Frank's Christian Thoughts: Travel Biography Photo Extravaganza

Saturday, 2 August 2025

Travel Biography Photo Extravaganza - Part 33.

Impressed by Mangrove trees, I turn my attention to Blue Mountains N.P.

Coffs Harbour was the final area in Australia where I saw mangrove trees flourish. The very first tree I saw was in Port Douglas. It was a single tree submerged to its upper branches by a high spring tide, known Down Under as a King's Tide. A forest of mangroves covers Woody Island, the larger of the two sandbanks making up Low Isles, a coral cay popular with tourists. Unfortunately, due to Woody Island being submerged underwater during high spring tides, the forest was inaccessible to the public.

My first close-up of a mangrove tree, near enough to stand next to one, was at Arlie Beach. Shortly afterwards, I visited a boardwalk which wound its way through a riverside swamp in Brisbane. As far as I knew, there were no mangroves in the Byron Bay area, having believed that I had travelled south of its tropical boundary. Therefore, when I learned that there was a mangrove boardwalk in the Coffs Harbour area, I was both surprised and delighted.

The sight of mangroves has given me an otherworldly feel, which has enhanced my travel experience. But as I travelled further south towards Sydney, it looked as though the mangrove tree had petered out. As far as I remember, I didn't see any mangroves in the Sydney Harbour area.

Sydney was my final stop in Australia. It was also the longest, and included a night spent at an unaffiliated hostel in Katoomba, approximately 60 miles, or 100 km, inland from the city centre. After two nights spent at the YHA City Hostel, across the road from the railway station, I boarded an express train to Katoomba, the administrative town for the Blue Mountains National Park. This two-hour train journey was the only rail travel south of the Equator, along with the return journey to Sydney.

Since I realised that Sydney and its environs were the pinnacle of the entire Australian experience, photos of the city will be saved for the last section before takeoff for the Trans-Pacific flight to Los Angeles. This week, I am posting photos of the first of the two trips out of Sydney. They are in the Blue Mountains N.P. Next week, I'll post about the Palm Beach, a sandbank peninsula north of Sydney, and the filming site of the TV soap, Home and Away.

I spent two days and a night in the Blue Mountains. The forested canyon is named after the blue eucalyptus mist that hovers in the valley, giving the trees a blueish haze. The first day, I spent at the rim, with some hiking around the famous Three Sisters. The second day, I hiked along the trail that winds through the rainforest, pausing at a number of waterfalls that cascaded into the canyon floor. As for visitor numbers, there was a crowd around the Three Sisters area. But once on the hike, I was entirely alone.

The Three Sisters, taken in 1997.

This is where this trail differs from the Bright Angel Trail of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. On the latter, the first section between the South Rim trailhead and the 1.5-mile station was quite crowded with hikers and casual strollers. It was only after the 3-mile station that I had the Bright Angel Trail to myself. But here in New South Wales, the whole trail was mine from the start.

And during the hike, I had a scare. Was that object further up the trail a puma? From a distance, it certainly looked like one. Or even a bear? I slowed down and carefully watched for any movement. Even a hint of movement, and Olympic champion Mo Farah's speed record would have been jeopardised!

Slowly, I approached the object. It still didn't move. It was only when I got close enough to discern that the object was a discarded log, a section of a dead tree. What a relief! This was a classic example of pareidolia, like seeing a face gazing at you from the curtain pattern during the night.

While I was at the Blue Mountains National Park, I saw that there was a resemblance to the Grand Canyon in the sense of a valley bordered by rims. But that was as far as it got. There were also big differences. Where the Grand Canyon is a desert with the Colorado River flowing along its floor, the Blue Mountains are covered almost entirely by rainforest. Also, the Aussie version wasn't as deep as the American version. Over here, the trail didn't reach the bottom, but straddled along a cliff wall hidden under forest and interrupted by waterfalls. Yet, there is now a section called the Grand Canyon, which might include the trail I used.

The focal point for tourists is the Three Sisters. These are natural rock formations, but got their name from a legend that these rocks were once actual young women. However, when their father saw the Devil arriving to harm them, to protect his daughters, he used a manuscript to cast a spell on them, turning them into three rock pillars and himself into a bird. However, he accidentally lost the scroll after the Devil departed. It was never found, and the girls were condemned to remain rock pillars forever, while he flies around to this day in an unsuccessful search for the key to release his daughters and himself.

A legend it may be, but the story stirred my emotions. To be honest, I have found the legend more feasible to the imagination than the boring explanation from the geologist that these are of a layered rock strata that has suffered erosion.

The first day after arrival was mainly in the afternoon, as the train journey took up most of the morning. But I stayed all of the second day at the park before boarding the train for the return journey to Sydney as the night drew in.

Click here for the link to the Index for the main Biography, covering Weeks 93-96.

Photos of the Blue Mountains National Park.