Saturday, July 5, 2008

Week 6 - Blue Mts. to Dorrigo NP






Week 6 - Blue Mts. to Dorrigo NP

The highlight of this week was our time in the Blue Mountains. Located just west of Sydney, the park is dramatic and beautiful. The park sits on a tabletop with steep cliffs bordering a lush valley. This results in numerous waterfalls, rare in Australia, surrounded by semi-tropical vegetation. We felt a little like Indiana Jones as we quickly descended on the world’s steepest railroad down to a rainforest hike. Oddly enough, a major highway bisects the park. Several towns are well placed to capitalize on the popularity of the park.

Just to bring us back to earth, we had vehicle problems with our rental camper van. We headed into Sydney to switch vehicles and then continued north to the coastal resort towns of Port Stephens, Port Macquarie, and Nambucca Head.

We headed back to the mountains to explore Dorrigo NP. Here we did a Skywalk on a platform above the rainforest. There were some beautiful hikes there. Before we left we decided to do one more hike. Near the start of the hike, Pat tripped and sprained her right ankle. After getting her back to the RV, I did the hike solo. While climbing out on some slippery rocks to see a waterfall, I slipped and landed hard on my right side. I finished the hike and we left the park before anything else bad could happen.

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