Railway Square YHA, part 1

I am pissed off with this computer and this blog. I just spent 15 minutes writing an entry only to lose it when I tried to spell check it - because this computer blocks pop-ups. So now I have to start again and try to recreate it...

Got here at about 7.30 p.m. after 2-hour train journey form Katoomba ($11.40 - equivalent to about 4 pounds - amazing value!) My rucksack felt very heavy as I walked up Katoomba Street to the station in the late afternoon sun. I've been spoiled by travelling about by car (or rather camper van) for the last week. It's the first time I've had to carry my bag since arriving at Wendi and Derek's on 13th!

This hostel is situated in a former parcels shed next to Central Station in Sydney. some of the dorms are in re-created rail cars, on what appears to be a platform, complete with left luggaage lockers! I'm in room 102, which faces the rail cars, across the platform.

Left hostel around 2.30 p.m., thinking I'd walk to Echo Point and to Scenic World. It didn't look far on the map, but turned out to be a brisk 20-minute walk to the end of Katoomba Street, into Lilianfells Avenue then down to the Prince Henry Cliff Track. I gave Echo Point a miss and set off towards Scenic World instead (cable cars, railway and forest boardwalk). This was apparently a 45 minute walk (5 km by road). After about 20 minutes I got to a cable car stop (Skyway) so took that to Scenic World. I bought a ticket for the Skyway and Scenicender cable cars and the Scenic Railway, then went to get postcards in the shop (which I wrote on the train journey.)

Scenic World is tourist heaven - everything is packaged, even the rainforest. As the cable cars and the rail cars start to move you are treated to muzac with a voiceover telling you in icky tones how wonderful it all is. After 5 minutes in the shop I began to lose the will to live and headed for the Scenic Railway which takes you to the valley floor (or to the boardwalk). This is 'the steepest railway in the world' - its origins go back to the days when coal was mined in this part of the Blue Mountains. The descent was accompanied by oohs, aahs and screams. The performance was repeated regularly as I walked the 20-minute boardwalk to the Scenicender, which takes you back up to the hell that is Scenic World. The boardwalk is punctuated with information boards and displays, telling you about the plants and about the coal-mining history. There were walk options to other places further afield, but I didn't have time to explore (I never saw Govett's Leap or any of the other famous Blue Mountain landmarks!).

I emerged from Scenic World into the blistering heat of the car and coach park (only 25C today I believe - if the YHA information board can be believed) to find that I had a 20-minute wait for a bus back to Katoomba. Then I spotted a man with a motortrike ('Trike Tours') and asked how much he'd charge to take me back to the YHA. he suggested $5 and I agreed. It was an exhilarating --and cooling - ride and much more fun that the Scenic Railway!

By the way, the room that I shared with Viv at Blue Mountains YHA last night was called 'Serendipity'! That is just so appropriate for this trip and how my life is at the moment!

Well I've now used up 50 minutes of internet time and I still haven't written about the camper van tour that Wendi and I took - around 2000 km in 5 days.

I think I might be hungry now - it's around 9.40 p.m., but I'm still not feeling 100%. I'll log off and buy some more time later.

I have to be up early again tomorrow - to get the airport shuttle bus at 6.55 a.m. I'm getting the palne to Hervey Bay, then a bus to Bundaberg.