From the cliff edge here by the house we are staying in is a large network of tracks - up to 20 km, and we have explored several by ourselves but this morning we were lucky to have a tour guide. John lives across the road from us and his family have been in the area for around a 100 years. John can remember playing in the tracks as a child. Heaven forbid if a child were to play here today. It would be deemed too 'dangerous'. Anyway John is more than qualified to show us yet another one of the tracks, this time to the area known as the Colesseum.
This track is yet another legacy of the Hydro Majestic, the grand old hotel that dominates both the history and landscape of Medlow Bath. This particular track was built around 1893 and is an engineering feat on its own. Steps have been both carved out or constructed from stone, and knowing how little machinery would have been available makes you really appreciate what is still here to enjoy. Only one area has original wooden steps rather like a ladder in the area called the Squeeze.
It just goes to show how hard some of the local wood is, and because of its position it had also avoided any bush fires. Another ladder not far on had not fared so well and a metal ladder had been installed as a replacement. The Colesseum was an area below the escarpment and almost directly below the Hydro and hotel guests were able to walk to this area. Once down this very steep part the walking was relatively easy and flat as we made our way around to the Colesseum. Out of the westerly winds the area had a similar look to NZ bush, especially all the ferns. The waterfall helps keep the area wet all year round. A lot of rock had been shifted to create steps and stone walls and to transform it into a place for people to gather and enjoy the outdoors. It is difficult to capture all this in a photo because of the both the size of the area and the sheer cliffs above.
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| Looking into the area known as the Colesseum. |
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| View down the valley from the Colesseum. |
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| The Colesseum is in the distant - below the blackish spot. |
The round trip took us just over two hours and once again we were glad to have ventured out.
This website has some more photos that are able to give a better perspective than I was able to get. http://www.dingogap.net.au/navigation/scenery/bluemountains/medlowbath/thecolosseum.html
A piece of Medlow Bath History: "An enjoyable day can be had exploring the lovely old walking tracks in the vicinity of the Hydro Majestic Hotel on the west side of the Great Western Highway at Medlow Bath. Most of these were professionally constructed around the beginning of the last century when Mark Foy owned the Hydro Majestic which opened on 4th July, 1904. Part of the delight of these old tracks is that they haven't suffered the desecration of safety railing overkill and ugly steel and plastic steps as have many walks within the National Park. The Grand Canyon walk at Blackheath had a similar atmosphere up until the early 1970's. This was before our current litigious society, when people assumed responsibility for their own safety. Medlow Bath was previously known as Brown's Siding or Brown's Sawmill Siding and then plain Medlow in the 1880's. The 'Bath' was added to Medlow in reference to the various bath treatments offered to the Hydro's guests.(Ref. Brian Fox and John Low).
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