BLUE MOUNTAINS – 22 July 2023
One has to wonder about the preparedness of some people when they plan an adventure … and how some government agencies can seriously screw up. This is a story about how I had a great time abseiling Malaita Point and then on the walk out, saved some poor unsuspecting tourists $60 each and significantly reduced the bottom line of the Scenic Railway for the day (lol)!
Rob C put out the word for a half day of abseiling Malaita Walls. He got more than his optimal number so we split the group in two and Johan VH, Kathy & John G and I abseiled Malaita Point – we could look across and see the others abseiling down the Walls. Here are some action shots, in no particular order! The only downside would be the walk out, just how many floors is 900 steps (I’ve been doing the step machine at the gym, usually I can do 20 floors in 10 minutes – the 900 steps took me 1.5 hours).
Kathy, probably on the first abseil, hard to tell but see the 3 Sisters in the background on the horizon, great shot of them, and this is where we’d walk out, more of that later.
Me, possibly on the first abseil, again hard to know. All the abseils are great on the Point, exposed, but lovely abseils.
Me, probably on the same abseil, John Gray taking the photo.
Kathy abseiling, maybe the 4th pitch. (Photo: John G)
Looking down at Kathy and Johan. The bottom of the valley seems a long way down!
I’m on safety, taking a photo of Johan, he was our fearless leader for the day, rigging all the pitches, was so nice to be a passenger for a change.
This photo was taken by Jim C I think, he was in the other team and was looking across at us, you can barely make out the person abseiling down. There are the 3 Sisters again in the distance.
Our group was down on the Tourist Track by 11.30am I think, we were very efficient! Johan, John and Kathy were going to walk over to where the other team would finish. Normally, we’d take the Scenic Railway up to where the cars were parked, but these days, the price is exorbitant, $60 (well actually $62 but we didn’t know that yet). You have to buy a return ticket now, they don’t sell one-way tickets anymore.
If you don’t take the railway, you can walk up Furber Steps, I don’t know how many steps there are but it’s a pretty punishing walk up. However, on this weekend the Furber Steps were closed for refurbishment, just our luck. So, we were going to do the 2 hour walk around to the Giant Stairway … 900 steps! So, I decided that instead of go around to see the others get to the bottom of the Walls, I’d get a head start on walking to the Giant Stairway.
The walk is actually quite pretty, and it was pleasant but it then occurred to me that a lot of the tourists walking the opposite direction to me, might be thinking that they’d get the Scenic Railway to the top, or maybe walk up Furber Steps.
So, I started interrogating the people coming in the opposite direction “So, what are your intentions?” It was amazing the number of people who’d come down the Giant Stairway and didn’t really have an idea of what they were going to do next. Some adults had a couple of small children with them, “You do know that you’ll have to pay $60pp to get back up to the top if you keep going this way right? The Furber Steps are closed!” And did they really think their kids could climb so many steps after walking for 2 hours?
Didn’t National Parks or Blue Mountains Council have a notice at the top of the Giant Stairway alerting people to the fact that after walking down 900 steps they’d have to pay to get back to the top?
Well, no, there wasn’t a sign, and probably even if there was one, there were too many people on the stairs or at the top, the sign would probably be missed.
I know that I definitely turned a dozen people around, some on the track and some halfway down the stairs. I spoke to Rob C on my phone when I was almost at the top, and he started quizzing people too, he reckons he cut the Scenic Railway profits by around $1,000 by letting people know that the Furber Steps weren’t open! Another four people turned around about 1/4 the way down, the poor woman just wasn’t fit enough to walk down and back up again. Amazingly though, there were some tourists who were happy to walk down and pay the $60 to get back up to the top, mind you after walking up the 900 Giant Stairway steps, I was thinking that $60 wasn’t all that bad!
the view from the lookout at the back of one of the Sisters.
Looking over one of the Sisters to Mount Solitary – what a view, I was glad to reach the top, and in the end felt good about the extra exercise and experience that I’d had!
At the finish of the stairway, great view.
I had another adventure trying to find my car on Lurline Drive where I’d parked it. Added another 3 kilometres to my walk accidentally (I’m blaming Google Maps).
Back to Rob C’s house, for camp oven dinner, lots of wine and a great bonfire at the end of the evening.
Thanks so much Rob for a great day out, stunning weather, great group and fabulous camping on Saturday Night. Big thanks too to Johan for doing all the rigging. Hopefully they’ll put another abseil trip on!