It's been 3 years since my last trek- that was in the lap of Himalayas- the winter Sandakphu trail. Ever since, I had gotten pregnant and had Tu-Life truly turned upside down... now as she turns 20 months old, a faint glimmer of hope arose that said may be...just maybe, I could finally think of getting back to a solo trek. As I spoke these thoughts aloud, my husband (AJ) was most supportive! It was all very impulsive, I just thought of it one day and ended up applying for leave the entire week post Easter. We had a preplanned family vacation at hunter valley with our dear friends Venky, Sharanya and their lovely daughter Ria. Tu had the most wonderful 4 day vacation with them and we got back home Monday evening- a tired lot! This idea to go on a trip solo completely forgotten..Tuesday was a typical post vacation day- going through mountains of laundry, cleaning the house and buying some basic groceries that will at least last the next couple of days. By the time Wednesday came I was already beginning to doubt if I'd even make any trip out...there was still so much to do to get the house back in order before reporting back to work the following week!! :-( Just I was about to give up on the hike (too much self doubt, sudden guilt pangs at wanting to leave Tu behind blah blah) AJ kind of picked up on this one and booked me into Mountain Heritage Resort in Katoomba for one night on Thursday- 31st March 2016. The rest, he said, is up to me..! That was all the impetus I needed! :-)
All excited, I got started on my packing and realized we don't even own a back pack anymore! :-( (all of our luggage now consists of trolley bags and baby bags! ) So I took one of AJ's old laptop bags and put away my stuff in it, it felt soooo good to be packing a tiny bag- no diapers, no baby food, no back up items/contingency supplies!!! :-D I had a small bag with spare clothes, some other things, a book and wallet and essentials! This in itself reflected on my face in the form of a HUGE grin :-D Wow what a relief! Had forgotten what these trips were like to be honest!
With the packing done, I got back to the daily grind of getting Tu's dinner ready, our dinner ready and the next few hours was lost in the routine...Later in the night once Tu went to bed I opened some websites to read up on Katoomba! Seemed like a beautiful albeit touristy place. I still wasn't sure if I wanted to hike here or just have a leisurely trip and come back. I checked the schedule of Blue Mountain Train (BMT) and turns out there is an hourly train from Paramatta. That was it, my prep work done I hit bed at 10 PM all excited about heading off someplace alone....actually it was very very long since I had done ANYTHING at all alone... some how this whole business of being pregnant and becoming a mom had translated into a very sticky (literally!) situation of forever being surrounded by someone or the other. And coming to Sydney had all the more meant that I was around Tu forever! The grind never stops once you are outside India- there are no back ups or options and one has to live with it when taking up these international work/longer term stay assignments.. :-/
The next morning saw a round of the daily grind again- tu's food, her teeth brushed, hair combed etc. Finally at around 8 AM I stepped out, caught a T64 to Parramatta and then boarded the 8:14 AM train from there. Got a nice window side seat, thankfully no one next to me, so plonked my bag and got settled in. :-) Debated for two mins on whether I should plan the day out by googling on my mobile or pull out my Agatha Christie...easy enough decision and the book came out. The next hour was peaceful as I ploughed away at the pages of Sparkling Cyanide. Gosh!! How long had it been since I had a train journey- one on which I read a book that too??!!! :-)) Super start to the trip I must say!!
Slowly, the train started winding up the mountains and unlike in the USA (where the scenery was mostly monotonous in my train journey) on this one, the scenery kept changing. So the occasional times I looked up from my book I got to see new sights and beautiful endless vistas of densely foliaged mountains... the Blue Mountains- they sure had that same blue hue that their namesake Nilgiris (a mountain range in southern India) has. Seemed like a train ride to Kodaikanal almost! We pulled into the quaint railway station of Katoomba at 10 Am- slightly sooner than I had anticipated, not that I complained:-) . Hoards of us got down at this station leading to a small queue on the way out of the station. Just as I had anticipated, there were several tourist -friendly hop on-hop off tours on offer just outside the station. After a second's deliberation outside one such window I walked over to the near by bus stop outside the Carrington Hotel- vaguely remembering a tip on trip advisor that said 'all buses to anywhere noteworthy in Katoomba started here.' True to that, bus #686 arrived titled 'Echo Point', from the little reading I had done it was either the Echo Point or the Scenic Point that I had to be at to get started on any scenic walk. The OPAL card worked on these buses as well, so I got in, settled down in the front seat. A short 5 min ride (3kms) took me to Echo Point. As I got off I noticed the Lookout Café- lovely little place right on the edge of the cliffs with some wonderful views of the mountains!! The food smelled heavenly and they had plenty of veggie options- what more could I ask for?!!
So despite the meager cornflakes I had downed at home in the morning I bought myself a Flat White and a Veggie Pie- now this is what I call a holiday brekkie! :-)
Found myself a nice seat on the outside with a great view and had this scrumptuous breakfast. Then helped a rather cute old couple to take a picture of them with their smart phone...the lady had been trying for five mins after which she gave up and sought my 'next gen' help ;-) This reminded me to click a selfie as well...and I was determined to use my mobile only as a camera on this trip...no calls/net browsing puhlease.... :P
Once done, I set off to the visitor venter at Echo Point...browsed through for some reading material and was a bit shocked to note that most pamphlets/maps had to be bought!! :-(
All excited, I got started on my packing and realized we don't even own a back pack anymore! :-( (all of our luggage now consists of trolley bags and baby bags! ) So I took one of AJ's old laptop bags and put away my stuff in it, it felt soooo good to be packing a tiny bag- no diapers, no baby food, no back up items/contingency supplies!!! :-D I had a small bag with spare clothes, some other things, a book and wallet and essentials! This in itself reflected on my face in the form of a HUGE grin :-D Wow what a relief! Had forgotten what these trips were like to be honest!
With the packing done, I got back to the daily grind of getting Tu's dinner ready, our dinner ready and the next few hours was lost in the routine...Later in the night once Tu went to bed I opened some websites to read up on Katoomba! Seemed like a beautiful albeit touristy place. I still wasn't sure if I wanted to hike here or just have a leisurely trip and come back. I checked the schedule of Blue Mountain Train (BMT) and turns out there is an hourly train from Paramatta. That was it, my prep work done I hit bed at 10 PM all excited about heading off someplace alone....actually it was very very long since I had done ANYTHING at all alone... some how this whole business of being pregnant and becoming a mom had translated into a very sticky (literally!) situation of forever being surrounded by someone or the other. And coming to Sydney had all the more meant that I was around Tu forever! The grind never stops once you are outside India- there are no back ups or options and one has to live with it when taking up these international work/longer term stay assignments.. :-/
The next morning saw a round of the daily grind again- tu's food, her teeth brushed, hair combed etc. Finally at around 8 AM I stepped out, caught a T64 to Parramatta and then boarded the 8:14 AM train from there. Got a nice window side seat, thankfully no one next to me, so plonked my bag and got settled in. :-) Debated for two mins on whether I should plan the day out by googling on my mobile or pull out my Agatha Christie...easy enough decision and the book came out. The next hour was peaceful as I ploughed away at the pages of Sparkling Cyanide. Gosh!! How long had it been since I had a train journey- one on which I read a book that too??!!! :-)) Super start to the trip I must say!!
Slowly, the train started winding up the mountains and unlike in the USA (where the scenery was mostly monotonous in my train journey) on this one, the scenery kept changing. So the occasional times I looked up from my book I got to see new sights and beautiful endless vistas of densely foliaged mountains... the Blue Mountains- they sure had that same blue hue that their namesake Nilgiris (a mountain range in southern India) has. Seemed like a train ride to Kodaikanal almost! We pulled into the quaint railway station of Katoomba at 10 Am- slightly sooner than I had anticipated, not that I complained:-) . Hoards of us got down at this station leading to a small queue on the way out of the station. Just as I had anticipated, there were several tourist -friendly hop on-hop off tours on offer just outside the station. After a second's deliberation outside one such window I walked over to the near by bus stop outside the Carrington Hotel- vaguely remembering a tip on trip advisor that said 'all buses to anywhere noteworthy in Katoomba started here.' True to that, bus #686 arrived titled 'Echo Point', from the little reading I had done it was either the Echo Point or the Scenic Point that I had to be at to get started on any scenic walk. The OPAL card worked on these buses as well, so I got in, settled down in the front seat. A short 5 min ride (3kms) took me to Echo Point. As I got off I noticed the Lookout Café- lovely little place right on the edge of the cliffs with some wonderful views of the mountains!! The food smelled heavenly and they had plenty of veggie options- what more could I ask for?!!
So despite the meager cornflakes I had downed at home in the morning I bought myself a Flat White and a Veggie Pie- now this is what I call a holiday brekkie! :-)
Found myself a nice seat on the outside with a great view and had this scrumptuous breakfast. Then helped a rather cute old couple to take a picture of them with their smart phone...the lady had been trying for five mins after which she gave up and sought my 'next gen' help ;-) This reminded me to click a selfie as well...and I was determined to use my mobile only as a camera on this trip...no calls/net browsing puhlease.... :P
Once done, I set off to the visitor venter at Echo Point...browsed through for some reading material and was a bit shocked to note that most pamphlets/maps had to be bought!! :-(
Spoke to a lady at the counter and asked for the best hiking route...she recommended that I take the Giant Staircase down and walk 1.5 hours thereafter to the Scenic Railway that I can tale back up. Upon asking further questions on the track she prompted me to buy the hiking map worth $3, I did and to be honest it was absolutely useless!! 😤 While it gave some cursory details of the trails available it mentioned nothing about the length of the trails, anticipated time it would take nor did it offer any pics of the sights we can see!! :-( What a hopeless waste of my monies! Then, when I prodded further the lady at the counter said there would be no food/water available as well...so I went out back to the café and packed up a pasta salad and a bottle of water. Then realized I had forgotten to bring my cap and hence came back to the visitor center and bought myself a cap worth $9.50. Finally I was all set and it was nearly 11:10 AM. I set off on the walk to the Three Sisters- easy one that and reached the Three Sisters in less than five mins. From the visitor center this is the easiest one, less than 500 mts I think.
Just by it's side is the Giant Staircase- a descent of more than 300 mts in 800+ stairs! not for the faint hearted or the ones who fear heights. There are portions of the stairs that outright make your knees twitch in doubt...but all in all I had a good time descending it- taking inspiration from the several aged folks and toddlers who were descending with great gusto! And feeling a bit nostalgic about a similar descent at Adams Peak in Sri Lanka I did four years ago...! Wow, time sure flies!
there are several twists and turns in the descent, each one flanked by a seat in case your tired knees needed a break. this one is sure to cramp your muscles up a bit, so I recommend you do some stretches before you embark on the descent! ;-)
It took me a good 30 mins to reach the bottom of the stairs and there were directions pointing 2 ways- one to Leura Cascades and the other to the Scenic Railway Station. Both seemed to be 2 hour hikes from where I was. So I decided to take the route to the Railway Station...after all I didn't have to hike up if I felt too tired at the end of the hike. The beauty of this challenging descent was I had no mind space to do any thinking other than concentrate on where I was keeping my next step! :-) Pure physical toil and blank mental space...the makings of an excellent trek I must confess...!! This is what makes solo hiking a great passion of mine... I find it rejuvenating to be able to do this, after Tu, the sense of responsibility that being a mom brings, even a second's blanking of the mind is not possible....the mind is constantly at work trying to process how to keep our two lives on track and in sync sandwiched between myriad other operational processing of Tu's activities, risks of what she has undertaken or trying to register her attempts at adult like/childlike conversations!! Ok- even thinking about what is now my daily routine has me rambling...you get the gist! 😉
Anyways let me not digress, having decided to turn right I set myself ready for a 1.5 hour trek... this route had many seats for my weary legs and I must confess I sat down at least twice in those ninety minutes...I got to see many other solo hikers/groupies who were either going in the same direction as me or coming from the other way..other than a cursory "Hi" or "hey" we none of us stopped to pause any longer to register each other's presence :-)) am sure being far from the madding crowds is the sentiment we wore on our sleeves😝. At the end of 65 minutes I reached the short Katoomba Falls. Here I saw a couple of picnic benches and decided this was my 'Lunch Spot' and almost in Sheldon style I plonked my bag in the large bench and tested the various corners before I picked my spot and hoping to God that no one else would join me on this bench I pulled my pasta salad out and popped my book open and started on what was a very pleasant lunch.
Forty mins of slowly munching on my pasta while I ran through some 75 pages of the novel with the sound of the falls interspersed by some pleasant bird sounds for a backdrop. Wow, this was my kinda break alright!! :D
Then as I packed up I saw a couple of others take my spot for their lunch and I reached the Scenic Station in about 15 mins to be faced with yet another decision- turns out there is Scenic Inclined rail and the Scenic Cable Way up...both cost $19 up one way and we come up at the rail first, it is another ten min walk to the cable car.
I did walk up the additional ten mins that is dotted by information about this area's flora and fauna apart from the information of the yester year mining that occurred here. I saw some people climb the few displays here for their pictures of "been here done that' ;-)
I continued on to realize the cable car was extremely crowded with no guarantee of getting a corner from where I can get some good views, plus I had never been in a mountain inclined scenic rail the kind I had just left behind!!
Among the many firsts on this trip, it seemed appropriate to add another! :-) So I walked back to the scenic rail and sure enough within ten mins the next ride arrived and a whole bunch of us bee-lined to get onto the beautiful red train! :-) As we got in and settled in to the commentary, they warned us of the step incline and sure enough as the train pulled out of the station my bag and cap which I had left beside me on the seat went crashing down succumbing to the gravitational pull :-)) I was bussy trying to ensure I retained my balance while also capturing a video of the beautiful vistas I could see on the ride! :D We reached up in less than five mins and soon I was getting off at the Scenic Point. Here things were a bit madder than at Echo Point- too crowded and no real signage to tell me how to get out...I actually ended up walking up all the way to a restaurant there before I figured my way out....it was 2PM and my legs were wound up...I decided the best thing to do would be to check into my hotel room, have a quick shower and step back out again later in the evening to try and see the sunset! The bus stop outside was gathering a crowd...but it was hot and I headed to some shade on the opp side of the road..the bus was a good twenty mins away anyways. That's when I noticed this cute steam clock!
Wonderful contraption that! :D Once the bus came, I hopped on to get off near the Carrington hotel, my hotel- Mountain Heritage Resort was 1 km away on the road to Leura...so I hiked it up there and checked in at 3PM. They had allotted me the very last room in their ground floor wing....as I walked down the stairs to my room I could swear I was hearing my legs creak! :-)) the 10+KM trek for the day hadn't been kind to a mommy solo hiker! ;-)
An hour of soaking in warm water and a change of clothes meant that come 4 PM I was ready to step out again! :) I took the bus again from outside of Carrington to get to Echo Point- this time as I got to the café I was hungry and hence asked for a toasted bread and a coffee.. once done I went to the Echo Point Lookout...climbed down and had another look at the beautiful Three Sisters.
Just as the bustling bird activity began and I started spotting some birds I overheard someone saying the last bus for the day was gone!!! :-( It was just 5:15 Pm...surely that couldn't be...I rushed back to the bus stop to realize that was indeed true!!! Boo hoo...now all my enthusiasm to view the sunset was gone! I was worried about another long hike back to the hotel!! I tried asking another Indian family I saw there for a ride to the town center...but they declined... then I decided it is what it is and started my walk back to the hotel...those 3 KMs seemed one of the longest I ever walked... eventually I got back to towncenter and entered the first restaurant I came by- Anki's- an Indian Cuisine Restaurant!! They were all booked out..every table had a 'reserved' tag on it... so I waited till a girl came to attend on me...when she saw how tired I was she quickly checked with the owner to check when the guests at each of the tables were expected...one table wasn't due until an hour later!! :-)
So she let me take that table and quickly took my order- a Gujarati Subzi with Rice. The food wasn't as god as the service though..the subzi was too oily (a whole inch of oil floated in the kadai)!! So I didn't order anything else and just finished up and left.
I did leave her a good tip though for being kind enough to make some space for me! ;-) the food sure helped..my last walk to the hotel itself was ok, I reached my room and literally crashed for the day....but couldn't help smiling at the thought of how good it felt to be thoroughly physically exhausted to the point of having banishees wailing from my muscles all over! :-D Even before I could think of anything else I was asleep....
The next day I had the unique luxury of uninterrupted sleep...woke up at a leisurely 8:30 AM!! My daughter Tu has the habit of waking up at 6Am everyday and one of the first things she does is poke me in the eye and say "Wake up mummy, it's morning!!" While I open my eyes every day with the surest of intent to scold her- her bright grin manages to stop me every single time! I end up matching her grin and then we say our huggies and kissies and louder good mornings to each other...!! yeah yeah I agree, mad hatter family, that's what we are! :D
Anyways I sprung out of bed only to be reminded that my muscles were still sore from yesterday...so I limped to the bathroom and managed to get ready in about 20 mins. Then I brewed myself a nice hot coffee before heading out and checking out of the hotel as I did so. Over coffee I browsed the table magazine the hotel had provided and it extolled the beauty of Leura and the trail around Leura cascade....so I headed to town center with every intention of taking the next train to Leura. As I got there I realized I needed a breakfast and a quick check on the tripadvisor app recommended Upbeet- a Vegan café.
So I headed in and asked for one of their wraps and an extra hot cuppa Flat White.
Both were yumm and once the tummy was full I headed to the station. it was 9:30 Am and the next train was only at 10:14!! A quick check on the Tripgo app said there were buses at 9:34 AM so I cam running out only to see both the buses swinging by......tchah! I had missed them! I walked back to the station and waited for the train. I reached Leura at 10:20 AM
Just outside the station is the Leura Mall- a set of picturesque boutiques full of unique merchandise- truly a shopper's delight....! I swore to stop on the way back even as some of the windows temptingly invited me in! :-)
Another KM from the mall itself (a total of 2.5 KMS) and I reached the Leura Park...
At the entrance is a small fall and I was truly disappointed thinking this is what I had hiked to!
But the signage guided me further in and I arrived at the beautiful cascades...couldn't resist getting my feet in the water and I sat there for 30 mins.
Then I hiked to the end of the trail to be pleasantly surprised to come to a clearance with sheer views of the Blue Mts again! What a sight...the cascade itself seemed to flow into a waterfall that you couldn't see from this point!
As sore as I was with all the activity of the last couple of days when I saw another set of inviting steep steps that seemed to promise a view of the waterfall I couldn't resist! groaning and moaning I climbed the stairs to see this gorgeous waterfall (Gordon Falls).
What a beautiful way to end my two day trip..it was 1PM and I knew I ought to be heading back for my lunch..a pity I didn't pack some lunch while walking past the Mall...I could see signs leading up to the Echo Point..and I would have loved to complete this trail so I could have finished the entire loop...but I knew without food/water this would prove to be a catastrophe..so I headed back.
As I walked back, the scenes from the last two days continuously flashed in my mind! My grin only grew wider at every single memory...the entire experience itself wrapping itself around me like a warm shrug on a cold winter day that makes the living room movie watching experience fun! Suddenly that's how I felt...like I had cosied up over the weekend to regain some sanity in an otherwise mad-hat daily routine grind! :D Couldn't have asked for a better getaway and while I had had all the solitude of a solo trip there was no loneliness or boredom, this touristy place had provided me with one helluva experience...one that rejuvenated and smoothened out the rocky road of the last couple of years. At the end of it I can certainly say my trip was a keeper, it was a solo hike that was truly good for my soul.....! :-)
Abhi soo happy for you !!! Awesome AJ for making this happen !!! Reading it gave happiness to my soul..as much as I was there myself !! Stay blessed !
ReplyDeleteAbhi soo happy for you !!! Awesome AJ for making this happen !!! Reading it gave happiness to my soul..as much as I was there myself !! Stay blessed !
ReplyDelete