It had dawned on me that I only had a couple of weeks left in Sydney and there was still a lot that I hadn’t done yet. It was at this point that Mel, Steff and I sat down and went through all the places we wanted to visit before we left. From the scattered list of activities and places, a route was formed.
It wasn’t the only last minute decisions that were made that week. A girl from the hostel asked if she could join us on our trip. All I knew was that she was from York and that we knew some of the same people. Sarah knew Mel a lot better but I was still happy that she asked if she could join us. Not only would it be refreshing to have a new person in the group, but it would make things a little cheaper. We were all thinking the same, it wasn’t just me!
We excitedly grabbed our books and notes and sat round to discuss where we all wanted to go. Sarah said straight away that she wasn’t fussed where she went so would go along with anything that we planned. I guess that makes things a little easier.
Annoyingly, our plans changed a lot. First we planned to go south, then it changed to north, then back to south again and a couple of days before we left it changed back to north again. This was all because of the advice of those around us. Backpackers said one thing, Aussies said another and the random bloke down the pub said something else. We didn’t know what way was up in the end. It was so confusing. Who do we trust, locals or those who have done the route themselves?
Anyway, enough of all of that. I’ll get to that in a later post. So we sat in a circle, pens and notebooks poised to jot down our route. I shouted out the first place that came to mind which was Blue Mountains. It’s a couple of hours from Sydney and somewhere I had thought about visiting since I arrived in Sydney. I presumed that everyone wanted to go as it’s a beautiful place and is always on the guide book’s top 10 things to do along the East Coast. My idea got a unanimous no. What? Aw crap! This put a spanner in the works. My friends turned their noses up at the thought of hiking and taking photos of beautiful scenery. Great.
I thought that was that and pouted. There wasn’t a lot I could about it really. I could have booked on a trip but that would end up being too expensive and I wanted to go with friends, not on my own. Oriel overheard my dilemma and came to the rescue. He wanted to go to the Blue Mountains and so did someone else. A few conversations later and I was set to go to the Blue Mountains with four others from the hostel. Perfect! After this was announced, a few people murmured their displeasure at the fact that they were not invited. It felt like I was back at school again.
On the day, it was still the five of us and I was happy with that. The driver, Wayne, I met in January and have since had brief conversations with him. I gave him a piece of the chocolate cake left over from the Christmas party*. I felt that secured a lasting bond. Joey and Oriel came too. The last passenger was Angela. I didn’t know Angela that well and, from what I saw at the hostel, I had always been slightly intimidated by her. I don't mean that in a nasty way. Angela has a big personality and sometimes I shy away from that but sometimes I clash. I wasn’t sure how this group would gel on this trip but I was still excited.
I was marked in to work the next day at 9am which was annoying. It meant that I couldn’t camp overnight and had to get the train back. The plan was to set off between 7:30-8am and make the most of the first day.
At 8:30am on the Saturday morning, we were still sat around in the common room. I think we were all just about packed and ready to go. We’d all taken a verbal beating from those around us. Angela had never been camping before and everyone was going on about that and the fact that we’d be squeezed into a car driving for hours on end…blah blah blah. It didn’t bother me. Somehow I just knew we’d have a good time.
The guys weren’t wrong about the tight squeeze as all our things only just fit in the boot. They were only staying for one night. What did they have in there!? I don’t know how I managed it but I got to ride shotgun on the way there. Everyone confidently said that I could be the navigator. Ha! These guys obviously know nothing about my sense of direction, or should I say lack thereof. I didn’t mind. I was able to stretch my legs out. It was alright for Angela in the back too as she was stretched out across Joey whilst Oriel gave her a foot massage! Maybe I made the wrong decision.
First stop was petrol, second stop was food. For some reason, the latter thought didn’t cross our minds until part way through our road journey. We stopped off at the next mall and bought enough food for a barbeque as well as lunch for that day.
Angela and I spotted our lunch straight away.
Great minds...
...eat alike.
All this navigation business was mighty tiring so I have nothing to report about the journey there as I slept through most of it!
I've not learnt my lesson from Thailand!
We didn’t have much of a plan. We thought we’d head to the heart of the Blue Mountains at Katoomba, visit the Tourist Information place and let them tell us where to go. It’s what I usually do anyway so I had no problem with that.
Before we reached Katoomba however, we passed road marks for Wentworth Falls and decided to have a little look-see at that. We didn’t think we’d be that long but ended up staying there for a good couple of hours. Obviously if I’d have known that I would have changed into my trusty hiking boots. They’ve been in storage since Fuji-San and could do with a bit of an airing. Instead, me, Angela and Wayne all wore flip-flops (thongs).
Ewwww!
The expression on my face is the result of walking in wet mud. At first it was gross. Then it was unbearable. But after a while, it actually felt quite nice. My feet got a nice little mud facial.
Ange loved it!
Along the walk we saw miniature waterfalls and inlets within the mountains.
View from the starting point.
Rule breakers!
I guess it is a nice place to stop and have a rest.
Joey was a bit more daring. Crazy man.
It wasn’t a comfortable walk but the sight was magnificent. As we looked out through a clearing between the trees, we saw a rainbow reach across Wentworth Falls. It was mesmerising.
It was the best photo I could get on my camera.
We finally made it to a clearing to see the falls and this happened.
I was still so stubborn as to keep my white flip flops on. That didn't last!
Moments later I got stuck and almost fell arse over tit. It was at this point that I admitted defeat and took my flip flops off. Five minutes later, I put my full weight onto a sharp rock hidden within the sludge. Fuuuuuuu…dgery doo dah, that hurt.
I saw this photo and was bloody thankful that I stood on a rock and not this bad boy!
Nice view but I actually got a better view from the other side. I ignored that fact and convinced myself that submerging my feet in mud was worth it.
I think we all had had enough of the mud at this point so headed back to the car. Our next stop was the Three Sisters. My roommate Mel told me the history behind them and I thought there would be more information displayed when we got there but there wasn’t which was a bit disappointing. There are two Aboriginal legends surrounding the origins of the Three Sisters. The first story describes three sisters who fall in love with men from a rival tribe. Unable to marry by tribal law, the men capture the women and a battle ensues. To protect the sisters, a local witchdoctor turns them into stone. Unfortunately, the witchdoctor was killed and couldn't reverse the spell and so the sisters remained this way. An alternate story is a bit more complicated and long winded. In a nut shell, a witchdoctor who was father to three daughters turned them into stone to protect them from a Bunyip (Aboriginal mythological creature). The magic bone which he used to do so was lost during the attack and was never to be found.
I was so happy with our day as I saw a lot and the sun stayed out just for us. Travelling around with the others was so easy. There were no egos, no dramas and no indecisiveness. It was just plain easy. I wish I could have stayed longer.
Before I was to leave, the others needed to figure out where they would be kipping for the night.
The guys strongly suggested to sleep here so they'd have shelter if it rained.
But Angela was having none of it. Instead, we found a campsite not too far away. It had amenities! Showers, toilets and plug sockets. I was happy for Angela.
I sat and watched from the safety of the car as the others set up camp.
Angela is happy with her one-man-tent.
Cosy!
I decided to pass on food and get dropped off at the train station in good time so I wasn’t rushing. I said goodbye to Oriel and Joey. Everyone wanted me to stay which made it harder to leave. I didn’t want to ditch work and leave on a sour note. Wayne drove me and Angela accompanied us as they planned on getting munchies on the way back. I’m not the only one who gets late night sugar cravings then!
As we set off I checked my phone. I hadn’t looked at it all day as I never get text messages ordinarily. I thought I best text my roommates to let them know I’ve set off. I unlocked my phone and was shocked to see a text message had arrived. I thought it might be from my roommates but it wasn’t…it was from my boss telling me not to bother coming into work the following day! That was awesome news. I could stay after all.
Wayne, Angela and I excitedly stopped off at the local supermarket and got some goodies. Oriel and Joey weren’t even surprised when I came back. They must have known all along that I wouldn’t go.
I may as well eat with everyone now then. We kept things simple and had sausage sarnies with onions and cheese. It was delicious.
The boys in the "kitchen" where they belong.
Oh nom nom.
Oriel tried to freak me out by deep throating a sausage.
It got dark so quickly and I started to shiver. It then dawned on me that I had no overnight things and I didn’t have anything to soak my lenses in. I had spare ones back in Collaroy but if I discarded the ones I had in, then I wouldn’t be able to see anything the next day. Arse.
In the meantime, Oriel kindly gave me his jacket. Wayne said he had a spare sleeping bag I could use too. That’ll do! I’ll just have to chance my lenses. I’ve fallen asleep in them before and they didn’t escape into the back of my head so I hoped that night wouldn’t be any different.
I can’t believe how cold it was. During the day it was blazing sunshine but tonight it was ice cold. We all sat in the only lit place on the campsite, the BBQ area, and bantered until we couldn’t put it off any longer. We split off and went into our tents with the intention of getting a good night’s kip. I just hoped I didn’t freeze overnight.
Wayne had obviously camped a lot as he was all snuggily buggily in his massive sleeping bag and lied on top of a long cushioned mat. Oriel and I looked on in envy as we lied on the ground. Not even my chunky ass could provide a good enough cushion. Oriel again donated a pair of jogger-bottoms. I naively thought he had other sleep-ware as surely no sane person would give away their clothes. Oriel did give away all his clothes. Most people would have handed back the clothes out of guilt. I offered his clothes back but I looked so feeble that he declined. Poor Oriel spent most, if not all, of the night getting soaked by the edge of the tent. As well as the cold, it was raining heavily. I can’t say I was having a better time. I kept dipping in and out from warmth to freezing. It was tiring. My back, arse and hips were yelping in discomfort and then I had the sight of Wayne happy as Larry with his mod-cons, snoring away.
I awoke with the cackle of Angela’s laugh ringing in my ears. I felt groggy but held on to the consolation that I’d be able to sleep in the car. I peered out of the tent and tried to make out my surroundings. The sun was so bright and my eyes were so dry that everything was blurry. I didn’t look too healthy.
Duck!
Seeing a family of ducks potter round actually cheered me up. I wasn't fully regenerated but it gave me enough energy to get out of the tent.
The others had said yesterday that they would do a four hour hike around Wentworth Falls. I wasn’t particularly up for that and I thought Angela would feel the same too. We already saw plenty of Wentworth Falls whilst we were there yesterday. I don’t want to do a hike just for the sake of it.
We all got ready at a sluggish pace. Once everything was packed, we paid up and went. Before we had chance to make a final decision on what to do, we needed food. We went to the nearest café and ordered a bacon and egg sarnie. Oriel snarled at the price and said it was too expensive. At $6 I told him that’s half the price of what it is in Sydney. I was that hungry I would have paid double for half.
The food was good and rejuvenated me enough to actually feel like I could tackle a four hour hike. Instead, we all decided to drive back to Sydney via a longer route and stop off at certain points.
My failed attempt at revenge for the photo Joey took of me asleep.
Our first stop was Govett's Leap. It was pretty brief. Got out the car, went across and had a gander, took a photo and went back to the car.
Our second stop took us to the area around Mt. Wilson. Somehow, Wayne managed to manoeuvre the car up a bumpy dirt track to the view point.
Mad man Joey at it again
We all split up and started climbing over rocks and through trees. We had no idea what we were searching for but had good fun leaping about. Joey fell off a ledge and me and Angela screamed. We raced over to see the damage only to find Joey stood on a step just below with a beaming grin on his face. Not funny!
Nice little resting place.
After stretching our legs and enjoying the views, we trudged back to the car. We decided that we had seen enough and ventured on back to the hostel. We all sat in silence, partly due to exhaustion but mainly because Wayne's iPhone had conked out and we had no tunes. I was thinking back to the funny highlights of my trip and pictured the long hot steamy shower that awaited me when I got back. I had such a good time. There were no arguments or tantrums. Everyone got along and everything was easy. We didn't get lost which is a new one on me. We saw a lot without having to spend a lot. Everyone was happy.
We rocked up to the hostel and dragged everything out of the boot. I said I'd see everyone later and skipped to my room. I wasn't sure whether my roommates would be in the room waiting to fire questions at me or out and about somewhere. I opened the door to find them both glued to a laptop. My arrival barely registered with them. With that warm welcome out of the way, I dumped my stuff and announced I was going for a shower to which Mel replied, "Oh. Well we're going to K-Mart to pick up the camping stuff and everything that we need for our trip." Back to reality with a crash!
*Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that we had over 50 slices of chocolate cake left from the Christmas party. We sold half and kept the rest. From that, I reckon I cleared away three quarters of it. Mel and Steff didn’t stand a chance!
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