Coralie, Grace and I sat watching the rain tap, tap, tap against our window as the train rumbled beneath us. We each made a face, our eyes widening and our lips contorting into nervous grimaces. It had been raining for two days and was expected to continue for the majority of the week. We filled the time with light conversation, all the while glancing worriedly at the rain. After a surprisingly short, 2 hour journey, with just a couple train hops, we arrived in Katoomba. We clamoured off the train as the gods, afflicted with severe head colds, continued to sneeze on us. Shrugging on our hoods we squinted at the street signs and began to follow in the direction of our hostel.
The small accommodation was bright and cheerfully painted in, Grace's mind, according to the style of the Muppets 'Happiness Hotel.' The door panels were decorated with landscape paintings and the walls were coloured green, blue, yellow and salmon pink. Visitors lounged comfortably on plush couches by the small dutch oven.
After checking in, we set out to see the town. The quaint, little mountain village was filled with small cafes and oversized used-book stores in which we sought shelter. We spent much of the afternoon wandering through rows and rows of dusty tomes, inhaling the smell of the worn, old pages.
Coralie left in the evening to return to school while Grace and I stayed overnight. The next day, we pulled on old t-shirts and began a wet trek into the bush. Spectacular, white gum trees rose up into the sky above our heads and waves of ferns washed across path. We waded through the mud and swam through the seas of green ferns as we made our way towards the Three Sisters, only the first of which was visible through the fog. We glimpsed Honeymoon Falls and Leura Cascades before enjoying peanut butter sandwiches and trail mix under the protection of a rock overhang before turning back to escape the quickly flooding pathways. We finished our stay in Katoomba with a final visit to Chekov's Used Books and hopped back on the train to Sydney.
