[lettie]

After 3 nights in Sydney we collected a rental car. This car was to be our home for the next 10 days or so. We drove out of Sydney and headed for the Blue Mountains.

The Blue Mountains area gets its' name from the bluish haze which hangs over them. The haze is caused by light hitting the oil and dust particles from the multitudinous Eucalyptus trees in the area. This area was explored by Europeans Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth in 1813 but relics suggest that Aborigines have been present in the area for up to 14,000 years. Within a few years of exploration by the Europeans, a road had been cut through the Blue Mountains. This must have been quite a feat as the greenery is darned near impenetrable bush. They did have a reason for building a road through. From their vantage point in the Blue Mountains, the explorers could see plentiful grassland on the other side. this would sustain cattle and grow crops. Unfortunately, the grassland was not as bountiful as they had hoped, subject to harsh weather conditions, flash floods in some areas, and not a drop of rain for years in others.

It was noticably cooler in the Blue Mountains and the clouds had followed us from Sydney but the smell of the Eucalypts was wonderful and brightly coloured Parakeets squawked as they flew from tree to tree. We pitched up at our motel in Katoomba, a small town which reminded us both of Hebden Bridge. We walked down to Echo Point in order to get a few views of the area. Although it was cloudy and slightly misty it still looked spectacular. The Blue Mountains are of no great height and from a distance look lovely and green, but from Echo Point we could see rocky pinnacles and sheer cliffs.

The most famous of the pinnacles are known as the Three Sisters. Aboriginal Dreamtime legend has it that three sisters Meenhi, Wimlah and Gunnedoo from the Katoomba tribe fell in love with 3 brothers from the Nepean tribe. Tribal laws forbade them to marry, so the three brothers tried to capture the three sisters by force. This sparked a tribal battle and the three sisters' lives were endangered. A local witchdoctor turned the three sisters into rocks in order to protect them. He intended to reverse the spell after the battle was over but unfortunately died in battle. Nobody else in the tribe could reverse the spell so the Three Sisters still stand there today at 922m, 918m and 906m tall.

We climbed down the steep stairway to the Three Sisters and then decided to take a walk on one of the many paths and explore the area. Wouldn't you know it........As soon as we got far enough away from civilisation to be drenched.. It peed down again!!!!

Here are some pics from the Blue Mountains, the Three Sisters, sheer cliffs and impenetrable bush.