Friday, October 07, 2005

AUSSIE WEEKENDER 13

Continuing with the Blue mountain trip, the whole show there is around a set of three rocks called ‘Three Sisters’. They form a part of the , in the shape ‘∩∩∩’. The funda is, they have formed through millions of years by nature.
We had a lunch of Garlic bread, which was the only stuff available in the Scenic World. We were done, and ready to move to the main view point for Three sisters and the landscape, called ‘Echo point’. We had some 20 minutes for the double-decker expected by 2:45. Just took the time to walk down to have a look at the waterfall viewpoint.
The bus dropped us in Echo point in another 5 minutes. We walked down the viewpoint to get a better view. Then a walk of 2kms to the ‘Three sisters’ through the stone pathway created between the woods.
A steep 900 steps climb would take us to the bottom of the rocks, but we chose to be safe J. Back in to the main street, some shopping in the information centre-cum-shop. As in UK, these information centres facilitate accommodation bookings.
Wait for the bus to the next stop. We had had a good experience of the view, and the other viewpoints were not that interesting as these two places. We got down at Leura village centre and it was 4:30. The driver reminded us that the next bus at 5 will be the last bus. He was also suggesting that if anyone is planning to go back to Sydney, they can board the train from Leura itself.
We just walked through the main street taking some snaps. Back to catch the last double-decker, the sky was getting cloudy and it started raining. By the time we reached Katoomba, it has become a heavy rain.
The main street has most of the shops extending their roof to cover the footpath also. We went in to an Italian restaurant nearest to the bus stop. A big vegetarian pizza followed. We had to pack half of it back home and had to finish it for supper. These pizzas costs a bit sometimes, but they make it from the scratch after you order! So that makes it really tasty.
A long wait for the train back in Katoomba station, it was still raining. On the return journey, the rain vanished after Penrith and back in Parramatta, there was no rain at all !



Tailpiece:- Why is the Blue mountain blue ?
There is wonderful similarity coming up for Blue Mountains with our Nilgiris. Nilgiris also means Blue Mountains ! Then how come they are blue. Why is this similarity in naming, across the continents? What is common there? There comes this Eucalyptus. The theory says, the vapours from these trees float in the air giving the landscape a bluish look ! They refer some gum tree vapour also are responsible for this, I am not sure our Ooty has got them

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Venky...Great to go through these..snaps are nice...but few gud pics are not clear..may be due to lack of day light..but i appreciate that you capture every single'piece'.
santhosh.narayanan

Anonymous said...

Wow this is wonderful! How i wish i had your enthusiasm.