unday started out fine, but got worse rapidly, and by the end of breakfast, it was raining. We still jumped in the car and headed out to the Blue Mountains, to see the rock formation known as the Three Sisters.

When we arrived at the Three Sisters though, we could only see “Half A Sister” if we were lucky, due to the extreme fog. We took a few happy snaps off the lookout anyway, just for the heck of it, and to prove we were there. To be honest though, you’d never be able to tell even what country we were in, let alone whether we truly went to the Blue Mountains…*grin*

The Aboriginal dream-time legend has it that three sisters, ‘Meehni’, ‘Wimlah’ and Gunnedoo’ lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe. These beautiful young ladies had fallen in love with three brothers from the Nepean tribe, yet tribal law forbade them to marry.

The brothers were not happy to accept this law and so decided to use force to capture the three sisters causing a major tribal battle. As the lives of the three sisters were seriously in danger, a witchdoctor from the Katoomba tribe took it upon himself to turn the three sisters into stone to protect them from any harm.

While he had intended to reverse the spell when the battle was over, the witchdoctor himself was killed. As only he could reverse the spell to return the ladies to their former beauty, the sisters remain in their magnificent rock formation as a reminder of this battle for generations to come.

We drove a little further and came to the Scenic Railway, which is classified as the “world’s steepest railway” by the Guiness Book of Records. With a slope of 52 degrees, it is indeed a very steep ride, and more than a little disconcerting, despite how tame it looks in the photo… On another note, it was not until we got into the train that we realised that the roof was lower on one side than the other, indicated by Trav cracking his head on the cage above.

At the bottom of the ride, we walked around to a nearby waterfall, then back to the train for the ascent. The history of the railway is below, but we cannot figure out who would want to build a railway on that angle, and more to the point, how they managed to hang on while they were building it. It’s okay for us passengers in the train with the cage and laid-back seats, but the people building it would have to somehow stay holding onto the side of the mountain, and keep the building materials from falling…

The line was built in the 1880’s by John Britty North, founder of the Katoomba Coal Mine Co. for the purpose of hauling coal from the tunnel mouth to the cliff top and then to the railway for transport to Sydney. A tunnel was driven through the solid stone on an average incline of 45 degrees.

The first passengers to be carried on the railway were bushwalkers who came to the coal mine at the end of their walk from Leura Falls. They asked to be carried up on coal skies and the directors of the mining company, seeing demand for passenger travel increasing had a special passenger-carrying skip built, placing a charge of 6d. (5 cents) per ride. This special car was put on at weekends to cater for growing passenger traffic, called “The Mountain Devil'’, the little wooden car carried twelve passengers.

In 1945 the Colliery closed down and the Katoomba Scenic Railway Pty Ltd, the cartage contractors for the colliery, saw the tourist potential of this unique attraction and purchased the property which has been developed into the Skyway Complex.

We were about to head back to Sydney, but then changed our minds and drove to the Jenolan caves to see if there were any tours that we could get on. Due to a VERY slow car in front of us, and a winding road preventing overtaking, we were delayed to the point that by the time we arrived, there was insufficient time to go on one of the 90 minute tours and still make it back to Sydney that night for the flight. As a result, we wandered around the outside of the caves, and down the local river to see the hydroelectricity pumps from years gone by. All very interesting, but we were more than a little annoyed with the slow driver in front of us costing us the chance to go on a tour. One of the features of the area was the small lake created by the hydroelectricity dam, just in front of the Grand Arch near the caves. The water was simultaneously a vivid blue, as well as extremely clear. The colouration of the water is apparently due to the mineral content of the rocks it flows through before it enters the lake.

After driving back to Sydney, we ended up suffering from a delayed plane departure anyway, so it turned out we could have gone on a cave tour. Ah well. That’s the way the cookie crumbles, I guess. The bonus about being delayed was that we were at least not on the actual plane when it was sitting there. It arrived late from it’s destination, and so we were able to sit in the comfortable airport lounge and watch TV, rather than being trapped on the plane. A rather uneventful flight put us back in Melbourne, where it was much clearer weather than it was in Sydney.

A quick read through the trip indicates that we did not see the harbour bridge museum, or an opera house tour, or ride a ferry, got wet from rain, did not see the Three Sisters, or go into the Jenolan caves, on top of Di’s plane from Melbourne making bad noises, and the return trip was also delayed. Well, as much as it all sounds bad, it was still quite a good weekend and nowhere near as dismal as it would first appear. Everything was extremely relaxing, and it was pleasant to just take some time off from the pressures of watching grass grow. Yeah, I know, it sounds silly, but it can be quite stressful…

Categories: Travel, Sydney 1999