Darling Harbour

Yes, Australia has its very own Grand Canyon. Not quite as grand as our canyon, but incredibly beautiful. Lauren picked us up around 7:30am and we drove about 90 minutes to the trailhead, where we encountered one other car. One. As in 1. If this hike was in Colorado, you’d need a reservation for it.

The trail started with a solid number of stairs going down, down, down. Each step triggered a terrible thought, “You’re going to have to walk back up these.” Despite having had surgery in late May, the recovery for my ankle has been slow, and the hardest challenge in daily life has been stairs. I figured the worst that could happen would be a really slow ascent on the way back. Or a search and rescue helicopter.

We’d been waiting to see black cockatoos, and Lauren pointed one out. I didn’t even know there were such birds, but they are really pretty. Kim tried to get a few pictures, but he was elusive, so she gave up. As we continued to lose altitude, we entered into the dampness. Ferns and mosses were abundant, and water seemed to drip from everything. We caught up to a small waterfall, which I imagine is a large waterfall, when there is rain here, but it’s been dry. I walked gingerly down the wet and slippery stone stairs, trying to stay upright while taking in the views. After traipsing through a small cave with our torches, we rounded a corner to find a wispy waterfall. I named them Schweitzer Falls, since we could walk behind them. Actually, the trail took us around the backside of the falls, and continued to follow the river downward. We came to an information placard that showed the surrounding cliffs. We were actually halfway between the top of the canyon wall and the floor. From this location, rock climbers will gear up and drop to the bottom. The whole area looked like Jurassic Park, with luscious, large green ferns, and deep, menacing looking holes below. We walked just a bit further and decided to turn around, so as not to push my ankle too hard.

As I suspected, the walk back up the canyon was taxing but doable. There was so much to see that stopping regularly was built into the ascent. After passing the falls again, we ran into a a couple who were looking for birds. He had a camera with a serious lens on it, and Lauren struck up a conversation that went something like, “How you going? Looking for the cockies? We saw black cockies on the way down.” “Yeah, we heard them and thought they might be cockies. We’re from Victoria and our cockies sound a little bit different. Our black cockies are smaller than yours.” I will spare you the other 50 ways they used the word cocky, but it was weird to hear that word in the wild.

The trail became more populated on the way up, and we passed several other hikers. As we got to the top, we ran into a couple with their abseil gear on their backs. They were headed down to the very bottom of the canyon; wish I could have seen that GoPro video.

We popped out of the canyon and drove immediately to the little coffee stop we saw on the way in. Kim was delighted to see gluten-free ANZAC cookies. I told her she had to have one, since she was in Australia. ANZAC stands for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps. The story I’ve heard is that the ingredients don’t tend to spoil, so they were easily shipped to the military personnel. I was also told that they are the first things kids learn to cook, since the recipe is fairly easy. I don’t know if any of that is true but they sure are yummy! The coffee place was a tiny trailer parked in a woman’s driveway. Somehow during our conversation with her, she invited us to take a look around her backyard. The well-groomed lawn was adjacent to a healthy vegetable garden and a moderately sized chicken coop, from where she collects butt nuggets. The picture says it all.

We motored down the road to the Three Sisters overlook. The Three Sisters are another rock formation in the area. According to indigenous legend, they represent three sisters who lived in the Jamison Valley as part of the Katoomba tribe. Apparently, the overlook is a popular tourist attraction, as heaps of commercial buses filled the street and car park. We walked around the overlook but decided against the two hour, round trip trail. I was a little too tired for that. Instead, we decided to grab lunch. Lauren navigated through Katoomba to the Glass House. The cafe is in a converted glass greenhouse, surrounded by pine and gum trees. Colorful flowers bloomed on the property, making for a pleasant dining experience.

It felt like a full day, but we arrived back to our Air BnB by 3pm. We ran a couple of loads of laundry and packed up some of our items. We’ll be headed to Long Point for a very relaxing weekend.Read more