Our Blue Mountains adventure

On Saturday morning, Jan 12th we piled onto a coach bus, with Moshe as our driver, and headed to the Blue Mountains.  They are just a few hours outside of Sydney.  We stopped first at Mt Annan Botanic Gardens and Seed Bank.  We had an interesting lecture on "Evolution of Australian Biota".

I especially enjoyed learning about the Wollemi Pine which was thought to be extinct until a bushwalker (hiker) discovered some of them growing in the wild, in the Blue Mountains, in 1994.  There are fossils of them which are about 90 million years old.  There are less than 100 adult trees known to exist in the wild. Their location is very secret and only a few scientists and rangers know where they are.  We saw several at the Botanic Garden.  We also saw 2 Brown Snakes while walking near the Seed Bank.  Ugh, I hate snakes.

Then we headed up to the town called Katoomba to attend Scenic World.  It's the most "touristy thing" we do on our trip.  They have a railway that goes down into the rainforest at a 52 degree incline (128%), the steepest passenger railway in the world. That was fun.

But before we got to Katoomba we had to pull off the side of the road. We were climbing up the mountain and our bus was overheating.  As we were waiting for the engine to cool, we heard a loud crash.  Turns out a young driver with his learner's permit smashed into the side of the bus, near the front tire well.  Uffda.  It was only his 2nd day driving.  Poor kid.  Thankfully, no one was hurt.  We all piled out of the bus and waited on a nearby neighbor's lawn.  He was so nice and brought us out a few chairs and some ice water to drink.  Thankfully the bus was right and we made it to Scenic World on time.  We then settled in to the Katoomba hostel and a group of the students made a yummy bbq meal.  We then watched "Rabbit Proof Fence", which I'd recommend to you, heartbreaking though.

On Sunday we wound our way down and down to Jenolan Caves.  We had a great tour underground with a great guide, Scott.  The cave is 440 million years old and bigger than Lewis and Clark Caverns.  One unique and cool formation is Helictites.

Science alert!  {Helictites are formed by water slowly entering the caves through pores and cracks in the limestone. Helictites are named from the Greek word 'helix', meaning 'a twist'. They are small irregular growths which proceed in any direction contrary to gravity. The most accepted theory for their growth and development is a combination of capillary action and hydrostatic pressure. The saturated solution eminates from a pore so slowly that it doesn't form a drop. Evaporation occurs and a minute layer of crystal is deposited. A capillary tube slowly develops, through which the solution is drawn, extending the helictite. Because no drop forms, gravity has no effect and the helictite can develop in any direction, defying gravity.}

After our hike, we walked along the Jenolan River and found a gorgeous place to cool off.  I remember, 10 years ago, as we were heading back towards the bus, Ryan and Shane saw a platypus in the Blue Lake.  We looked and looked, but no luck this time.

We had a lecture first thing in the morning, "An Australian National Identity".  The lecturer and his partner made us Pavlova, but first we had to try a Vegemite Sandwich! Monday was our gorgeous, strenuous bushwalk of the Grand Canyon Walking trail + the Rodriguez Pass Trail to Beauchamp Falls.  Erik got 18,000 steps and 75 stories climbed.  I'm sure I got more steps since I have short legs!!  We kept up with the group pretty well until it was time to come out of the canyon, my legs nearly gave out, I told Erik I didn't know I could walk so slowly!  Several of the students had to wait quite a while for us to arrive.  Oops, sorry! It was worth it, so many beautiful sites!