The Stuning Blue Mountains (Blue Mountains National Park)

Member Name: looby5

Product:	Blue Mountains National Park
Date:	31/05/05 (80 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A short hop from Sydney, Lots to see, Great Scenery

Disadvantages: A bit cooler than the city, Need a car to get the best

The Blue Mountains are situated about 65 Kilometres west of Sydney in the State of New South Wales. Forming part of the Great Dividing Range, which runs all the way up to Queensland, the Blue Mountains were impenetrable for 25 years after European settlement when it was decided to give the job of building a road through the mountains to the convicts. The deal was if they could build a road through in six months they could have their freedom, of course they did it in four.

This week I made my second visit out to the Mountains, I did it in 2003 as a backpacker, but this time, as a fully fledged Sydneysider I took the car, which meant a 90 minute journey, the first 45 mins crawling along in the Sydney morning rush hour traffic. Once we got on the Highway 4 – The Great Western Highway, it was plain sailing and we fair flew.

I was day tripping with two friends from my last job back in England who are out here travelling, separately but together, if you know what I mean. As we are all in the same place at the same time we though a day trip out to the mountains would be a good plan. Having been before and being the designated driver I was in charge, Whoo- hoo!

Arriving in the pretty and compact Blue Mountains town of Katoomba at 9.20 am we ate breakfast in one of the many cafes along steep Katoomba Street, the main street where you will find a pub, a hotel, the station the bank and quite a few new age type shops. Though not far from Sydney in distance, in ambiance they are worlds apart with Katoomba managing to retain an old fashioned charm which gives you a hint of the real Australia which Sydney, as charming and vibrant as it is, never manages to hint at.

After Breakfast we found the shop on the main street where you book your bus tours and we booked on a Trolly Bus tour for $12 about £4.50. This allowed us to hop on/hop off and boasted 29 stops but in reality there were only 6 or 7 where there was anything worth seeing. We decided to do a lap on the bus then get off at Scenicworld which boasts the steepest railway in the Southern Hemisphere, it has a 57 degree angle I’m told, pretty steep anyway .Once you go down Katoomba Falls Gorge on the train you get to come back up in a cable car which affords excellent views of the majestic mountains surrounded by the swirling blue haze of the eucalypts it is indeed a sight to behold. It’s a feast for the eyes.

We hopped back on the bus until we reached Gordon Falls, at which point we decided to do a bit of Bush Walking. The path was well marked and it was in our guide book as an easy walk which would lake us an hour to reach our destination which was Leura Cascades. The walk was beautiful, and although not really hard it was tough enough to make us break a sweat and to feel like we utterly deserved the Beer we had at the end. In fact we didn’t stop at Leura, we carried on to Echo Point which was about 4 K’s in total.

It was about 28 degrees which is a hot day in the Blue Mountains as the temperatures are usually three or four degree below what they are is Sydney, four K’s felt like hard work but we enjoyed it. The lizards and birdlife we saw blew us away and the camera was out almost every dozen steps.

Echo Point is, in my book one of the must do spots in the Blue Mountains. The span of the view is like no other point and the view of the 3 sisters rock formation which is (to use that phrase again) breathtaking. Although I’ve not seen it I believe the Three Sisters are floodlit at night which I can imagine really would be something to see. There is not much here aside the view and a gift shop but I promise you won’t be disappointed, it’s hard to look away.

The area around Katoomba would make a great weekend break if you are keen on walking, even if you’re not a walker if you get as far as Sydney it would be a great shame not to spend a day in this truly beautiful part of the world.

One of the recommendations I do have though is to stay away from the organised tours. Not that there is anything wrong with them from what I’ve heard it’s just that they seem very expensive for what you get, typically you are looking at in the region of $100 each for transport to the Mountains with the same stops as we got on the Trolly Bus tour for 12 bucks. If you get the train in from Sydney Central station it costs $23 return so save the remaining $65 for your beer money after all that walking, you know you’ll be glad you did!

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