Katoomba

Katoomba is  the heart of the Blue Mountains and one of the best known destinations in Australia.

The view at Echo Point across the Jamison Valley is stunningly breathtaking and an ever-changing site. If you look across the valley  you can see  the town just  in the middle of the high  plateau. The bush and rainforest  is so dense all around!

When you are in the town you are not aware that you are so near the cliff edge!

Katoomba was originally called "Crushers" after the rock crushing plant which provided the basis for the railway line across the Blue Mountains. Crushers was updated to Katoomba in 1887.

Katoomba is a derivative of the Aboriginal word "Kedumba" meaning "shiny, falling waters" after the natural beauty of the area.

A little known fact is that Katoomba was a mining town. What is now the incline of the Scenic Railway was originally a tramway system for bringing shale from the Jamison Valley.

The Skyway was installed along the scenic highway in 1957, the southern hemisphere's first passenger carrying cableway. It was this cable car that was first "tourist attraction" when visitors were allowed to sit  in the coal cars to be lowered and raised into the valley.

The old coal mine's cable car site is now the location of the Scenic Railway acknowledged as the steepest incline railway in the world. Other rides include the Skyway and Cableway.

At the top of the station you are aware of the steepness of the angle downwards as you get into the car, a bit like a rollercoaster train!

Travelling downwards is certainly very fast, hurtling I would call it, and one only hopes that there is a stopping point before crashing  into the valley way...way...below!

This was taken with right hand clinging on for dear life and the left hand trying to press camera button   and deciding that the speed was too great to be focused! It really does feel as if you are vertical.

The last pic shows the vertical fissure through which the train travels as it thunders downwards to the platform. Focus first on the steel arch at the top mid part of the photo and drop your eye down to the left hand corner of the pic where you can just see the arrival platform. You can maybe then get a feel of the "vertical drop" of the train. All good fun of course  although maybe not for the fainthearted!

Fascinating to think of those first miners descending in this way!