10.01.10 Wentworth Falls Hike - Blue Mountains

An hour and a half's drive west of Sydney are the Blue Mountains, which get their name from the blue haze that emanates from the eucalypts after a hot day in the sun. They are plateau like, huge orange sandstone cliffs overhanging dense eucalyptus bush with many spectacular waterfalls, the best of which is Wentworth. It's named after one of the three explorers who crossed mainland Australia. We're driven out there by Tristan's dad, Mike and taken on one of their favourite hikes down the cliff face into the valley, through the bush, past the falls and the beautiful swimming holes and up the next cliff face by ladder.

They often explore different tracks in the area but do admit that this is one of the hotter days (34 degrees celsius) and if we don't feel that we can cope with the heat we don't need to attempt it. True hikers that we are, dismissed this as a small barrier, and started out nevertheless. Mike wanted us to see a venomous brown snake- he'd heard a statistic that there's one in every 10m squared of bush- so we kept our eyes peeled, but the scenery was exciting enough. The waterfalls were very pretty

and we especially appreciated a refreshing dip in the swimming hole at the bottom of Wentworth Falls.

the swimming hole at the bottom of Wentworth Falls

It was a stunning location with rainbows in the glistening water coming over the cliffs. It wasn't long til we were sweltering again after climbing ten sets of metal runged ladders up the other side. The view was worth it though, over a great sea of green bush to the horizon in the distance. Mike explained that every few years there's a bush fire but we were in no danger today because, even though it was mega hot, there was no breeze to carry the flames. He took us to the Three Sisters lookout to appreciate the unusual three vertical outcrops of sandstone as the sun was setting then it was back to Sydney, exhausted but exhilerated by our trip to the bush.