So we started in the Blue Mountains, meaning we had extra time because it wasn’t the original campground we were going to stay at. It was still freezing but I got up and headed down the track a little to take more photos.
My pet peeves on the trip were litter, tourists feeding the fauna (which is almost inevitable and I get why they do it) and really shit etiquette (in terms of basic manners or common sense) but the biggest peeve of them all was this sh*t:
I’m not going to start a lecture on it because I’ll go on longer than my recount of the Coffs Harbour Butterfly House but PLEASE STOP. I like graffiti, in the art-type sense. When it’s done where it’s allowed you can see immense talent and passion in the artwork, but this sh*t is just vandalism. It looks sh*t and is Disrespectful. And the annoying part is that they’re for nothing. How many couples that vandal their names onto things that shouldn’t be written on do you think are still together? And if they are, a photo here with their faces would be a lot nicer than this crap… moving on, moving on ٩(๑`^´๑)۶ .
The area of the Blue Mountains is beautiful, the kind of place I always wanted to live in when I was younger and even now. The towns are neat and cute and I love the colours and types of flora around the area. There’s something snug about these kinds of cold places. We went down to Katoomba to visit Echo Point.
We stopped to eat before going down to the actual lookout. I went into that little spot of trees to take some pictures. Those little spots have some sort of special and thrilling place in me.
So, Echo Point was windy AF, as they would say these days. It felt like my phone was going to be ripped out of my hands whilst I was taking photos and it was more or less impossible for me to get a panorama (I have pretty shaky hands to begin with).
Again, my photos don’t really do the scene justice but it was amazing. I went onto the Three Sister walking track as well to get down close to them. I’d learned of their story and was pretty keen to see them.
They have some silver animals along the track to get to the Three Sister Lookout. To proceed onto the Three Sisters the stairs are pretty steep so mind your step. If it’s windy, mind anything loose on you.
The walk back up from the Three Sisters reminded me of how unfit I was. Pace yourself. I don’t know how many of these little silver creatures there actually are but these are the ones I took photos of.
After coming back up from the lookout we went to the souvenir shops. There’s a lot to look at and a lot you want to by. There were little sweet shops and beautiful pieces of Aboriginal art that properly acknowledges the artist. That was something I noticed whilst travelling in NSW and VIC, there seemed to be acknowledgment of Indigenous languages, peoples and culture and it was really impressive to see. Growing up alongside an Aboriginal family and having blood family descended of my own, and finding there was next to nothing taught in any of the seventeen schools I’ve attended was confusing to me as a child and then frustrating as I grew up so to see all of the greetings in the language of that area and little snippets of culture from the tribe of that area at most of the rest stops along the way was really good to see.
We also went to the Blue Mountains Chocolate Company (really is just a little house). It was warm inside and I was so interested and excited by all of the little chocolates that I actually don’t have any photos from inside.
I bought some chocolates as souvenirs and tried some myself. Good chocolate. Warm atmosphere and cake that wanted to empty my wallet. I bought a hollow koala for my brother-in-law that was about twenty-centimetres tall (it melted on the way home. Was fine right up until we reached Queensland ｡ﾟ･ (>﹏<) ･ﾟ｡ ).
We went to a little bakery up in the main town centre, went back to the park to eat (Little Sister got stalked by a cockatoo) and then we headed out to Jenolan Caves.
Most of the other drivers on the road were speeding. As an L Plater, it’s a bit of a pain to have people cutting me off in a one-lane and riding my tail. If you’re not paying my ticket and taking on the record, I’m not going to speed. It only takes a second for a d**khead speeding to take out someone’s kid. We almost got wiped out because someone was speeding up the road from Jenolan Caves as we were going down. The speed limit is 40km/h but you’re mostly on 25-30 because of how winding and steep the road is. It’s also extremely narrow so you think people would be careful at least going around the corners. Nope. Someone cut me off at the entrance to the drive, going at least 60km/h and then we almost had a head-on because a 4wd shot around the corner in the middle of the road (whilst on his phone) as we were going down on the same bend. But, after some tense moments, we finally made it down to Jenolan Caves.
Jenolan Caves is interesting. It’s like a cute little town. Not quite a town but not quite a resort either. There’s something special about it that makes me feel like it’s just its own little place. Like Diagon Alley. Sort of. It’s hard to explain (which is something I probably should be good at).
I don’t have any good photos of inside the cave (I used a GoPro while I was in there) but I do have some good photos of the River Walking Track beside the caves.
The water in the river was amazing. So clear and so crisply aqua. There were a few lizards along the way that didn’t mind having their photos taken.
I didn’t expect the area around Jenolan Caves to be so pretty. I hadn’t really done too much research on it before I booked the tickets. I just wanted us to have a good cave experience and when I’d talked about booking a Jenolan Cave with others they all talked positively about it. I went with the Diamond Imperial Cave because it was in the afternoon and it sounded good. One-and-a-half hours and average fitness (for my comfort mostly).
I definitely recommend this cave. It was fun, interesting and exciting. There’s a lot to look at and if your guide asks if you want to go down to see the river in the bottom of the cave: SAY YES. The water down there is so pure and clear that about five people said “it’s just sand” (me included) when we walked down there to view it. The cave formations themselves have been made quite interesting because many have formed in ways that make them look like a variety of things from cows, confectionary to cities and Donald Trump. The guide we had was really good too. You could tell he enjoyed his job and sincerely loved the caves and he did well to project the aura onto the rest of us.
After we finished the cave, I was pretty disappointed to find that the souvenir shop was closed. I’d been collecting a magnet and shirt/other from every event and this was the only one I missed. On the other hand, however, the Taronga Zoo van we had seen pulling into Jenolan Caves whilst we were waiting for our tour, was still there. It turns out that an echidna had been hit by a car there before and they had come to rescue it. They took it back home and let it recuperate but when they tried to release him, they tried to trigger his defences and he wouldn’t burrow to protect himself. They decided that they couldn’t release him then and had brought him for a walk where his home had been. His name was Lynx and we got to pat him. He was so small and chill and it was adorable to watch him walk around. On the way back up the mountain from the Jenolan Caves, we actually saw another Echidna. We guessed that it’s most likely the people driving like idiots that hit them. The roads are walled by sloping rock meaning that the echidnas have no choice but to walk along it if they want to keep looking for food in different areas but people won’t see them if they’re doing over the limit and swinging around the corners without thinking.
From the Jenolan Caves we headed back to the Blue Mountains and stayed at Perrys Lookdown Campground again. We were actually scheduled to stay there this night but… well, things happened the day before. It’s in the previous post.
That was Day 4.
Still upset about my magnet.
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