On my last day in Sydney, I visited the Blue Mountains area. It was an exceptionally hot day – nearly 39 degrees Celsius – which made the trip more challenging. After a two-hour train journey, I alighted at Katoomba and bought a hop-on, hop-off bus pass that covers a circular route around the Blue Mountains area. This route offers good value for money as it has about 30 different stops at shops, museums, lookouts and trails – many of which can’t be accessed using public buses. A guidebook and onboard commentary give plenty of information about each stop. I decided to stop at Katoomba Cascades first and do a short walk through tropical rainforest and along clifftops to Katoomba Falls. As it’s summer at the moment, the waterfalls didn’t have much water flowing down them, but they were still pretty.

I then caught the bus to Scenic World, which is an attraction built around the world’s steepest railway (which was originally built to serve a coal mine). My visit to Scenic World took about three hours because the queues were long – not pleasant on such a hot day – but it was worth it. I decided to start with the steepest railway, which descends over a cliff and through a tunnel to the valley floor. It’s definitely the most impressive (and scariest!) attraction in the park. I’d have preferred even more information about the site’s history and less enforced fun and corny jokes, but never mind. In the valley is Australia’s longest raised walkway, with several possible routes. Along the way I saw several animatronic dinosaurs, which were a bit cheesy but also amusing, a real red-bellied snake, the original entrance to the mines, and a recreated miner’s hut. I caught the cable car back up to the top, which wasn’t as much fun as the train but gave a good view of the rock formations of the Three Sisters and Orphan Rock. The latter has been illegal to climb since the 1970s, so it was fascinating to see the steps and handrails that are still in place. There was just enough time to catch another cable car across a canyon and back, for an amazing view of Katoomba Falls and Orphan Rock from a different angle.

My only real criticism of the bus system is that it stops running around 5pm, which seems a shame when it doesn’t get dark for another three hours. This meant that the end of my visit was a bit rushed. I had just enough time to stop at Gordon’s Lookout, which I had to myself and gave an amazing view of Gordon’s Falls. I wanted to visit the Pool of Siloam too but I’d run out of time and energy by this point. I caught the bus back to Leura, the next station along from Katoomba, just as the weather was breaking. I found a nice Belgian restaurant for an early dinner and watched from the balcony as the rain poured down and heavy mists rolled in. I learnt later that Sydney had experienced similar weather and the temperature had dropped nearly 20 degrees within half an hour! By the time I got back to the city around 9pm, I was getting chilly, which seems ridiculous considering the temperatures earlier in the day. The Blue Mountains were definitely worth visiting and I wish I’d had time to stay overnight there and walk a few more of the trails.

The following day, I got the long-distance train to Melbourne (daytime rather than overnight version), which took about 11 hours. The train is very basic, with no Wifi or charging sockets, so it’s important to come prepared with plenty of reading material! There was a passenger sitting next to me for the first couple of hours – an interesting man who recommended that I visit Tasmania while based in Melbourne – but nobody got on to take his seat, so I had the pair of seats to myself for the rest of the journey. The scenery along the way is interesting, if not spectacular; we passed through some small towns that I wouldn’t otherwise have seen, agricultural and industrial land, and eucalyptus forests. Am I glad I took the train rather than flying? Definitely, yes – the time passed more quickly than I expected and I was even able to buy a hot lunch on board! Would I take the train again for the same journey? Probably not – I think once was enough. When I reached Melbourne, I caught a tram to my apartment, which is very well-equipped and conveniently located – even if it does contain some rather questionable artwork!

View from the train

So far, my time in Melbourne has been quite relaxed; it’s a friendly city with lots of quirky shops and restaurants to explore. I’ve done a couple of interesting excursions, the first being to the zoo. It’s a large zoo laid out in different sections, such as Predators and Australia (the latter being of particular interest to visitors from overseas!). It’s interesting that they’ve kept some larger animals, including elephants and big cats, that London Zoo considers too large for its inner city location these days. The enclosures at Melbourne Zoo are imaginatively laid out and there seems to be a lot of stimulation for the animals, such as giant tortoise-activated fountains! Some enclosures are deceptively large, with tunnels connecting different areas and several viewing angles for visitors. Occasionally I found the tone a little preachy – including a slightly bizarre emphasis on keeping domestic cats indoors – but I suppose zoos have an important educational purpose. Highlights for me included the graceful seals, sleepy wombats, and naughty Tasmanian devils which were nowhere to be found in their own cages but were later spotted on top of an aviary(!).

Graceful seal

Sleepy wombat

Today, I visited the old gaol with an Italian lady I met in Vanuatu, who wanted to see the gaol. It turned out that it was a great choice for me, too! Much of the prison has been demolished, or turned into university buildings, but the mens’ cell block is still intact, with even the graffiti on the cell walls still visible. We began by taking a tour with the kind of knowledgeable, entertaining guide I’ve come to expect in Australia. We saw where the prisoners entered the prison and learnt about what their daily lives were like (extremely monotonous and bleak). We also learnt about the story of Ned Kelly, which was mostly new to me but is very famous here in Australia. One of the most interesting and gruesome parts of the museum is a large collection of death masks, which were created from prisoners shortly after their executions. Many of the death masks are displayed alongside interesting explanations of the crime(s) for which the prisoner was hanged, and some of them even have eyelashes and facial hair stuck to the plaster-cast – very gruesome! It was an interesting afternoon out for those of us who are morbid.

After a lovely meal tonight with some friends from England who are now living in Melbourne, I’m off on another scuba dive tomorrow morning, hoping to see some seahorses!