Surprise in the Blue Mountains

For most of my life, I’ve been a planner. I still enjoy making plans, but I’m also learning to enjoy living without quite knowing what’s next, and having faith that things will work out. 

Some friends and I decided to head to the Blue Mountains together, after a couple of days exploring Sydney. I knew a little of the area, enough to know that I wanted to go, but it was only the day before we headed up that I looked more specifically into what the area offered. With a few viewpoints and vague walks in our minds, we headed out one morning to explore.

Out first viewpoint was Echo Point, where usually you can see the iconic Three Sisters – a natural rock formation. At this moment, though, all we could see was cloud obscuring the trees, and a different cliff in the close distance. It was chilly and started to rain, so we took shelter for a short while at the inside lookout point whilst it passed, refuelling in the warmth with crappy coffee. When we set out again, we walked one of the tracks, admiring the hills and the increasingly clear view. Soon, blue sky began to appear behind the clouds. When we returned to Echo Point, we could actually see the Three Sisters!

On route to our next stop, we sought out some much better coffee and ate lunch. At Sublime Point, we admired the view of the mountains and made friends with a puppy and her parents. The puppy was very friendly and reminded me how much I miss mine back home. We chatted with her parents for a while, about Sydney, the UK, and Brisbane, which is where I was heading soon. As we stared out, a rainbow appeared over the trees and we watched it until it faded.

Our next adventure was a hike down to Empress Falls. We didn’t have any context for the scale of the waterfall, so with each step down we took, we were impressed. The track was green and fresh with moisture. We stepped over water that ran down on one side of us and spilled over the other, getting splashed as we went. As we descended to the main falls, we saw children in wetsuits and bright yellow helmets jumping into one of the pools.

We spent a while exploring and admiring the water, and clambered down as far as we could go. We found the bottom of another falls where we looked out at the sun-glazed cliff ahead. 

I hadn’t known what to expect of the Blue Mountains, but standing at the bottom of the waterfall, water splashing onto my skin, gazing at the nature around us, I was delighted by what we’d found.

On the walk back up it began to rain again. The shower was welcome – we had a good few steps to climb. By the time we reached the top, we were giggly with fatigue and adrenaline. We went for a drink before heading back to our hostels. After a shower, journal, and dinner, I headed to meet the others at their hostel for a cosy evening in. Outside it was dark and cold, so sitting inside with a bar of chocolate and the girls was the perfect way to spend the night, especially after an active day.

The next morning, we woke up early to catch the sunrise. We raced to Echo Point at 6am, where the sky was already soft with colour. We watched as those colours changed from pinks and yellows to bright blue. The sun appeared from behind the mountain, the shadows over the trees receded, and the birds began their morning song (squawk!). Unexpectedly, a news reporter approached us and asked us to join him briefly. They were filming live for Weekend Sunrise and wanted some people to wave at the camera. We did it for a laugh, still bleary eyed, wearing leggings and crocs. 

The Blue Mountains were glorious. Whilst making plans ahead of time is still fun to me (and often very useful!) it is so exciting to discover what an area has to offer whilst you’re there, and letting what you find lead the way.