blue mountain blues.

before chris arrived in sydney i made a list of things that we simply had to do while he was here. this list included standard fare like the opera house and bondi beach and then some more personal things like going to the ben sherman store on market street and eating ferrero rocher gelato in newtown. i also decided to ask all the locals for their suggestions for things that are not to be missed, namely the "one thing i must do with chris." and indubitably the answer came back "you must see the blue mountains."

the blue mountains are northwest of the city and form somewhat of the western edge of the greater sydney area. they are not so much mountains as they are a giant range of cavernously deep gorges cut into the sandstone landscape, blanketed with lush and vibrant vegetation, ribboned with cascading waterfalls. the plentiful eucalyptus trees that dot the hills emit a certain oil into the air and when the sun hits said oil the mountains appear to be giving off a blue aura. and so the mountains have their name.

chris arrived in sydney eager to see the mountains- i had told him how much everyone raved about them and of course he google imaged them until he, too, was sufficiently enamored. but the first week he was here the sun was too perfect not to go to the beach and then we were off to the whitsundays for a jaunt. upon our return to the city we had three full days left and our number one destination was the blue mountains, which had by this point taken on an almost mythical quality. we were going, come hell or high water. but the high water came the next day in the form of rain and so we decided to push back our travels until the next day, saturday, chris's second last day in the city.

we awoke before 6 a.m. and trekked through the foggy early morning to catch the train that would take us to katoomba, the whimsically named city that borders the blue mountains. to drive from sydney to the blue mountains takes roughly 45 minutes; the train ride, on the other hand, takes nearly three hours. we both slept for most of the trip but then i awoke as we chugged along, further from the city and further into an ever-thickening fog. i started to feel the tiniest bit apprehensive about our exciting day trip. we were headed to what is championed as one of the most beautiful vistas in new south wales and if this fog didn't burn off soon... let's just say that it wouldn't be good. (i feel i should let you know that i very seriously considered writing "we were headed to what is championed as one of the most beautiful vistas in new south wales and if this fog didn't burn off soon... well, it was going to be hasta la vistas, baby." just thought you should know.)

and so we arrived in katoomba to a steady, miserable drizzle with exactly one umbrella and zero raincoats between us. i at least had a hood on my sweatshirt. chris had- well, he had me for company. and we had fog. there was plenty of fog. but we were there and to hell if we were going down without a fight. somehow we had enough remaining optimism between us to hope, to please god hope that we would at least be able to see something. so we began the twenty minute trek down to the first lookout to see the three sisters (not, as you might imagine, chekhov's play of the same name but rather three towering sandstone turrets. just wanted to avoid confusion.) three minutes into the walk my socks were officially soaked. ten minutes into the walk chris turned to me and said, "just so you know i am about thirty seconds from turning around and getting back on a train to sydney. i need you to talk me down from the ledge." eighteen minutes into the walk we found a coffee shop that also sold $2 rain ponchos of the 'garbage bag with armholes and a hood' variety and may i just say that they are not only comfortable but also the epitome of high fashion. twenty minutes into the walk we arrived at the lookout. and so we looked out.

i must break to show you what the view from the three sisters lookout is on any moderately sunny or clear day.
pretty, isn't it? it looks untouched and sweeping and transporting, all the things a view of the mountains should be. however, when chris and i arrived at the edge of the very same canyon where that picture was taken, this is what we saw:
in case you were wondering, that is fog. that is not a sheet of cloudy gray paper. it is not an image we created on microsoft paint. that is what we saw from the gateway to the most exquisite mountain range in new south wales. fog.

while i can't say anything for the view of the mountains, i do have a lot too say about the view of the fog. it was quite a thing to behold in its own way- the sheer density of it was not to be believed. it was quite literally as if someone had taken a geographical eraser and removed whatever lay more than ten feet in front of us. the world beyond the edge of our side of the mountains ceased to exist- the three sisters really could have been chekhov's play for all we know. at one point while walking through one of the trails chris and i could hear a rushing waterfall directly below us- but we couldn't see it. a waterfall! it was completely swallowed by the fog. no matter how hard we strained our eyes or how far we zoomed our cameras there was naught to behold.

we could have cried. we could have sulked. we could have nastily blamed each other and been petty and miserable. but instead we decided to make the best of what we had. and we had a lovely day. we took a long, meandering walk through the rainforest-like greenery that borders the canyon. we snapped photos of the katoomba cascades and jumped through massive puddles. we kept remarking, "can you imagine how beautiful it must be from here when there isn't any fog?" we schlepped back up to katoomba several hours later, mud-splattered and drenched and tucked into meat pies and warm drinks in a charming little cafe. we read the travel section of the saturday paper and through about where else we could go to not see the view.

on the three hour train ride back toward the city and dry shoes the fog miraculously began to lift. by the time we arrived home in willoughby we were told by sheila that it had been a beautiful day in sydney. hardly seems fair, really. and so if anyone ever asks me if it's true that the blue mountains are really the one thing that they must see when they come to sydney i know how i will answer them. "don't ask me," i will say, "i haven't the foggiest."

will you look at that view!