Forest, valleys, sandstone cliffs and mountains stretching all the way to the horizon and beyond.
It is an incredible scene.
I tried to breathe in as much air as I could. I wanted to make it mine somehow. I had the impression that mine was just an ingenuous attempt.
I walked around, following paths that were taking me right in the middle of the forest.
I was surrounded by the white trunks of the gum trees. Their leafy branches were giving shelter and shade from the hot sun.
Unfortunately I could not make this day trip mine. Too many of my family around. Too many people to get together, too many things that had to be done.
“The kids are hungry, we have to stop”; “Wait, and some are still in the toilet”; “What about the gift shop?”; “We cannot walk all the way down, we have to go”. I went with the flow but I do feel the need to go back and live that place my way, taking my time.
Needless to say, I took heaps of pictures (as they say here).
By the way, here is an interesting fact. They called this forests “Blue Mountains” after “.. the soft, blue haze emanated from the oil secreted by the covering forests of eucalypts.” I could not quite see the blue though. Maybe the sunlight was not right.
The Blue Mountains, like everywhere else in Australia, were territory of the Aboriginal people. The Three Sisters is a rock formation and here is the Aboriginal explanation of it existence:
“Whenever he had to leave his three daughters, Meeheni, Wimlah and Gunnedoo, Tyawan the witch doctor, would place them on a high cliff to protect them from the bunyip. One day, a stone which Meeheni had thrown at a caterpillar fell from the cliff and caused the part the sisters were on to break away so that they were stranded. The noise woke the bunyip and he lunged at the sisters just as Tyawan was returning. Tyawan pointed his magic bone at his daughters so that they turned to stone until the bunyip left. Tyawan though, was trapped in the rock and turned himself into a lyre bird. In the confusion he lost his magic bone and is still searching for it today, while the three sisters silently watch from the edge of the mountain.”
It is an incredible scene.
I tried to breathe in as much air as I could. I wanted to make it mine somehow. I had the impression that mine was just an ingenuous attempt.
I walked around, following paths that were taking me right in the middle of the forest.
I was surrounded by the white trunks of the gum trees. Their leafy branches were giving shelter and shade from the hot sun.
Unfortunately I could not make this day trip mine. Too many of my family around. Too many people to get together, too many things that had to be done.
“The kids are hungry, we have to stop”; “Wait, and some are still in the toilet”; “What about the gift shop?”; “We cannot walk all the way down, we have to go”. I went with the flow but I do feel the need to go back and live that place my way, taking my time.
Needless to say, I took heaps of pictures (as they say here).
By the way, here is an interesting fact. They called this forests “Blue Mountains” after “.. the soft, blue haze emanated from the oil secreted by the covering forests of eucalypts.” I could not quite see the blue though. Maybe the sunlight was not right.
The Blue Mountains, like everywhere else in Australia, were territory of the Aboriginal people. The Three Sisters is a rock formation and here is the Aboriginal explanation of it existence:
“Whenever he had to leave his three daughters, Meeheni, Wimlah and Gunnedoo, Tyawan the witch doctor, would place them on a high cliff to protect them from the bunyip. One day, a stone which Meeheni had thrown at a caterpillar fell from the cliff and caused the part the sisters were on to break away so that they were stranded. The noise woke the bunyip and he lunged at the sisters just as Tyawan was returning. Tyawan pointed his magic bone at his daughters so that they turned to stone until the bunyip left. Tyawan though, was trapped in the rock and turned himself into a lyre bird. In the confusion he lost his magic bone and is still searching for it today, while the three sisters silently watch from the edge of the mountain.”
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