Katoomba & Wentworth Falls

Hello all!  As promised, here are a few pictures of the quaint mountain town of Katoomba and of our hike to Wentworth Falls.

The Flying Fox hostel was very welcoming and comfortable and a great first time hostel experience for us. As recommended by the hostel owners, who served as local tour advisors, we chose to leave the more tourist populated scenic spots in Katoomba and head off by train to the sleepy town of Wentworth for the day. The first portion of the hike followed a path taken by Charles Darwin in 1836 and led us to the edge of the 186m (613ft) high Wentworth Falls. Until this point, the goin' was smooth (aka FLAT). After viewing the top of the falls, we descended down thousands of stairs, or at least it felt that way.  (Many thanks to the overachieving environmentalists that cut these stairs for us in the 1920's, without which the descent would not have been possible and we would have returned to Katoomba for a beer.)

Cut stairs in the side of the canyon wall

But alas, we went down and down and down some more. After viewing the falls from the bottom, instead of returning, we went down some more via ladders bolted to a cliff face.

This was all with the intention of following a much recommended loop trail back to our starting point. To our surprise, the trail went cold. Honestly, not a hint of a trail any further. To half of this pair that has spent many days in the woods, this was very frustrating.  Since wandering any further into the Australian outback would begin to make a great plot for Unsolved Mysteries, we made the decision to return the way we came, up hundreds of feet of ladders and steep rocky stairs. After six hours of the Australian wilderness, we returned to Katoomba for our bags, devoured some delicious Thai for dinner, and returned to Sydney for a few hours of sleep before our early flight north to Cairns.  Needless to say this will be a day for the books. 

Just thought we would include this picture.  These Yellow Crested Cockatoos were all over on our hike.

More to come from Port Douglas and the Great Barrier Reef.

***We want to give a HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to our good friends Matt & Meghan for the birth of their precious baby girl, Caroline.  We love you guys and can't wait to meet Caroline!***