Passes of Leura + yatras

 

  I went for a walk in early July with the Blue Mountains Conservation Society, down a washed-away track behind the resort. This track is called Gladstone Pass, and was made by coalminers in the nineteenth century. In a steep wet gully they hacked at the rock to make steps on the track to the mine. What a hard commute! Eddie and I speculated about whether they were Welsh miners, in other words Eddie’s countrymen. He said that there had been a flood of emigration at that time – this included some of my ancestors, who went to South America. At the old ‘show’ mine below the incline railway at Katoomba (the Scenic Railway) there is a bronze statue of a miner and one wonders whether it is based on a Welshman – he’s very short. Those miners worked for John Britty North and went on strike in 1887 over their pay. He would not allow them to unionise.

We had morning tea in a cave on Lindeman Pass.

a slice of sunlight

icing the cold cliff

raisins of bird call

On Lindeman’s track there is a fabulous tree root / rock embrace. Mave and I tried to write a haiku about it – but here is her photo. What can you say??

This pass was made for the purposes of tourists ‘taking the air’. There was certainly a lot of air that day –  moving, unwarmed. But who cares? We came to a fabulous clear view of the Kedumba valley, Gurangatch’s escape hatch. This ancestral being (or buringilling)  from the Gundungurra songline ( a giant eel) tried to duck his pursuer, Mirragan the tiger quoll, by going left from the Burragorang valley into the Kedumba, and formed a waterhole on Reedy creek.

Kedumba valley

We passed the turnoff to the coalmine. Some other time....
On to Roberts Pass - up we went.

A hill doesn’t lie

it doesn’t say,

“My, how fit your are!”

We met some walkers from Bathurst. What a good reason to stop and have a little chat! Somebody knew somebody I knew.

with a roar

the wind on the ridge

announces itself

The top is a good place to be, when it means lunch, and a view which many  people have enjoyed. My thanks to Bart for leading this walk, and to Mave for the photos. 

from Sublime Point

xxxxxx

YATRAS

Some peaceful silent walking in company with others is so restorative -  going nowhere in particular.... walking meditation in the Blue Mountains

Saturday August 30, easy yatra - half a day (Springwood area)
Sunday August 31, medium yatra - a whole day, about 5 hours walking (Leura area)
Cost: $20 + dana

You need to register by Monday August 25th. _/\_