The sound of my alarm at 4:45 a.m. was not a pleasant one. Neither was the sound of a text at 5 a.m. reminding me that I did not get out of bed with my alarm. I frantically packed and ran around my room to get out the door to catch a 5:30 train from central station to the glorious Blue Mountains. Once we got there (after paying for a cab because I always WORRY too much), we were told by Cal (one of the “helpers” at BU) that the train didn’t really leave for another 20 minutes but he wanted us there on time. Thanks a lot Cal; you owe me for my cab bill! When we got on the train, everyone went back to sleep for another two hours. I, on the other hand, had to read the entire story that we were supposed to have done by the time we got up there. (The trip was with out Australian Literature class because we are reading Eden’s Lost, which is set in the Blue Mountains.) Being up way too early wasn’t all that bad because I got to see the sunrise…gorgeous!
Once we got there, we got ‘brekky’ at a café and then got ready to go canyoning and abseiling. Abseiling is essentially repelling. We were driven in vans by the mountain equivalent of surfer dudes and, without much preparation, were suited up and sent down cliff sides. The first drop we went down was only like 15 feet and then we went over three more leading up to one that was a little over 100 feet. SO COOL! I wasn’t scared at all except for one ‘incident.’ I was told to begin abseiling by the guide (one is at each end of your rope) and so I went. Silly me to trust someone who does this for a living! The rope that I was depending on was caught on a lip of the rock and so I wasn’t able to go straight back. When I stepped back to go down, I quickly flung about ten feet to my right and began to spin around. The guides had no control of the rope and either did I. In my spinning cliff side adventure I managed to bruise myself in three wonderful places, cut my back and scratch my entire calve. I was scared but it was also fun –much more eventful than gracefully going down the rock. And, even though it was out of my control and not my fault, appropriate that it happened to me –queen of bruises and scrapes for no apparent reason and clumsiest person around.
After the DRY abseiling, we got into the vans and headed to another place on the mountain. We ate some yummy sandwiches, grabbed our big yellow backpacks and hiked down a ton of stairs to where the canyoning began. We had to change into wetsuits and put everything we had into our “wet packs.” I felt nauseous and shaky but was cheered up a little by the spectacle of Ted attempting to get into Maisa’s wetsuit (he took the wrong pack…one of a short girl no less). After we were sucked into our new skins and had our helmets and harnesses on, we headed to the opening of the canyon. Basically, this part is indescribable. Picture a crevice in between towering rocks filled with plants and rocks covered in algae and moss. Pools of water leading to the waterfall rushed down from one pool to the next around us. Every level was different. To start, we had to grab our knees and jump into a pool, darkened with shade, backwards. Then, we swam to the next part. As we descended with the water, we slid sown rocks, walked through pools, swam in streams, and even walked horizontally at one point with our hands on one wall and our feet on another…rocks below. It was thrilling and lots of fun. It was also BEYOND freezing cold (literally). Every so often, I stopped and took it all in. The sun shone through the top of the canyon and reflected off the water and moist walls. Colors of green and dark red glimmered and the dark water excited our senses. It was one of the most beautiful environments I have even beheld. Then we got to the end of the line, the place where you realize that the ONLY way out of this thing is down a 100 foot waterfall of ice water into another little pool. I was at the end of our group and was freezing cold with fear and from the water/shade when it came time for my turn. My hands were numb and tense and my body was shaking. I just wanted to be on solid ground again and so I went for it without much thought. It was not as thrilling as I thought it would be. The adrenaline was so intense that I thought I was going to be sick afterwards. The rock was smooth and slippery, water smacked me in the face (my contact almost came out), and you have to pay attention to the rope and don’t get to really enjoy what’s going on –at least a first timer doesn’t. When I got to the end of the walkable part, it was time to jump. That was the best part…until I hit the freezing water and had to get unattached from the ropes. Once I was out of the water and changing out of my wetsuit I felt exhausted and overwhelmed. I could have canyoned all day but I think I would have paid my life savings to be helicoptered out instead of abseil another waterfall ever again!
After we hiked back up the giant mountain (interrupted by a GREAT view of the whole valley) we piled into smelly vans back to good ol’ Katoomba for a weekend of class. Possibly the dirtiest I’ve ever been after a hike, I checked into the “guesthouse” and got ready for class. Our class of 35 or so students filled every room in the place! It was so unreal but so appropriate for the small mountain town. That night, we had dinner in the dining room at long tables with candlelight. Then, we met in one of the lounges for a movie screening of Eden’s lost. There was a hilarious girl fight amongst two of the BU staff that we over heard from “class.” After dinner, we all hung out in the girl’s room (somehow we got placed into a giant suite on the first floor with all the people we knew best). Bedtime was early after such a long day.
The next morning we were up at 8am for another formal meal in the dining room. After breakfast, we had class in the lounge and then had a day of free time. The weather was really cold in the mountains – good thing all I had was a hoodie. Anyways, with our free time we went to lunch at this crazy Christian cult hippie restaurant where we sat upstairs in a fake tree. It was another world in there – they looked like the people on Big Love at the compound. Strange. Then, we walked to the “Chocolate Factory.” We were really excited as we followed the city signs to this landmark. After a mile walk we arrived at a chocolate café that happens to make their chocolate. It was NOT a factory…in fact it was based in a house with a swing set in the front yard. BUT, to their credit…they had really good gummies and chocolate! We continued walking down the same road to see the three sisters. The tourist stop has a GIANT viewpoint where you can see the WHOLE valley, the mountains, the emu in the rock and the three sisters. We looked over the edge, took pictures and took it all in. While we were waiting for the bus to take us back to town (the walk was longer than we expected!) I went into a store where the man told me that this was the clearest day of the year to see everything; it is normally more covered in fog. We were all really glad that we made the trip out there after finding that out. When we got back, we went to the IMAX Theater and saw a film about the landscape of the Blue Mountains. It was awesome, especially since it showed canyoning and the cliffs we abseiled. It was almost impossible to explain to everyone what we did the day before and this really sealed the deal that we were AWESOME!
That night we had dinner with everyone and then class in the lounge. Sharon brought pastries and encouraged wine as we read plays out loud for class. Some people developed accents as the night went by and others slurred words or slowed down dramatically in their normal speed of voice. It was hilarious –oh Australia.
The next morning, we got up super early again, had class and then headed out on school escored adventures. We started at the three sisters, which were LOST in fog (good thing we had gone the day before). Ted, Soph and I hiked down to the base of the first one. SO cool—(but creepy). Next, we went to some tourist site where the oldest train car (for Blue Mountain mining) sits. We rode it and it reminded me of Thunder Mountain! So fun but NOT long enough. We hiked through the forest down to the bottom of the giant buckets that carried us back up to the top. It was a beautiful view. Next, we rode a bus to some other town where we had lunch at an art café. The exhibit there was WEIRD to say the least – themes include birds, Victorian lesbians, and dogs. Oh and the artist invented a creepy children’s book character that is a talking pudding. WHAT?! The food was good though…
After a great, but exhausting, weekend…we headed back to Sydney Central Station on the train. I can’t wait to take the train somewhere else and explore!
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hola!
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