Outback Wanderers: Day 27-28: Blue Mountains

December 11-12, 2010

The Blue Mountains are a string of mountains running down the east coast of New South Wales. That’s about all I knew about them as a provincial west-coaster. What I didn’t know is that they run so close to the Sydney metropolitan area, offering Sydney-siders a nature playground virtually on their back-doorstep. I also didn’t know they’d been classed as a World Heritage site. They must be something special.

They are. It’s not only the fact that there’s a hint of blue sheen to them – apparently produced by a chemical emitted from the particular species of eucalyptus trees endemic to these mountains (I couldn’t quite see it). There’s something magic about these ranges. Unlike the pleasantly ordinary hills that provide a backdrop to Perth, the Blue Mountains offer spectacular scenery that rivals anything we’ve seen in the outback.

Our first stop is Perry’s Lookout, just outside of Blackheath on the west side of the mountains. The Visitor’s Centre at Lithgow said there was a bush camp there, one of only a few in the national park. We take a windy gravel road out to its end, where a line of half a dozen cars sit in a carpark. The SUV in front of us parks in the last spot and out pours an Asian family, two young girls, a mum and a dad and lastly the matriarch. Grandma doesn’t look to happy about being in the bush and she grimaces along a fair distance behind the rest, calling out in a loud acerbic voice in a language we can’t understand.

The camping area is pleasant but designed for backpackers. A row of bollards prevents us from getting the car and caravan into a site, and a large sign clearly states no camping allowed outside the six designated sites.

We read through the interpretative panel and decide the Grand Canyon walk is the one to aim for – described as the “most spectacular walk in the Blue Mountains”. Who could pass that up? The walk starts at Evans Lookout, a few kilometers down the road, looking out over a wide span of rolling hills, lovely to look at but nothing too distinctive. The trail heads straight down, via steps embedded into the dirt or natural rocks, down, down, down into the deep ravine several hundred meters below the lookout. As you descend, the eucalypt forest gives way to a tropical wonderland, full of ferns, moss, rock pools, and falling water everywhere. It is indeed spectacular, as is the steep climb back up to the ridge three kilometers down the track! I was exhausted – but wowed!

We camp at the Katoomba caravan park, in a small grassy plot allotted to non-powered campers. There are a dozen other campers squeezed into this area -- young, hip couples in Wicked rental vans, middle-aged men in "Spaceship" rental utes, and a menagerie of tents -- our camper trailer set-up looks massive compared to the compact units of our neighbours.

Across the street is a trailhead leading into the park and after dinner we amble over to check out the viewing platform advertised on the entrance sign. The view south offers an expansive outlook across the relatively untouched park and sensational views of the sheer rock faces that are prevalent throughout the park. They tell of the 250 million year history of these weathered giants with their variegated layers of sandstone, shale and black coal. The view down from the platform is equally impressive: a sheer drop into the rainforest canyon 500 meters below – enough to take your breath away.

The next day I walk down into the canyon via the “Giant Stairway”, a steel and mesh contraption bolted into the vertical side of a rockface – gut-wrenching. That and the lovely forest walk below were built at the turn of the century (19^th to 20^th) to provide robust Sydney-siders some vigorous recreational activity. Though there were hundreds of starry-eyed tourists lining the viewing platforms on the ridge above, not many ventured into the canyon below. It provided a nice means of escape from the maddening crowd as well as a fantastic walk through an other-worldly landscape.

Two days of (mostly vertical) walking have made my legs rubbery but put a smile back on my face. All that long driving was worth it to have experienced the mountains so up close and personal. After a picnic in the park, we climb back in the car and head east for the last 100kms stint to Sydney – a new and different kind of playground.