We were told that today was going to be easier than the day
before and I don’t know if that was the case or not. Yes, we got to wake up a
whole hour later but I would have rather woke up at the same time just to get
the final hike done and over with quicker. We were still planning to hike in
the Blue Mountains but at a different location called Wentworth Falls. There
were supposed to be even more waterfalls than yesterday, and ones we were told
were best to swim in. We arrived at the park around 10 AM and once again got a
good look at the valley we were about to walk down into. The paths were a
little more touristy like the first day, but I could deal with that since we
had the promise of gorgeous waterfalls! Riley and I had really wanted to hike
together since it was our last day, but I knew we weren’t since the teacher had
told my group that morning that we were hiking with him. Riley’s group had the
idea to basically beg the teacher to be in his group too but it didn’t work
out, or maybe I begged the guys to ask him to change the groups around. However, our two groups were back to back so we met up with each other
along the way. In my group, the teacher made us pair up with people that we
hadn’t talk to before which meant it was basically guys with girls. It was nice
getting to talk with even more new people and I was even able to talk to one guy
about West Virginia and all the outdoor things you can do there. Riley’s group
on the other hand wasn’t as intertwined and the guys stuck with guys while the
girls seem to just complain and wish the hike was over with already. The trail
was a lot easier than the previous day but we were all sore anyways so it didn’t
even matter. We saw waterfalls almost instantly, but they were mainly just
small little ones.
My group had the mission of going at a fast, yet casual
speed so that our teacher wouldn’t stop and talk about every plant and bird
like he was known to do. We were also on another mission of getting off the
trail in time since our travel back plans had been altered. One of the girls had
noticed when she brought her return train ticket that some of the stations were
going to be closed on Sunday. Our teacher went with her word on that and arranged to get a Coach bus to another town called Blacktown where we would catch
the train from there. That meant we had to be off the trail at 2:30 in order to
get back to Katoomba in time for the bus. That left us with about 4 hours to do
a hike that the information board said should take 6 hours. It was only 6 km
long though so we knew that the information had to be wrong or outdated. The
trip down the mountain was fairly easy and time passed by quickly. Whenever we
rounded a corner a group of our classmates were coming towards us when we
thought they were actually behind us. This was a little confusing but it didn’t
matter since they told us that our lunch spot was just minutes away! Our time
measurements must be different because it took us about 20 minutes to reach
that lunch spot. Riley’s group was already eating there so we finally got to reconnect
with the guys. One of Riley’s group members had decided to take a swim in the
freezing cold pool under this giant waterfall. He was literally shaking by the
time we got there. After Riley’s group left two guys from my group decided to go
swimming along with the teacher’s son. The two guys made it under the waterfall
long enough for a picture and then jumped out. Finally the teacher’s son, Jackson, made his move to go in but only made it halfway before he started to lose his
breath since it was that cold! We tried to cheer him on, but he just couldn’t do it.
Our lunch spot was in a valley with no sun shining which made it chilly so we
all pushed to set off on the trail again. Plus we knew that we were literally
going to have to scale the cliff so we were just ready to be done! We would
climb some stairs, then go down some stairs so you can imagine how discouraging
that would be. Then we turned the corner and there were ladders that were
literally going straight up the cliff side. Everyone shed a couple of layers
and prepared themselves to climb to the finish. It was just a series of metal
stairs after that, some with little cages over them since they were so high up
the mountain side with nothing else to stop you from falling over. Our legs were
all rubber at this point, but we knew we had to finish. Riley had told me
yesterday that climbing the stairs two at a time was much easier since you did
half the effort and got to rest more often. I tried it out and really did see
the benefit since I wasn’t nearly as tired as the day before. That didn’t mean
I had an easy time with those stairs though! I
might actually consider that to be harder than the long day’s hike. We were the
last group to finish the hike so everyone was already at the top waiting for
us. We were so exhausted that one of the girls started to crawl up the stairs. I
think it’s pretty ridiculous when you have to look straight up to even see
where your next step is. In the end though, it really wasn’t that bad of a hike
and we both truly enjoyed ourselves. We got to meet some awesome people that we
had been in class with all semester but had never gotten the chance to talk
with. I know that’s the whole point of the trip – to have experiences with
people that you otherwise can’t have in a classroom setting. But, we were also
excited to be back on the train and heading towards Sydney especially after
having to sit through almost 3 hours of traffic. It was the end of a holiday
weekend in Australia because of Anzac Day so lots of families had opted to
leave town. The highways were crowded and we crawled along for miles. The girl had
been right and the railways in Katoomba had been closed for maintenance so we
were happy that our teacher had thought of a backup plan. We had to stick
through some awkward and inappropriate conversations on the bus ride so we were
both more than ready to get away from these people. Sometimes I wonder if some
people will ever get out of the high school stage and grow up.
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| This was a sign outside the bus station. We love how straight forward Australians are! |
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