I guided a trip on the weekend for a great Sydney-based company called WeekendBreaks (www.weekendbreaks.com.au).
The group was from all over Europe: Kevin (Ireland), Carlo (Italy), Ingo (Germany), Nuria and Lukas (Switzerland), and Julie, Beatrice and Fabrice (France).
The weekend consisted of hiking and trekking in the beautiful Blue Mountains National Park. The group was very keen to do as much hiking as possible in the two days so hike we did!
DAY ONE: FRIDAY
I met the group at the pub strangely enough on the Friday night and after a few quiet refreshments decided it was time to crash because I had a fairly big day planned for them the next day.
DAY ONE: SATURDAY
After a cooked breakfast the next day we headed off. First to the Three Sisters and Echo Point for the obligatory group photo, then down the Giant Staircase (all 900 steps) to the bottom of the valley and along the Dardanelles Pass. This track took us through some beautiful vegetation and great scenery of the Jamieson Valley until we reached the bottom of the Scenic Railway about two hours later.
From here, we headed up the Furber Steps - a long and at times really steep staircase that took us from the bottom of the valley right up to the cliff top again where we sat and ate the lunch that I had prepared for them.
From here we made the decision whether to go out to the Ruined Castle which is quite a hard walk but all the group agreed that they wanted to go. (honestly they all did...)
We headed along the top of the cliffs away from Katoomba until we got to the Glenraphael fire trail. The wind and the clouds had built up quite a bit by this stage but there was no stopping us by then and we descended down the Golden Stairs (the group couldnt work out why they were Golden and indeed why they were even stairs!) until we reached the Federal Pass in the bottom of the valley again.
With Carlo setting the pace on the way out and Ingo pacing us on the way back we got to the Ruined Castle in record time which allowed us to climb the rocks there and take in the awesome view of the valley on all sides before heading back to the Golden Stairs for our second climb of the day.
Exhausted but satisfied we then headed back to town for a wee power nap then a BBQ with a few more quiet refreshments...
DAY THREE: SUNDAY
I promised the group after the huge day we had yesterday that today would be much easier. After a pancake breakfast we headed back down to the Three Sisters and down the Giant Staircase again but this time we headed east along the Dardanelles Pass towards the Leura Cascades.
This track is largely in rainforest areas which provide for a cooler and more shady walk. We passed many beautiful cascades and waterfalls on the way until we reached Fern Bower and started the 'easier' climb up to Leura Cascades.
The group was starting to feel the massive day we did yesterday so we had a little break lying in the sun as we waited to be picked up by our driver John to take us back to town.
After a quick lunch we headed out for the last hike for the weekend: the Grand Canyon near Blackheath. I think this is one of the best and most under-rated walks in this area. It descends from the Evans Lookout which has amazing views of the huge Grose Valley down into the Grand Canyon which has been carved out of the originally level plateau by river channels over millions of years.
The group really enjoyed this walk and didnt even complain when we came to the last climb of the day up the steps to Neates Glen where John was again waiting for us.
Then all was left was to head back to Katoomba where the group headed back down to Sydney.
I would like to thank the guys at WeekendBreaks, Ann from the Blue Mountains YHA, John from Fantastic Aussie Tours who was our driver on the Sunday and also the guys in the group who made the weekend fun and even more interesting.
Check out some more photos of the weekend below:
