Trip Report - May 1st - Scenic Railway to Ruined Castle Katoomba.
Party: Bruce, Claudia & friend, Anne & friend, Josef & friend, Alex J, Marty D, Mollie, Peggy, Trang, Diana D, Jana R, Chris, Arada, Ben, Cathy S, Robert F M.
After meeting up at Strathfield Station, we headed off to Katoomba
Station to await the arrival of the train with more walkers aboard. We
got there 10 minutes ahead of the train which time was put to good use
as a loo break.
When all had been gathered at the Station, I gave directions to the
car drivers how to get to Scenic World and Violet Street where we
would all park before setting out for the walk together.
Four of the five cars duly arrived at the parking spot and our
passengers gathered to await the arrival of the fifth car, Robert's.
And waited. And waited.
After about 20 minutes a call came from Trang, one of the passengers
in Robert's car, asking where we were! She said that Robert had gone
straight to the top of Furber's Steps instead of Violet Street, and
there they had sat waiting for us wondering where we were!
I then led the group around to the top of Furber's Steps, and down we
went into the valley. On the way there were great views of the Three
Sisters, Jamieson Valley,and Katoomba Falls at full flow after the
recent rains, and a photostop was arranged at a lookout; there were
several in our group for whom this visit to the Blue Mountains was
their very first ever, and they found the view awesome.
At the bottom of Furber's Steps we reached federal Pass and the bottom
station of the Scenic Railway. There was a throng of tourists who had
just come off the scenic train (bad timing for us), who then proceeded
to look at all the touristy things around the former mine adits. I
hadn't been along this section of the Pass for many years, so the
touristy stuff was unexpected for me. There are fake coal mine
entances (with recorded sounds), old coal skips (with coal obviously
from the Maitland Coalfields, not Katoomba), and so on - you get the
picture.
A wooden walkway has been installed which goes further down into the
valley by a spiral route, and we followed this down. I started getting
suspicious after 5 minutes as I recalled that the Federal Pass to
Golden Stairs didn't go down into the valley, and my suspicions were
confirmed when we reached the bottom after ten minutes to find it was
a dead-end!
Well, not quite a dead end; a short cut was found to get back up to
the fake mine entrances, and then we looked carefully to find the
track of continuation of the Federal Pass to Ruined castle.
(I will also mention that the wooden walkway - which is supposed to be
wheelchair accessible - was quite slippery underfoot, as it is almost
perpetually damp in that rain forest. I can just imagine a runaway
wheelchair causing havoc on that walkway one day!!)
Anyway, the diversion through the rainforest was interesting in itself, and nobody minded. We even saw a Lyrebird there.
We found the start of the Federal Pass near the fake coal mines; it is
poorly signposted, and the sign indicating it's junction with the
wooden walkway can't be seen until one is already on Federal Pass!
The Pass continues along a muddy track until The Landslide Section,
where it becomes fairly rough. By that time it was after 12 noon, but
the group agreed to press on regardless and wait until Ruined Castle
for lunch.
After Landslide the track becomes fairly level as it is the old coal
tramway formation. The recent rain had however caused it to be almost
continuously muddy.
We passed the botttom entrance to Golden Stairs and continued on the
reach the turn-off for the short 600m track to Ruined Castle. Once at
the "Castle" (actually a massive boulder), we settled down to a well
deserved lunch. A pair of Currawongs soon appeared and started begging
for food.
Some of the group climbed up the Rock for lunch and admired the
splendid views.
After lunch we retraced our steps as far as the Golden Stairs, and I
decided to exit via these rather than Furber's Steps as it was getting
late. The idea of climbing the slippery Furber's in the dark didn't
appeal.
Golden Stairs themselves are rather rough but it is noted that
reconstruction work is being undertaken over the next month.
Eventually we reached the top of Golden Stairs and proceeded along
Narrow Neck via a road bash back to Violet Street and the cars.
Then it was a trip to Echo Point and a local shop for coffee and hot
chocolate before the drive back to Sydney. The traffic was unusually
light on the way home.
A good day despite the earlier delays, and the mountains were a
revelation to the overseas visitors.
Bruce Stafford
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