Well Jaimie left for Scout Camp on Saturday so on Sunday Janette and I decided to test out the Mountain Bikes we have for hire at the Leura Gateway and ride some of the Mt Hay Road. This turned into a real experience which we can now use for our advice when prospective hirers ask where they should ride. Firstly just getting the bikes into the back of RediCAR's 4x4 Ute proved interesting as they are the same width as the tray and needed to be tied up against the cabin rack - we used rubber bungee straps - the first thing we learnt from the experience - we need to buy some to make the hire less damaging on the bikes! Once on, they work fine and the bikes travel with very little movement.

Now as for the road to Mt Hay - it starts only about a half kilometre from the Leura Gateway and winds its way through North Leura with suburban houses either side on a tar road for about 1.5 kilometres (1 mile) then continues on a well formed, well graded gravel road for another kilometre with a number of properties either side of the road, eventually passing the Brahma Kumaris Raja Yoga Centre - a mind and body healing and prayer centre at around 2.2 kilometres from the start. The road starts to degrade as it continues for another half kilometre onto the National Park and Wildlife Service gate (sometimes closed during restoration at various times during the year- but open most of the time). At this point, Mt Hay is about 15 kilometres (nearly 10 miles) further on. From this gate onwards you enter the Blue Mountains National Park and the road deteriorates rapidly, becoming a rough gravel road for a standard car although not really a 4 wheel drive track.

So we decided to test out our Mountain Bikes - well firstly its been a while since we rode seriously (about 25 years for me and Janette!) but undaunted we got the bikes all set up - tried to adjust seats and gears (at this point we had no idea how our new 36 gear bikes actually worked) - we were soon to find out! Firstly no one remembers how hard the seats are on these things! - every bump felt like a pile driver!  And as for balance - almost like I had consumed a bottle of Jack Daniel's (It might have been better if I had). Nevertheless within the first 100 metres I was going like a champion flat out at .... a very cautious 5 kilometres per hour - and for whatever reason steering my bike into every rock and pothole - just to test the hydraulic suspension I suspect. I was starting to lift my weight off the seat to take the jolt out of hitting the uneven surface - I had this vague feeling of panic, extreme concentration and nostalgia all mixed into one - not feeling safe but determined to at least pedal a couple of kilometres. I even had the gears figured out, peddling like crazy to get up the grades and somehow slipping into new gear to step up the pace on the flats - confused but learning fast. Now if I was having trouble, you should have seen Janette - ashen faced, elbows locked to steer, knuckles white with a grip of steel on the handles and eyes as big as saucers, no idea what gear to pick or how to even change a gear if she wanted to; chain rattling at every attempt - but her bravery knew no bounds as she rumbled off wearing every bump squarely on her tail as she sat heavily on the saddle! Apart from the occasional expletive she was determined to stick with it!

Leaving the gate, the grade quickly becomes erratic and steep up and down and the condition of the road turns from smoothly graded to potholed and strewn with large loose gravel - very slippery under foot and sandy in patches which became very tricky on the bike and unsettling for both of us. This track is very much an experienced riders trail - not necessarily a difficult ride for an experienced person but for the 'rusty' or for the learner it presents the ever present danger of a hard fall - and that's exactly what happened - it could have happened to either of us given our slip-sliding approach to some of the descents - but as luck would have it, the ride came to a halt with a sharp scream from Janette as she lost control and the bike jackknifed to the left and she tumbled headlong to the right in a cloud of dust - but as always, Janette simply dusted herself off and held her skinned palms up for display and while fixing me with steely eyes suggested calmly, although somewhat threateningly, that perhaps we should try out the bikes on a less challenging track - lesson number 2 - we need to supply bike gloves - skinned palms from spreading eagle on a gravel road is no fun and makes pushing the bike back home uncomfortable at best.

Once back to the gate we loaded up the bikes and decided to proceed out to Mt Hay by car anyway, surprisingly passing a number of standard cars en-route - not a recommended track for a standard sedan in my view - not that you would get stuck or require 4WD but simply it knocks the undercarriage around. Nevertheless, the track is worth the drive - just to see that end of the Grose Valley and to walk to the top of Flat Top which is a flat rock formation used as a trig point just up from the walk point for Lockley Pylons and about 2 kilometres from Butterbox Canyon and the knob like formation of Mt Hay. There are some spectacular spots to take photography, with views into the Grose and all the way to the ocean from Flat Top (and other spots). The ground is rugged and vegetation heath-like with a lot of strong wind exposure - you can feel the wilderness and isolation - its palpable - yet off in the far distance you can see Sydney - amazing.  Great trip with lessons learned (including needing Jaimie to show us how to ride a bike again!!)  
 

                                 

G'day from Jaimie (and my mate Michael who came with us on this walk).

Narrow Neck is a saddle ridge connecting the main plateau at Katoomba with another smaller tableland plateau  that  juts out across about 8 kilometres at right angles to the Katoomba Cliff faces with its walls separating the Jamison and Megalong Valleys. It has shear rock faces and acts as a wedge of rock walls between the two valleys.

You can drive out about 2.0 kms (1.25 miles) and park to walk into the Jamison Valley down the Golden Stairs or proceed to the car park (locked gate) about half a kilometre on then walk (or ride on mountain bikes) to the end of the tableland.

Dad being Dad chose to park at the start of the road and Mum Michael Me and Dad walked to the Golden Stairs and then past the carpark following the fire trail.

Saw another Dad and his son riding mountain bikes at speed down the hill just after the locked gate - that's got to be the way to go!

This walk was easy - a few steep road sections but a breeze - lots of cars travel out to the car park and to the Stairs. Although not as interesting (I'm getting used to rock faces!) It was great fun because my school mate Michael came along - gave me an excuse to run around and play a little - made up for the pretty boring track.

Having said that, there was still a lot to see because the road runs on top of the ridge and the first section is low heath scrub which lets you see the valley's below and the rock faces - including the sun setting and rock silhouettes (like a boars head) with the light coming through the 'mouth'.

Dad reckons we will take the car up to the car park next time and complete the walk to the end of the plateau then.

Got home after dark but Michael and I enjoyed it (Dad forgot to get us an ice cream though - he owes me double next time)

G'day from Jaimie - I've just   have to tell you about a really great walk (except the end where we had to climb out about 250 metres! - 800 feet) - its called the Grand Canyon at Blackheath and is a steep canyon carved by Greaves Creek that runs into the Grose Valley - It is actually a circuit walk down from Evans Lookout Road and back again - so you can start either end and you walk back across the top to your car. Dad parked about 1.5 kms (a mile) from the lookout and we went into Neates Glen (the start of the Canyon as it flows towards the Gorge - pretty steep and a bit rough going down but no ladders - medium descent really.

Neates Glen is a little pocket of rainforest at the start of the Canyon floor - the walls are close and you keep descending following the creek - as it cuts through the sandstone. A lot of other minor creeks have carved their own canyons all leading to the central one - but the track is well marked and obvious at this point (I would not leave the track though because its like a maze of walls and creeks coming from all directions).

Walking is easy on the floor of the Canyon - only a few climbing areas and the Canyon walls are really close - even to the point where you have to go through a natural tunnel where part of the wall has collapsed over the path - very different - but not too scary - cold and damp though.

The Canyon has some extraordinary features.  The Canyon walls are close and the creek is very narrow - the path descends but not as fast as the creek and eventually you find yourself halfway up the wall with a narrow almost invisible creek disappearing into the poor light and sometimes underground about 30 metres  (about 100 ft) below the track.

The track is quite slippery in places and could be dangerous as the drop into the creek is almost vertical - This feature  is a favourite for the adventure tours with roped descents into the holes in the canyon floor to the creek bed flowing somewhere in the blackness below. Eventually the path takes you down to join the creek bed as the canyon widens to join the top of the Grose Valley - and you cross over the creek bed several times - not the place to do so if its been raining heavily given the water markings on the side walls!

You then get to the point where the track diverges into the Grose Valley itself or you climb out to Evans Lookout - and this is the tough part for me - lost count of the steps - it is a well formed track but it keeps going up and up and up out of the Canyon up through the Mountain Ash stands (really impressive trees) and up to the heath at the top of the ridge.

 Of course the lookout is fantastic as the Grose Valley cuts across the tablelands as far as you can see - very impressive - to think we had just been down there (well not quite to the bottom but at least where Greaves Creek runs into the top of the Valley).

And then we had to go back to the car - a simple and restful stroll  parallel to the road but just inside the bush so you can't see the road very often.

I was pretty tired - but of course an icecream at Blackheath almost seems to help make it all worthwhile.  

G'day, Mum and Dad and I trudged out to Hanging Rock at Baltzer Point over looking the Grose Valley - unbelievable sight worth trekking to but the walk in was pretty boring for me on a fire trail following the ridge line for just over 3 kilometres (2 miles my Dad reckons) from the car park (National Parks have closed the fire trail and you have to park and walk).

Dad keeps asking me what tree is this and what plant is that and what rock is this and what insect is that to keep it interesting (but he tests me too - so I've got to listen) - I learnt all about plants like the mountain devils (red flower and devil horned seed pods), insects like the orb weaver spider (harmless but scary!) and Blue Tongue Lizards on the way out and he tested me on the way back!

My Dad also tells me about the rock types like sedimentary; igneous and metamorphic. Every stone has a story so my Dad says (I worry about him sometimes).- the cliffs up here in the Blue Mountains have been formed by several layers of sedimentary sandstone laid down and eroded over the last 300 millions years! Check out the photo's.

Of course we came out to see Hanging rock - almost broken off the cliff face about 200 metres (650 ft) from the tree line - they tell me people have jumped off the end (with a parachute - but where can you land?) - doesn't it look like a lion's head - I reckon they should have called it Lions Head rock! 

Me with my Dad (above) and with mum (below)

G'day from Jaimie - yep been out on the trail again - this time we walked from Govett's Leap Lookout to Pulpit Rock.  You can see Pulpit Rock directly ahead about a kilometre (2/3rds of a mile) across the Grose Valley from the lookout (near Blackheath) - Wow - not an easy walk around to it (my Dad says its only a medium grade!) and almost all cliff top (about 300 metres (1000 ft) above the valley floor) so no long climbs or descents (a few short ones though). There are constant breathtaking views with a few ups and downs and rough rock tracks - that stretched me (I'm only short - big steps required!) 

From Govertt's Leap Lookout you can see the Grose Valley extending to the east and North East, then you climb down and around to the West to cross over a small waterfall cascade dropping into the valley from the western side of the cirque like gorge.

A very old rainforest pocket covering the waterway cascades then up the other side and around the cirque cliff face to end up on the other side of the gorge looking at the departure point lookout about 500 metres across the gorge.

Then we went around the cliff face through lots of chasms and gorges until we got to Pulpit Rock - so named because it stands out from the cliff like a church pulpit (so my Dad says!) - it is well fenced out to the lookout (because the winds make it highly dangerous and the path is barely a metres wide in places (had to hang on to our hats! And cold!)  

Of course after we had taken in the views we had to walk back (this is the hardest bit - when your tired coming back up from the waterfall was tough - but I survived and got a chocolate icecream to recharge the batteries! - best part of the day!      

G'day, I'm Jaimie. Most weekends my Mum and Dad take me bushwalking and we take a few photos on the way (mostly of me!). I'm going to show you what we see so that when you come to visit the Blue Mountains you will know what your in for! Firstly though this is me and my Mum (Janette) in the underpass on the Overcliff Undercliff Walk out to Wentworth Falls and my Dad  (Danny) on the Kanagra Walls cliff face - National Pass (about 200 metres (about 650 ft so my Dad says - whatever 'feet' are???) above the tree tops at Wentworth Falls and over 650 metres (about 2000ft) from the valley floor. You can see my Mum and Dad at the Leura Gateway most days (except when they are out bushwalking with me of course).

We started at the Conservation Hut (lots of different walks into the Valley of the Waters start from here about 2 Kilometres from the Falls) and the walk took about an hour and a half across and under the cliff top to Princes Rock lookout then around to the Queens Cascades at the back of the falls themselves (see photo of cascades and other bush walkers). The cascades are to the left of the walkers and you can see the falls plunge off to the right of them (about 170m falls).