Amazing scenery (Blue Mountains National Park)

Member Name: csaldanha

Product:	Blue Mountains National Park
Date:	04/10/01 (166 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful scenery, Very peaceful

Disadvantages: Muscles can ache from the demanding walks

There is no doubt that the Blue Mountains are really blue. I have photos to prove it!
The scenery was spectacular and quite different to what I expected of Australia (dry arid land covered in red dust.) In fact, I got the complete opposite - much greenery and and an abundance of waterfalls.

I had booked the one day tour as part of a package back in London. (we were told it works out cheaper that way but I'm not so sure that it does). I think if you paid for the trip out in Oz, it would cost around AUS$60 which is about £25. The name is Wonderbus tours. The good thing was that the bus picked you up from wherever you were staying. I was staying in Sydney and it is about an hour and a half away from Sydney.

There are also trips which are longer in length: 3, 5 and 7 day tours. Initially, I thought that I should have gone for the 3 day trip but once I got to the Blue Mountains, I knew that my legs and muscles could only take one day of climbing and trekking that was required. The terrain is quite rough and the rocks can be quite unstable. The fact that the ground is wet doesn't help either. To get down to the bottom to see a beautiful waterfall involves descending (and worst of all, ascending) 600 'steps'. When I say steps, I mean rocks which have been levelled out a bit. I have to say it was a real struggle on the way up -they were very steep and the next day every muscle in my body was aching.

I thought that for a person who likes scenery but hasn't got that much stamina, one day in the blue mountains is ample. Although each scene was magnificent, as the day passed and the group grew more tired each scene looked pretty similar to the last few. It was nice to see the rock formation called the 'Three Sisters'. I got some great photos of that. Even an amateur's efforts are bound to look professional.

My bit of advice is to wear layers if you are going to the mountains. Although it is qu
ite windy and the cold can cut through you, when the sun shines, it really hits you. Unfortunately, we weren't lucky enough to see some of the wild koalas that live in the blue mountains but the day was definitely worth it. We did manage to hear some laughing cuckaburra's though. Perhaps if we had the luxury of more time, we would have been able to see some more wildlife.

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