overlook the Jamison Valley. Wind and rain shape the stone and over the millennia change the towers.
There are many local legends about the Sisters. All of them are similar involving a threat to three abroriginal girls.. Sometimes it was by a monster that lives in the valley, other times it is by men from another tribe. A local shamen imprisoned them into the stone for their protection. One of the best versions of the tale is the shaman was their father. When the montster was frustrated with the girls being hidden away, the beast turned his fury upon him. The shaman turned himself into a beautiful Lyrebird to escape but in doing so dropped his magic wand.
So the shaman spends his days searching the forest floor for his missing wand to change the girls and himself back.
Lyrebirds are real here and are distantly releated to pheasents or partrideges. They have beautiful mournful calls and can mimic natural forest sounds.
Here are the Katoomba Falls and related countryside.
We have one more stop on this long episode before returning home. We will fly to the north of the country where it is the rainly season.
Weather permitting we will glimpse the largest living organism on Earth. It is so large, you can see it from space.
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