Katoomba Falls

Better visibility today although still overcast & cool. A walk down through the rainforest following the Katoomba Falls into the Jamison Valley, starting at Katoomba cascade.

Into the cool temperate rainforest - Coachwood & Sassafras trees, Cyatha & Dicksonia tree ferns, Fishbone water ferns & King fern. Damp, cool & spctacularly green, mosses & lichens flourishing in the rock crevices.

Witches Leap    (leap  - a scottish dialect word for waterfall )

Lookout points along the route giving panoramic views across the Jamison Valley, back to the 3 Sisters & across  the falls.            

 The Blue Mountains are part of a dissected sandstone plateau composed of many layers deposited by rivers, tidal lakes & lagoons 250 million years ago. There are unusual clay layers formed where fine silts were deposited by tidal lagoons.

The Caley Formatio

The clay erodes more readily than the sandstone, forming caves & overhangs. The vertical cliffs are formed by block falls & landslides occurring because of the many horizontal & vertical fault lines in the sandstone. As the claysone bands  are sapped away, the fault lines weaken & drop their enormous weight into the valley below. The 3 Sisters are remnants of this activity & wind & water erosion over thousands of years will cause them to crumble & fall too.

Vera's Grotto

Vera's Grotto, where water from Witches Leap joins Katoomba Falls Creek & after its descent down these glorious 800ft falls, becomes the Kedumba River.

The Katoomba Falls 

Descending further via the steep stone & steel  Furber Steps
constructed in 1908. Reaching the valley where, from the late 19th century until 1932,  40 coal mines operated. Horse drawn tramways transporting the coal, oil & oil shale (from which kerosine is produced) to the inclined railway. Conditions for the miners were dreadfully poor & boys were sent to work from an early age.

The area has been turned into a tourist attraction with cable cars & funicular railway taking people across & up & down the valley. A ride back up on the Scenic Railway, the steepest incline railway in the world wiith a 52 degree incline & a 250 m vertical drop.