Photo: Falls at Black Heath, Blue Mountains
Oct 15, 1989 After arriving in Sydney, I took the train to Katoomba. The next morning I started a 2-3 day hike from the town. I walked past the Three Sisters and got to the Ruined Castle about 1:00 PM. From there I hiked to Mt. Stirling, but I kept getting lost. There were many trails and none of these had any markers. My topo map helped me to eventually find the right trail, but I would soon be lost again.
At one point I climbed a very steep rocky outcrop with no protection, a foolish thing to do. Toward the end of the day, 6:00 PM, I was still far above the valley and out of water. I had to get to the valley floor to reach a source of water. Descending the trail in the dark I got lost one last time, and stumbled through the forest, occasionally wrapping myself up in vines. Eventually I reached an almost dry creekbed and camped there. I drank some horrible tasting water from a tiny spring in the creek.
Photo: Snake in Blue Mountains I almost stepped on
In the morning I followed the creek to where it joined a river, and then followed the river to where it met an established trail. As I joined the trail, I almost stepped on a black snake. By this time I was not too concerned about snakes, since they tended to shy away from people. From the river, I hiked several miles and gained 700 meters of elevation to get back to civilization.
Photo: Blue Mountains
Oct 18, 1989 Very tired, I took the morning train to Sydney and then a bus to Canberra. I stayed with friends of Paul: Margaret and Stephen. The two of them are classical musicians and composers. Next morning I helped Stephen put up posters for their upcoming concert and sat in on an interview of them by a magazine reporter. In the afternoon saw the new Parliament House, quite a palace.
On Friday saw more of Canberra, and had dinner at a Turkish restaurant with Regina. Took 11:00 PM bus to Melbourne. I was feeling very run down and needed the next few days to rest and get over a sore throat. I wondered if the tick or the bad water at Katoomba would have been the cause.
Photo: Ralph and NSW state flower
Map of New South Wales
