15 Oct 2011 | The National Pass + Katoomba, Blue Mountains

The Blue Mountains is a popular day-trip destination for many Sydney-siders and tourists alike. Sydneysiders like myself make trips to the mountains to escape citylife, enjoy nature, breath in the fresh mountain air and just chill. There's also enough going on in the mountains to keep city people entertained...at least for a weekend. This time however, me and a group of girlfriends decided we should be more 'active', so we planned to give bushwalking/hiking a go.

It took us about 2.5 hours to drive from the city (on a Friday night) to Medlow Bath, just one station away from the more popular, touristy Katoomba. A friend of mine (check out her travel blog here) booked us into this lovely B&B - 'The Chalet' - which is a delightful guesthouse featuring a large number of modern Australian art throughout the property. The main dining/living area in particular is a mecca of great art books and art works. If we had experienced bad weather that weekend, I would have gladly enjoyed a day 'in' just reading up on the art books by the fireplace. This guesthouse was definitely one with character and charm which I'd recommend to anyone wanting something 'different' for the trip to the mountains.The guesthouse had excellent facilities and a family room suited the four of us fine.

In the dining room...surrounded by great art!

Tea & Chat time! My fave part of the photo - the images in the mirror! 

On Saturday morning, after much deliberation - to hike or not to hike as the weather looked questionable; then which hike out of the 100 available trails in the blue mountains? We finally decided to go on 'The National Pass' - a 6km hike around the Wentworth Falls region of the Blue Mountains.

All I can say is that the hike was simply stunning. I am so glad we decided to hike because the weather worked out perfectly for us. There were a few wet areas from the previous nights rain where I had to be careful and walk slowly to avoid tripping in my running shoes (memories of Taipei 2009 and tripping whilst hiking were haunting me), but nothing that requires too much skill or experience. I personally have a fear of going down stairs, so again I was slow on those parts of the walk. But made up time as I like going on the ascent! The worst part of the hike was actually just the last 10 minutes, due to the ever increasing rather than diminishing number of stairs one had to climb; and the increasing temperature and humidity. Plus I think a large part of the tiredness/fatigue was just mental endurance by that stage. The great thing about being active is the sense of accomplishment. The walk took us approx 3 hours  including a 20 minute lunch break.

I will now let the photos show and convince you that Australia just has some of the best scenery in the world.

Blue Mountains

Scenery from start of hike

First glimpses of water

I just love waterfalls! 

Nature at its best. 

Parts of our hike...

Amazing rocks

Wentworth Falls (I believe!)

Creative shot!

Obsession with waterfalls continues...

Even though I've visited The Blue Mountains over the years, it had actually been about 15 years since I last saw the Three Sisters at Katoomba. We couldn't have picked a more appropriate time to catch sunset and the sister light up by night.

Sunset colours at Katoomba Three Sisters Lookout

Three Sisters by sunset

Next update: Leura Walkabout