Blue Mountain Bush Fires

The 600 km drive between Wodonga and Sydney consisted of the longest stretch of brown grasslands, dried out creek beds and withered trees we had ever seen in our lives. You had to feel sorry for the poor cattle, sheep and alpacas most of which would huddle under the few trees providing shade with the odd one out hunting for whatever blades of grass they could find. One minor disapointment for us in Australia was that after driving more than 2000 kms we only saw three wild kangaroos (other than lots of dead ones) but I suppose that's because we drove mainly in the daytime and roos are nocturnal. We actually saw more wild emus, koalas and bats than roos.

After arriving back in Sydney, we spent the next day out in the Blue Mountains, so named due to the overall blue haze in the air caused by the oil being present in the atmosphere from all the eucalyptis trees. Here is a picture of the "Three Sisters" rock towers.

There are a number of trails around the town of Katoomba that lead to various viewpoints in the Blue Mountains. Here Jude and I have climbed down a number of steep steps and across a catwalk to one of the Three Sisters rocks.

There were a number of signs posted in the area about a “Controlled Burn” planned the very day we were visiting. We watched the smoke, with fire trucks parked behind the flames, as the fire grew stronger and stronger

Then the fire appeared to jump the firebreak and was soon roaring down the escarpment. You should be able to make out the roof and chimney of a house just to the left of the 50 foot high flames.

I’m sure who ever owned that house was more than a little concerned and then the fire department called in two helicopters to help control the blaze. We watched them pick up water buckets and start ferrying water from the golf course pond and dumping on the edge of the fire. The fire went on for over an hour and then eventually burnt out.

One of the major activities we read about before we came to Sydney was the Harbour Bridge Climb so we signed up for it on our second last day in Australia. To start with you have to put on these very attractive…NOT… grey jumpsuits just so that you don’t distract the drivers on the highway going across the bridge. You also have to take a breathalyser test before they let you any further.
Then you put on a harness, safety cable with lanyard and get wired up with a radio and headset. The climb is not too strenuous but is a little unnerving at first, until you kind of get used to walking on a metal grating suspended 300 feet above the water and of course all Jude could think about was the sharks in the harbour.

The climbers look like ants in this view from the water, inching their way up to the top of the highest span. You actually learn quite a lot about the architect, the bridge and how it was constructed. It was built in 1932 and is still the largest single span steel bridge in the world.


Here is a group shot in our cute grey jumpers with the famous opera house below. It was a beautiful day and the view from up there was spectacular but for safety reasons you were not allowed to bring your own cameras.

What a great way to finish off our visit to Australia and Sydney – we must say we had an absolutely wonderful time, somewhere, sometime we definitely will come back to visit. Now as we prepare to enjoy a few weeks in New Zealand-so long Aussies and hello Kiwis!