Blue Mountains Bush Walk!

Day 1!

My alarm clock went off at exactly 7:30 in the morning, thinking that getting up this early in the morning would give me enough time to get to the train station which was only about a ten minute walk away. I decided to cook a nutritious breakfast which consisted of eggs, toast and a couple of fruit since I knew I was going to need it for the hike in the Blue Mountains. After Breakfast, which was at about 8:00 in the morning, I decided that it would probably be good if left for the train station, so I popped on my pack, which was full of the essential hiking gear, and headed off towards central station. As I was walking I noticed my bag felt slightly heavier than what I was used to and hoped that this wouldn’t affect my hike in the Blue Mountains. I also realized that my house was a little further than 10 minutes form central station, and I began to get off schedule a little bit. I found myself running to get to the train station! Once I arrived I quickly bought my ticket and ran towards the platform where the Katoomba train was departing. Only one problem: I had no clue what platform that would be. I had to quickly ask a gate keeper which was the correct platform and he had no problem telling me which direction it would be in. I ran to the platform only to find that the train had already left and I would be waiting another 45 minutes for the next train. On the plus side, I wasn’t the only person to be late and was soon accompanied by four other students of the class. Another train pulled up on the tracks a few minutes later, so we hopped on it. We didn’t expect to wait another 20 minutes until we departed, but I guess that’s what we get for being late. Our train ride finally started and we were headed to the Blue Mountains in Katoomba. One of the girls that was also late called the teacher and he informed us that we would have to take a taxi to senic world once we reached the Katoomba station. I wasn’t mad because I had to deal with consequences of being late. Once we arrived to Katoomba we caught the taxi like Ian said and in no time we were reunited with the rest of the class. The first thing that our class did was separate into our groups which we would be hiking with as well as cabining with the next couple of day.  

Group I was part of! (The guys)

 I noticed that I knew a couple of people in the group that I wasn’t too fond of, so I was kind of worried on how this weekend would play out. As soon as we divided into groups we were already hiking on our first trek of the three day hike. We were informed that today wouldn’t be too exhausting since it was only a 3 hour hike. I didn’t think that the hike would be too bad until I heard that we had to hike up some 900 stairs at the tail end of the hike. When I heard this I thought 900 stairs would be impossible since that is like climbing a 90 story building! All I could be thankful for at that time is that it was at the end of the hike. During my group’s hike down I was able to talk to a couple of members, just on a get to know you basis. Doing this really helped me get to know the people better, which I thought would be good since we had to spend the next couple of days with them. Our tour guide was Nikki, who I had seen earlier on the Royal National Park trip. She turned out to be really nice and an excellent tour guide for the Blue Mountains. We all liked Nikki and even cracked a few jokes with her every now and then. She was real helpful when it came to plants. Since lunch time was rolling around, we decided to eat lunch with the rest

The beginning of the massive stairway!

of the groups which congregated around a big stair steps. I like being able to talk all the people who were in different groups than I was. I didn’t realize how many people in our class were from so many different parts of the world! Although we were having a good time catching up, we had to get back to our hikes. Once we started up again, it wasn’t long before we arrived at a ‘rock cave’ which you could crawl through to get to the other side of the path. Not many people in our group wanted to crawl through, but since I may only be in Australia once, I thought to myself, “why not?”. As I made my way to the cave, I was getting a little nervous because the gap looked really small, and I was afraid I was going to get stuck. While crawling through the cave, I began to get nervous, but then I realized it would be easier if I just relaxed and made my way through. In no time, I popped out the other side and was extremely proud of myself. My jacket was covered in dirt, but it was worth it! We continued our hike and saw many different beautiful waterfalls, which is something I don’t get to see back in the United States. We finally reached the massive 900 step stairway that everyone was dreading. Nikki told us of things we could try while we climbed up the stairs, like holding water in our mouth the whole way, but I opted not to since it sounded quite disgusting. As we made it to the top of the stairway, everyone in my group was exhausted and just wanted to sit down. It was breezy at the top and there was also a good view of the three sisters! All of the groups gathered together and took a group photo, which was really cool! Soon we all gathered on the bus that was heading straight for the Grocery stores. Since I was late, I was unable to talk to my cabin about what we were going to eat that night, but luckily when we arrived at Coles, everyone was fine with doing pasta and garlic bread. We grabbed a shopping cart and made our way

View from the Three Sisters!

through Coles. As our cart started filling up, I was getting a little nervous because I wasn’t sure if we would need all of the food, but instead of saying anything, I kept my mouth shut. It was also hard to shop for food since one of my cabin mates was a vegetarian. Our total ended up being $65 which meant it was only $13 dollars per person which wasn’t bad at all. Once we were done, we headed back on the bus and headed back to the cabins. Once we arrived and had our cabins assigned, we were all starving so we decided to make dinner right away! I wasn’t sure who was going to make dinner, so we all just pitched in and helped one another. The spaghetti and garlic bread was delicious! Although the conversation didn’t start out right away, we all eased into it and began talking like we knew one another for ages. When dinner was over, we decided to choose rooms. There was only one problem -  who was going to get the queen size bed? Since we all wanted it, we decided to pick numbers out of a hat and I was the lucky one who grabbed number one which meant I got the big bed! I set my bags down in the room and head back to the living room where we all sat down and struck up conversation again. We had to wait until 8:00 pm for the campfire, so we decided to relax until then. The girls from another cabin came over and joined in on the conversation as well, which was nice because that meant more people to talk to and meet. During this time, one of our cabin mates named Jason was trying to start a fire. He  claimed that he used to be a boy scout, but it didn’t look like it. Soon 8:00 rolled around and we were pulling up chairs by the campfire. We started off by having 5 minutes worth of silence so we could clear our mind. I ended up reflecting on the day and what I had accomplished. I was proud to think that I survived my first day of bushwalking as well as meet cool new friends. Afterwards, everyone around the campfire had to tell a little bit about themselves. I chose to say what I was passionate about, which I was a little scared since it was 10-pin bowling. I thought people would laugh at me since I said that, but to my surprise no one did. I found that they were more accepting than I had recently thought. I loved hearing what other people are passionate about. You really don’t know a person until you hear what they are passionate about. After the all the people had said some things about themselves, I decided to go back to the cabin with my mates and relax a little bit more before I went to bed. Our fire still wasn’t going, so another cabin mate named Brian decided he would take charge and poked the fire. I guess that was all it took since the Furness broke out into flames. Needless to say the cabin began to warm up and I began to get a little too cozy, so I decided to head off to bed so I could energize for the next day.

Day 2!

Today began bright and early since Ian told us that we had to be waiting for the bus at 8:00 in the morning. I don’t think any of my cabin mates took showers since we all knew that we would probably get dirty and sweaty. Breakfast was way less chaotic than I thought it was going to be and all of my cabin mates were able to make toast with jelly as well as have a banana. I was glad that we bought all the food we did because I don’t think I would have been able to hike without a semi-nutritious breakfast. After breakfast, all the cabins began to file in towards to bus. As we boarded, I noticed that some of the people were already on the bus which made me think that our cabin was slow. Once everyone boarded, Ian gave us a little talk about what the hike was going to look like. He informed us that it would be a 7 hour hike and I could barely believe it. I thought he was joking when he said that, but he reinstated it just to make sure that we knew. I didn’t think I would be able to do hike that far since I was still tired from the day before,  but I could only wait and see. We headed off to the starting point of our hike which was a big lookout over the Blue Mountains.

View form the top on the second day!

Ian pointed out the path that we would be following and he made it seem like it went on forever! This was the second time that I began to doubt myself on this hike. Shortly after he showed us our trail, he began to pass out maps and compasses. I wanted to be the keeper of the compass, but another person grabbed it, but I was hoping later on in the hike that he would share because I really wanted to learn how to use a compass! We divided into groups just like the day before, but this time we were paired with a different cabin group as well as a different tour guide. This day we were grouped with a couple of girls that were from New York. I didn’t want to be too judgmental, but they were a little annoying at the start, telling stories about vulgar things and I was hoping they would chill out during the hike. Joel on the other had was a very relaxed guy. I like that he was chill because it made the start of the hike a lot more bearable. We started by hiking down the mountain into what looked like Jurassic Park! I was surprised to see so many green plants since it was getting close to winter, but it made me want to figure out why they were so green. I found out that when it rains, all of the rain has to run down the hills, during which the ground collects water, therefore producing very green plants! During the hike down, I found that the steps were very steep and wet, which made it for a difficult hike. We finally hit some of the bush that had sunlight poking through it and the hike turned out easier as we kept pressing on. Our group hit an impasse when Joel told us  that the week before, some rocks had fallen and tore a piece of the foot bridge apart. He also told us that there was not a sturdy handrail to hold onto, but rather just a piece of cable. As we started to cross it one by one, by nerves began to set in. When it was finally my turn to cross, I did it slowly, knowing if I make one wrong move, I could fall to my death. I think that was the scariest part of crossing the bridge – I could die if I made an error. Luckily, not one person in our group made an error

One of the many beautiful waterfalls!

and we all made it out alive. Soon after the bridge, at the bottom of the hill, we all decided that it would be a good time to have morning tea. My group and a few others sat down and began talking to one another, and I was actually talking to one of the New York girls. We talked about the accents in New York as well as many other things. I learned that the girls weren’t as bad as I thought and shouldn’t be too quick to judge a person. I talked to many others as well, just striking up casual conversation. Soon morning tea was over and we started hiking again. The downhill part of the hike was over now, which to me meant it was smooth sailing form here! I was totally wrong about the smooth sailing part. During the flat part of the hike, we encountered many different rock formations as well as many different mud holes. We were able to maneuver past these obstacles only  to be hit with tall grass and low vision of what was in front of us. At this point, everyone was getting tired, so Joel thought it would be a good idea if we skipped 50 meters down the trail. Although I was a little hesitant, I went for it since everyone else was. He also made us do this rock, paper, scissors way of telling how well we were doing while in the bush. If you were good, you held a 5 in your hands, 4 for moderately good, and so on and so on.  I must say, it did lift everyone’s spirits and everyone was ready to go after that! I think the spirits lasted for a while because right after we were done skipping, our groups decided that we would make a chant/cadence for our group. It went like this: 

We are the Kukumbas (x2)
The mighty, might Kukumbas (x2)
We are here (x2)
To climb the Blue Mountains (x2)
Oo ah, oh yea, oo ah, feels good
OHHHHHH KUKUMBAS!

Periodically throughout the day we would sing this chant to lift our spirits! We also added a couple of verses in the end, but we didn’t include those in the main version. Not too long after we made the chant, it was time for lunch. We were able to sit at a rock formation that had a little water hole which you could swim in. I decided not to swim in the water today since one of my cabin mates when in and said he could barely breath because the water was so cold! Since I decided to not go in the water, Joel made us tell an embarrassing moment that happened sometime in my life. I chose to tell the time where my shorts became stuck on a piece of fence and I was suspended mid-air. Although it was a funny part of my life, it was really embarrassing as well. Lunch didn’t last long today and we hit the trails again. I was appointed the trail leader and took the group at my own pace, which I thought was slow, but the others could argue differently. Not even 5 minutes into the trip, I had gotten the group lost. Luckily Joel was behind knowing we were going the wrong way the whole time. I was slightly embarrassed, but the whole group came together and helped me out. We grabbed our compasses and maps and figured out that we went too far and took the wrong fork in the road. We only had to back track a little bit until we found the right for in the road. We took it and were on our way once again. The next couple of hours included treacherous stairs that seemed almost waist high! It was brutal and a couple of people had to stop. At this moment, our group gathered and encouraged the ones who were falling being. This was a big moment of the day because I showed me that even if you don’t fully know someone, they can still have your back at the end of the day. Once we made it up the stairs, we found Nikki’s group in front of a big waterfall. They were waiting for us making sure that we were doing alright. Again, it is nice to see that people really care about you out in the bush. We had to do the same thing for the next group, so I decided to do a little exploring of my own. I made my way onto a couple of rocks, just searching for anything that could be found. I eventually stumbled across a big rock that overlooked the valley. It was a beautiful sight to see and knowing that many people probably have not seen what I had seen that day, was truly special. We waited about another 20 minutes before the other group had made it to the same waterfall spot.  Since it was my groups turn to head off, we gathered our things and began making it back up the last part of the hike. This part of the hike was beautiful, yet very dirty at the same time! The views were amazing but the trails were so muddy! I had tried to keep my shoes as clean as possible that day, but that was shot down after stepping in the mud multiple time. We also finally hit the stairs that seemed to go straight up, and after those, I can guarantee that everyone had thighs of steel! When we finally made it to the top we were greeted by the group ahead of us making a tunnel! We all ran through it, which felt awesome because they were all encouraging us, helping us through the tunnel! We did this for the rest of the groups that followed which everyone enjoyed. I still couldn’t believe that I had made it through the 7 hour hike

Where we entered Jurassic Park!

. Beating all of the obstacles really showed me that I believe in myself more than I knew. Once we were all back at the top, we headed back on the bus and headed back to the cabins. It was almost the exact same routine as the day before, but this time the girls came over and joined us for dinner. It felt like home having that many people over for dinner, which was needed after a long day of hiking.  We all gathered around the campfire around 8:00 pm again, but this time it was to relax. We built two fires and made great conversation was great people. We were supposed to play games, but since Ian thought the conversation was going so well, he decided to just let us keep talking. Just like the night before, sleep was catcing up to me and we all headed back to the cabin where Jason redeemed himself. When we entered the cabin it was almost a sauna! It was so hot in there it was making us sweat! Jason was really proud of himself to say the least. Soon after I went to bed so I could catch enough sleep for the next day of hiking. Throughout the day I also took a video every hour showing my progress.

Day 3!

I was glad that Ian let us sleep in an extra hour since the day before was brutal, but waking up that morning wasn’t hard since it was filled with waterfalls! I feel like our cabin was in a routine since we all woke up and prepared breakfast just like the day before. It had almost seemed like we been living together for a while now. Since we didn’t have to be on the bus until 9:00 am, we were able to clean and leave the cabin without rushing. We all filed on the bus again and Ian gave us another pep talk about the day’s agenda. He said it would only be a 3 hour hike, which I loved to hear! Once we arrived at our starting point of the third day, my group wanted to be paired up with the girls, but we weren’t fortunate enough and we were paired with another group of girls who looked like they didn’t want to be their! We were also grouped with Samantha (married to Joel), and she was a little jokester. As we descended down the hill, Sam seemed to be just as lost as we were, but she was only joking, so she says. We tried to scare Ian’s group who was right behind us, but it didn’t work and we moved on with our hike. We came up on our first waterfall, which was beautiful! I had never seen a waterfall like it before! I was able to snap a photo of it! After everyone was able to get a couple pictures, we headed off back into the bush for more waterfalls. We were able to hit about 3 more, which were just as beautiful! While walking on the trail, we hit Wayne’s group who to the track the other way. They warned us that the stairs at the other side of the canyon were extremely steep, but we didn’t believe them since we had conquered the stairs the day before.

Beautiful waterfall on the third day!

All of the guys trailed at the back of the group just talking to Sam and having a good time, but the girls were basically running at the front of the group. I thought it was pointless to do so because they were unable to catch the beautiful sights that the Blue Mountains had to offer. We soon sat down to eat lunch which was at a massive waterfall. It was already a cold while sitting in the shade, so I knew I wasn’t about to jump into the water. A couple of other people that sat down and at lunch with us decided that they wanted to, so I said more power to them. I knew it was a bad decision because before they were even in the water, they we shivering! At least they could say that they did it. Lunch went by fast as usual and we were off hiking again. Right as we started hiking, we hit the massive stairs that led to the carpark at the top of the canyon. I should have listened to Wayne’s group when they said the staircase was massive, because the staircase was absolutely massive! At time we could only let one person up the ladders at a time because if not, the person on the bottom would not be able to see upwards. It was a long and agonizing trip up, but when we made it, there was another big, beautiful waterfall waiting for us! I think I know why Ian saved this part of the hike for the last day. We sat there for a second and took in the sight as well as feeling accomplished for doing what we just did. The girls had other ideas and walked ahead because they wanted to get out of there. We soon followed and met at the carpark. We sat there for a couple minutes and the rest of the groups soon piled in. We finally did it – we scaled the Blue Mountains. I felt so accomplished for what I just did. I never thought I could spend three days out in the wilderness with complete strangers, but I did. I never thought I could spend 7 hours hiking up massive stairs, but I did. That was my motto for the trip, “I did it!”.

In my opinion, using the blogs as assignments is a wonderful idea. I believe it gives students the oppourtunities to actually express themselves the way that they want to. Being able to add in my own pictures into the assignment really made doing the assignment ten times easier. In addition to that, doing the assignment were fun and easy, but difficult at the same time. I know how to work Google’s blogger pretty well, but for a person who has never used a blogging website before, it can become rather difficult. Opening up the blog so Ian can view it can be rather difficult for an amateur blogger. If I were to teach a class, I would definitely use a blog in my class room. I believe it would give students the sense of power, allowing them to do them when they would like, instead of having set times like test and quizzes. Many times students become stressed out knowing that they have big test and assignments coming up quick, but I believe blogs eliminate that stress. As stated before, there are many pros and cons of using a blog. Pros are as followed: allowing students to work freely. Reduced/eliminates stress that is involved with other assignments. Allows assignments to be fun and easy. Allows students to be creative. Cons are as followed: Website could be difficult for new blogging students. Allowing access for others to view can be difficult. May cause students to procrastinate and forget about the assignment.