Megalong Ledges

I'm often amazed at how many excellent classic walks there are in the Blue Mountains which were completely unknown to me beforehand, and not in the usual repertoire of my bushwalking club.  My more adventurous Thursday group have knowledge of many more places, and yesterday some of us checked out another one of these.

It's known as the 'Megalong Ledges', and you go from Medlow Bath to Katoomba along a series of ledges half way down the cliffs above the Megalong Valley. The ledges are mostly quite wide and safe, and there are usually trees around you, so it's not so scary.

Near the start is a fine little rock formation, called the 'Three Brothers', because of their uncanny resemblance to the larger Three Sisters at Katoomba. Here's 'Brother Harold', making it four.




A bit to the north and at the top, the historic Hydro Majestic Hotel.









The ledges proper now. Always scenic, often very colourful, and usually with excellent views of the valley below.

Needless to say, it's a rock-climbers' paradise around here. There are climbing bolts everywhere. Maybe in the next life I'll be able to get interested in that pursuit. Not now though. It's fun enough anyway around here even with your feet on (fairly) solid ground.

Brother Paul here isn't a rock climber either, but he's climbed more mountains than almost anyone else in the world. See his extremely informative blog here: http://mntviews.blogspot.com.au/

North Brother lookouts

Here's the view to the north from the North Brother mountain, near Laurieton, NSW.

We were staying in North Haven, which is the more distant settlement, just over the bridge in the centre left of the top photo.





The view to the south, and to Crowdy Bay. Sydney is 300km or so further down the coast.

The other two brothers are nearby. Here's Wikipedia on their etymology:

The Australian Aboriginal local Birpai people tell a dreamtime story of three brothers who were killed by a witch called Widjirriejuggi and were buried where the mountains stand. The youngest of the three was Dooragan, that now carries the name for one of the national parks.^[8]
By amazing coincidence, when Captain James Cook passed the area on 12 May 1770 he named the mountains Three Brothers, since "these Hills bore some resemblance to each other".^[9][10]

North Brother, from North Haven