Traveling with Ray Owens

Today we traveled to the Blue Mountain National Park to see the mountains which are blue. Why, you may ask are the blue? Well it seems that a majority of the trees in the forest are Eucalyptus trees and further the Eucalyptus trees leaves secrete eucalyptus oil (duhh). The moisture and oil combine and create a bluish green sheen. Personal I did not see it.

Our first stop was the observation area to see The Three Sisters in the Jamison Valley. The sisters are three rock formations that can be seen from across the valley when the clouds are not blocking the view. How did they get that name?

The Legend

“The Aboriginal dream-time legend has it that three sisters, ‘Meehni’, ‘Wimlah’ and ‘Gunnedoo’ lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe.

These beautiful young ladies had fallen in love with three brothers from the Nepean tribe, yet tribal law forbade them to marry.

The brothers were not happy to accept this law and so decided to use force to capture the three sisters causing a major tribal battle.

As the lives of the three sisters were seriously in danger, a witchdoctor from the Katoomba tribe took it upon himself to turn the three sisters into stone to protect them from any harm. While he had intended to reverse the spell when the battle was over, the witchdoctor himself was killed. As only he could reverse the spell to return the ladies to their former beauty, the sisters remain in their magnificent rock formation as a reminder of this battle for generations to come.

There are three sisters in monument valley Arizona on the Navajo reservation. The stories of how they came to be are somewhat different

* Some say the Three Sisters look like a Mother Superior, a Sister, and a novice walking towards a cathedral �

* Others say the Three Sisters are three sisters who loved each other very much and were never separated

While I was taking pictures from the top I saw that a path led down to a lower level. Being the consummate photographer I started down the steps and paths. The trip took about five minutes. But the clouds had other plans. The sisters were totally obscured by the clouds. And I did not see them again until I climbed back up.

We stopped for Lunch at 10:45 in a hotel formally known as the Hotel California. When they told me that there was no possibility of me remembering the current name.

Our next stop was an abandoned coal mine area which just happens to be in a rainforest that is full of plant species that have been in existence since before the age of the dinosaurs. They have created a boardwalk through the rainforest and placed mechanical dinosaurs along the path with lots of hands on activities. Lots of four year old kids all talking in different languages but all clearly saying “Look, Mama, a velociraptor!”

It was a great 1 hour stroll through a rainforest on a boardwalk.

Leura was our next stop a very small town with tree lined streets and a lovely Teapot museum/ store.

We made our way back to our ship by five and on the way our bus driver Phil played the music that lost the competition for the Australia tourism theme song back in the 1970s. In case you are wondering why it lost take a listen