Sunday, June 15, 2008

Blue Mountains

We continued the tour, first visiting the Three Sisters Echo Point lookout at Lilianfels Park.

The weather was so good! We could see clearly the blue hue of the mountain range. The blue hue actually comes from the gas reflections of the euclyptus leaves (koala's favourite food).

The Three Sisters refers to the formation of three eroded peaks. From the mythical story of the aborigines, three village girls were cast a spell to be turned into three rocks while their fathers went to war. The fathers died before being able to lift the spell, leaving the three girls in that condition forever. Whatever!

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It was a Saturday so the place was flooded by tourists...

Image hosting by Imageshack.us The peak formations called the Three Sisters...

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I was searching high and low for En. Arip, and I finally spotted him! Haiyoh!

Image hosting by Imageshack.us Three out of SEVEN sisters? Wonder what happened to the other four...

Image hosting by Imageshack.us MANY tourists and the Three Sisters.

Image hosting by Imageshack.us Trying my luck at snapping a lost, wild koala...hehehe

Image hosting by Imageshack.us We spent about 45 minutes at Echo Point, so by the time we got back to the bus to wait for the others, I had snapped a lot of pics! Huhuhu...I like the sun this bright... with cool temperatures, of course!

Image hosting by Imageshack.us The pic on top left is that of an aborigine playing his didgeridoo...

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Image hosting by Imageshack.us We left the Three Sisters lookout to proceed to the next stop - The Scenic Skyway! A cable car is connected from one cliff to the other side of the ravine. And there were two other rides waiting for us on the other side... After all the fun at the Scenic Railway, the bus will pick us up at that peak, too..

Image hosting by Imageshack.us The Scenic Skyway , owh I luv the glass floor! Also the view of the Katoomba Falls between the two stations...

Image hosting by Imageshack.us On the other peak, we took the Scenic Cableway down the valley floor. It took us deep down into the jungles...

Image hosting by Imageshack.us The view from the Scenic Cableway.

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At Scenic Cableway lower station. Thereon, we walked through the jungle... To get back up to civilization, we had two options: either take the same Scenic Cableway or try the Scenic Railway. Having tried the Scenic Cableway, our choice was obviously the Scenic Railway.

Image hosting by Imageshack.us Some pics from the jungle. Along the path, one can find the explanation to how this jungle came about.

Image hosting by Imageshack.us There were three routes available to hikers, all of different distances. We decided to take the short walk, as advised by the bus driver earlier...

Image hosting by Imageshack.us This is the Scenic Railway. Of all the three rides, I enjoyed this one the most! It was a really thrilling ride. Do u know why there was netting on the roof of the train? Because, on the way up, the train's position was almost slanting 90 degrees! U would feel like u were standing up, and the train passes by a narrow rock crack, and into small cave tunnel! The cave's walls were only a few inches from ur face! The net was to protect ur face! Also, the train moved as fast as a roller coaster! Damn, it was actually better then a roller coaster! hehe

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The Scenic Railway ends at the Scenic World Station as well, where our bus was already waiting for us... To calm the adrenalin, we took in the view with some hot coffee... The ride was worth every single cent!

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The machine that drags the Scenic Cableway up the steep slope...


They have also displayed sculptures of the legendary three sisters in the station compound...


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And this must be their farther? Oowh don't shoot me! I am not ur daughters' BF! LOL

Image hosting by Imageshack.us Not everyone enjoys coffee En Arip! Hahahah

Image hosting by Imageshack.us The old Scenic Skyway gondola on display... En. Arip was lucky to have experienced it 15 years ago...

Image hosting by Imageshack.us Something from En Arip's 15-year old scrap book - the Skyway gondola used then.

Image hosting by Imageshack.us So, after the wonderful time at the Scenic World, we waited for everyone to board the bus... and this time, the 2 couples were late for about 45 minuets! We had actually left them behind to go to the other lookout. We came back here to pick them up and luckily, they were there by then! And the usually-nice-but-now-sarcastic bus driver told them that he would leave them to take a cab back to the city if they are late again at the next stop!

Below is a short clip of the three rides from En. Arip's DVDcam:


Btw, the next stop was the small town of Leura... owh I simply luv this town!!

Stay tuned!

12 Comments:

At 8:53 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

hi, i was ur silent reader, really enjoy reading ur blog. aww, en. arip really comel back then!

 
At 10:31 AM, Blogger akupunyahal said...

the 4th photo tu mmg magnificent...besar rupanya rock formation tu... ada track sampai ke atas puncak ke?

 
At 10:49 AM, Blogger Bernard said...

Was the whole floor at the Scenic Skyway gondola transparent?

The trip to the Gondola Skyway would leave me speechless. Sebab aku dh pengsan masa tu.

 
At 12:29 PM, Blogger ezrazlinā„¢ said...

while at australia..there is two things that i'll avoid! 1) rollercoaster and 2) no SKAYWAY wahahahahaahah!

yes u finally listen to me..NO FOOD PICS wahahahahah!

 
At 4:12 PM, Blogger NBK466 said...

Pernah gak dengar cite pasal 3 sisters nie..tapi naper SISTERS ek bukan brothers ker, uncle ker, grandfather ker???

 
At 3:06 PM, Blogger Rush Murad said...

masa pi sana, tak sempat nak try skyway although i spent 1 nite kat blue mountain area... macam best ekk... heyy...love all ur pics... pakai software apa?

 
At 11:08 PM, Blogger wahdi said...

Hi Rlong, it's kewl to hear u enjoy reading my blog ;)

 
At 11:09 PM, Blogger wahdi said...

Ha malim memang besar, bila zoom out tu yg nampak cenonet he he
mcm pic no4 tu, ha baru terserlah besar dia..depan mata lagilah...
takde track ke puncak yer!

 
At 11:10 PM, Blogger wahdi said...

Benard, not the whole floor...middle part only...

 
At 11:11 PM, Blogger wahdi said...

Ezra, awat hang avoid 2 menda tu? tak macho ler bro :P

 
At 11:11 PM, Blogger wahdi said...

Abg Syahrol, maybe sebab batu tu nampak seksi he he he

 
At 11:13 PM, Blogger wahdi said...

Hi rush welcome home! ;)
thnx, i guna adobe in design utk susun layout pic tu..
btw u tak naik rides tu? ala ruginya..takpe next time gi lagi leh lah naik..:)

 

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