A Few Hours in Katoomba

Yesterday I went to the Katoomba in the Blue Mountains.  It was a really nice, albeit short trip, with my friend Elsa.  We spent more time on the train to and from Katoomba than we did actually in the town, but the views were spectacular.  The train was about two hours from Sydney and we left somewhat late in the day.  We didn't even plan what we were going to do when we got to Katoomba, just figure it out when we got there. The train ride was uneventful, despite keeping my eyes glued to the window to take in the different areas that we passed on the way. We got to Katoomba at about 2:30pm and headed straight for the Katoomba Cascades.  They were very pretty waterfalls that, whether you are allowed to or not, could be climbed.  It was quite slippery, but we tried to go up about halfway up to get a good picture:

If you take note of where the lady behind me is standing, that is the exact picture I copied, see next picture

It was very considerate of all the other tourists to leave so that I could be in the picture by myself.

From there, we took the Prince Henry Cliff walk, with its many lookout points along the way.  We eaves dropped to an Australian tour guide, but they were just getting to the end of their walk and we were just starting.  It was difficult to avoid tripping because all I wanted to do was look out at the majestic view of the Blue Mountains as opposed to looking at where I was going.  But, for much of the walk there were very well-cleared, and sometimes even paved, paths, so this saved me from flat out falling.

 

The walk led us to Echo Point Lookout, presumably the most popular look out in Katoomba, with a close up view of the Three Sisters.  According to legend, the three sisters were turned to stone by the witchdoctor of the Katoomba tribe to protect them from harm when a battle erupted after the three brothers from the neighbouring tribe, whom the sisters fell in love with, tried to kidnap and marry them against the laws of the tribe.  The witchdoctor died in the battle and thus could not reverse the spell.  I'm sure that the story is usually more eloquently put, but that's the gist.  Anyway, by the time we got there it was just getting to the golden hour with the sun setting.  So the Three Sisters were extra beautifully put on display.

The Three Sisters (rock formation)

There isn't too much too much to do in Katoomba at night, so we hit up the visitor information centre, to be better prepared for the next trip we decide to take to the Blue Mountains.  At about 5:30pm headed back to Sydney.  Before we headed back to Newtown (Elsa lives in the same residence that I do), we stopped in Strathfield, which is a little Korean area.  We tried Korean hot pot at a very popular restaurant close to the station.  We ordered way too much of the delicious food, which is no problem because we each got a full meals-worth of leftovers.  I'm not sure that I have ever had Korean food but it was fantastic, even the second time around.

Korean hot pot

Elsa, me and our chopsticks skills

We ordered the beef and mushroom hot pot, a sweet potato noodle dish and dumplings.  Not only that, but I was told that it is common practice in Korean restaurants to get several side dishes, which this restaurant certainly did as we got about six little side dishes, including pumpkin puree, kimchi, rice, fish cakes, bean sprouts, and some jelly thing that I am afraid I do not know what it was, but it was still good.  I think I would like to go back to that restaurant  to try Korean BBQ.  I eyed the tables around us eating BBQ and it looked really good as well.  It was a great day overall.