The Scenic Railway – 12/23/2012
Dec 24th, 2012 by admin
The day dawns without a cloud in the sky. We head out and stop at a shop to get some drinks and muffins for breakfast. Then out to The Scenic Railway.
The Scenic Railway is actually a tram railway that descends down the face of the escarpment that Great Western Highway and Katoomba are on. It was built originally to bring coal up from the coal mines that were dug into the face of the escarpment hundreds of feet below the top. There are no roads in the valley below and building them when the coal was being mined (the last mine closed in the 1930’s) was more difficult and expensive that building the tram railway. Now, the railway is used as an attraction and access to the rainforest below.
We arrive and park in a car park that’s nearly empty. That all changes when we walk out to the ticket building and the top of the railway. Across the road from the car park is a parking area for tour buses. There’s already maybe 10 buses in the lot. You can’t get to these places too early.
We get our tickets and head to the railway loading areas. The first indication of the steepness (52°) of the railway are the laid back seats in the railway car and the screens on the top and sides. We climb in and in a few moments we are dropping like a stone.
The railway drops down 1,300 feet through a cleft in the face of the escarpment face into Jamison Valley and the top of the route is pitch black. As soon as we start to move, the theme from Superman starts to blare. The amusement park side is never far from the surface.
The drop only takes a few minutes and we are off on the platform headed for a walkway into the rainforest. The path takes us to a lookout the gives a magnificent view of the 992 foot Wentworth falls. Then back to the boardwalk that goes in a big loop through the lower park of of the rainforest.
We pass a number of artifacts and displays about the mines and the miners who worked them. The displays are very informative but they give a very unrealistic view of coal mining in the 1800’s. Stoic, sturdy Welch coal miners using hand tools to mine the coal and their mine ponies hauling the hand shoveled coal to the surface, rarely if ever, seeing the light of day.
Now the railway and the grounds are a privately, family-owned preserve. The current generation is deeply involved in a refurbishing project. The gift shop alone should go a long ways to paying for the refurbishment.
We hike around the boardwalk among the majestic gum and eucalyptus trees. Eventually, we find our way to the bottom station of the aerial tram that is the alternate exit to the top station. You either ride the tram back up or ride the aerial tram. We take the aerial tram and we’re back in the gift shop in a couple of minutes. Buy some souvenirs and back in the car. Off to Jervis Bay.
But first we turn off the Highway and drive to a lookout at the top of Wentworth Falls. It’s just a few kilometers off the main road. But just after we turn into the parking lot, a few rain drops start to hit the windshield. We park the car, put on our Goretex and head for the trail to the top of the falls. The rain starts getting heavier but it doesn’t look like it’ll last.
Wrong! We keep walking towards the falls and the rain keeps getting heavier and heavier. We head down the trail but by now the storm has lightening and thunder. We give up on the hike and start back to the car.
Now we’re getting hail and the wind really starts to pick up. We’re in a full-fledged thunderstorm. Time to get off this trail and into the car. We hadn’t gone very far before we turned back but by the time we’re at the car, we’re soaked. So much for hiking today.
The plan is to drive to Bateman’s Bay and spend Christmas eve and Christmas bay there before heading back north to Sydney. The route takes us back towards Sydney on the Great Western Highway. We’re soon out of the rain, the sun comes out and, as we get closer to Sydney, we turn south towards the coast on the Princes Highway. The road is a two lane road but there’s not much traffic and we pass through endless villages separated by a peaceful ride through the eucalyptus forests.
The sky has become overcast as we’ve traveled closer to the coast ans it’s starting to look like rain. We hadn’t made a hotel reservation and as we pass through a little village named Berry. We stop at a small boutique hotel, ingenuously named the Berry Boutique Hotel. They have rooms and we stop for the night just as the rain starts.
We wait out the rain and then head out for dinner at an old local hotel (the restaurant at our hotel was closed for the night.) the back to the hotel for the night.
Tomorrow: Jervis Bay.
Obi-wan