Young - Lithgow

We only spent one day in Young and there were a few showers, so we didn't get to do much. There was a moderately interesting heritage walk around town, and a fairly dull scenic drive, although it might have been more interesting if we'd been able to find the lookout mentioned in the drive brochure. We ended up just pulling into the side of the road to look out over the valley, but couldn't escape a nagging feeling that perhaps we'd missed something spectacular. Probably the most interesting part of the drive were the drifts of 'tumbleweeds' - which appeared to be broken off dried grass stalks - which in some cases massed right across the road. It was a bit creepy to drive through them, never knowing if something was hidden underneath.

Lithgow is just west of the Blue Mountains, only about 200km from Sydney. We've spent a couple of days here and it could have been a lot longer, as there are heaps of interesting things to see and do. Lithgow has quite an industrial heritage, and coal mining and electricity generation still form the backbone of the region's economy. The area was opened up in 1869 when a railway was built over the Blue Mountains, utilising a series of zig zag switchbacks to make the steep descent to the town. This section of track was made obsolete in 1910 when they blasted some tunnels through the mountain, these tunnels are still used today for rail services which go west of Sydney. The original zig zag section has been restored and now has a tourist service. On the weekends a vintage steam engine runs the Zig Zag service, we did the tour on Friday which is run by diesel. Any disappointment we might have felt at missing out on the authentic steam train experience was quickly dispelled when we realised the extras offered on the diesel service. Because the diesel engine doesn't need to be shunted from one end of the train to the other at each 'zig', they have time to take the passengers into one of the signal boxes and explain how the manual signalling system works. We even got to change the signals and track alignment ourselves - it was harder than it looked! Once we got to the bottom we were given a short tour through the maintenance yards where they maintain all the engines and rolling stock for the Zig Zag railway - because the steam engines are so old it is impossible to get parts for them, so everything that needs repair or replacement has to be made in their own workshop. Then it was all aboard for the ride back to the top, with spectacular views down the valley.

Spectacular views are also to be found from the lookout at Hassans Walls, only 3km out of town. This lookout is on the top of a sheer escarpment and faces over fertile valleys towards the Blue Mountains in the distance. The lookout itself spreads along the cliff top, providing magnificent scenery no matter where you look. Unlike the usual situation at similar lookouts around Katoomba, closer in towards Sydney, we had the entire place to ourselves, and we could take our time absorbing the marvellous views. Places like this are very special with almost a spiritual quality, we felt very lucky to have experienced it.

One of Lithgow's original industries was a blast furnace producing pig iron, used for further processing into steel (this was in the days when we had this sort of industry ourselves, instead of just shipping the ore straight out of the ground and over to Japan). The blast furnace closed down in 1928 and now there are just the shells of a few buildings remaining. Not far from Lithgow are 2 huge electricity generation plants, fed by the local coal industry. The Mt Piper power station has an exhibit on how the plant works, and offers free power station tours. We spent an hour browsing through the expo, then at the time the tour was due to start were told that it was power station policy not to run the tour if it was raining. Given there was a bit of drizzle about at the time it meant we missed out, which was a shame as we were the only ones there so would have had a private tour. Maybe next time.....

In the early 20th century a railway was built from a mine at Newnes down to Lithgow. The mine and railway are long gone, but part of the railway alignment is now a popular walking trail. The highlight is an old railway tunnel which has been populated by glow worms. The 400m long tunnel has a gentle curve, so in the middle you can't see either end. Turn off your flashlight and hundreds of blue glowing dots appear - glow worm larvae attempting to attract small insects into their sticky web. Its a fantastic walk and an eerie experience.

While we have enjoyed our short time at Lithgow, we haven't enjoyed the cold spell, we've had to pull out our long sleeves and trousers, the winter doona and even the heater at night. Hopefully things will warm up again once we get to the other side of the Great Dividing Range.