Off we headed towards the Blue Mountains, approx. 2 hours drive north of Sydney for some bushwalking (Aussie for hiking). Blue Mountains is famous for its abundant trails for bushwalking, incredible views, the Three Sisters, and indigenous plants to name a few. When left the house it was sunny but when we arrived at Echo Point (the starting point for most of bushwalking trails) it was cloudy, windy, and downright gray, blah day. Echo Point jets out into the Blue Mountains landscape like a sore thumb but provides a great vantage point and gives way to the spectacular view of the Blue Mountains (it really does look blue) and its local celebrities the "Three Sisters" (see photos above). The Three Sisters are rock structures that holds spiritual meanings to Australian's Aboriginal and the three were part of the seven sisters.
We collected our maps at the visitor center and saw the weather forcast of the very high chance of thunderstorm. Under normal conditions, I probably would not have chosen to do bushwalking considering a thunderstorm is headed our way but given that my days are numbered here in Australia so I only have one option to proceed with the plan. We definitely paid the price for our decision as you'll see later. The trail we chose should take one and half hour and is rated as moderate/hard. The trail starts behind the visitor center which loops us down to the walkway behind the Three Sisters then decends down the Giant Stairway (~900 steps from Echo Point to forest floor), at the forest floor starts the federal pass trail (full of zig zags but relatively level, passes Katoomba falls, and ends at the base of the where one can take the railway or cable car back up to Echo Point.
My cousin Ali and I went bushwalking while my aunt and uncle stayed behind to do some shopping in town. We proceeded to decend the 900+ steps of the Giant Stairways and every few hundred steps we heard the threat of thunder and lightning in the distance. We momentarily stopped, looked at each other and confirmed our committments to keep going. Finally we reached the forest floor, we walked forl ess then a 200meters and was immediately met by thunderstorm. To our complete surprise it was not rain, it was hail the size of peas...the experience was surreal and made us alittle nerous. Who would have thunk it hailed in the forest! We quickly and luckily found cover under a rock formation and waited out for the next 30mins. We had two options go forward or backwards (which meant climb back up the 900+ steps which was probably very wet at this point and the least safe path). The storm didn't appear to be stopping any time soon so we decided to go forward to the end and hope + pray we don't get sick the next day (we didn't). It was now 3pm and 2.5K to go and the last cable car up to the top was at 4:50pm. We quickly covered ourselves and booked it! It was difficult to enjoy the scenary while the rain and hail poured down constantly. As we approach the end, we were met with the wonderful sound of trickling water of Katoomba Falls...it was a beautiful sight. It also meant that we were only 500 meters from the end...yippee! We emerged from the trail one hour behind schedule but enough time to catch the last cablecar back up to the top. We were completely soaked (note to self: pack raincoat at all times for bushwalking), exhausted, but relieved to be done.
