Hike and fall Mountains of Australia Blue Mountains
After a few days of acclimatising in Sydney and enjoying water activities on local beaches, we embark on a private trip to the Blue Mountains, including a booked hotel.
We got a little tangled up in Sydney, so the trip took longer than it should have, but you should be there in two hours. It’s almost unbelievable how beautiful the views you can get there without physical exertion. Most of the time, in the mountains, you arrive at a parking lot where you pedal uphill. Here, you drive up and look into a huge wooded green valley. If you want to go to the track, you tend to go down and back up the hill (steps) to the car. If you want to enjoy stunning views and explore the Blue Mountains, breathtaking tours and scenic adventures. Discover the majestic Blue Mountains on guided tours featuring stunning views, rich history, and vibrant wildlife with Blue Mountains tour operator. This guys was on the travel market since 1998.
First day
On our first day, we went to several lookouts (Jamisons Lookout, Wentworth Lookout, Princess Rock Lookout, Weeping Rock, and Fletchers Lookout) and the track to Lower Wentworth Falls. As mentioned, this led down a lot of steps, followed by a lot of steps up. It was sweltering and dripping like pigs, but it wouldn’t have been challenging without the heat.
Finally, one more look before we left and hurrayed for the hotel (Heritage Hotel and SPA retreat). We were looking forward to the hot tub and pool. Then a good véchée, but upon arrival we unfortunately discovered that there was no hot tub in the hotel (the SPA is in the building next door, only until 5 pm each day and still brutally expensive- nothing included as we naively thought) and the pool was outside (it was late and quite cold). Hence, we had to make do with a shower and a walk to the centre for some treats.
Katoomba
The little town that is the centre of access to the Blue Mountains is called Katoomba, and such is its main slope. Katoomba Street is where we slipped hurriedly into one of the restaurants for dinner, having discovered that many establishments only cook until 9. We had some yummy food and a drink at the end and strolled back to the hotel to enjoy romance. The next day, the weather wasn’t the friendliest. So we got up, got a good night’s sleep and went to the hotel for breakfast. There should have been beautiful views from here, but unfortunately, all we could see was fog, which didn’t motivate us to hurry.
Touristy spot in the Blue Mountains
Once here, though, here we go. Headed to the most touristy spot in the Blue Mountains- Three Sisters, three tall rocks side by side. The funny thing is you can get this view from the parking lot again without going anywhere.
We descended at least a short distance to Echo Point Lookout and then directly to the rocks via a small bridge to Honeymoon Lookout from where the trail leads down the stairs further. But we weren’t there.
Vera Falls
We then went to another tourist attraction, Vera Falls, and played Japanese tourist for the day by buying a pass to the local cable cars. You can ride These three types of cable cars unlimited all day within the pass, as many times as you like. We rode one first, which took us from one lookout over the chasm to the other side, past the Vera Falls (little did we know that the picture as drawn on the map was fake, as there was hardly any water in it, so there was hardly any waterfall). We thought we were unlucky that it probably hadn’t rained for a long time, but then we learned that this is standard and that the waterfall only flows exceptionally when torrential rains occur.) The nice thing about the rope is that it has a partially glass floor so you can look underneath. You can then see the “waterfall” on one side and a view of the entire valley on the other.
Cable Car
Another cable car will take you to the lookout on the other side from where you can either walk to the lookout directly above the waterfall (but it is the same as from the cable car) or get a ride back to the original spot, from where two more cable cars lead further into the valley for a walk.
We opted to go back, enjoy the view on the other side of the Cableway bottom station, and then take the second (cable) lift down.
We were in quite a hurry and figured we wouldn’t likely see anything special there except for a walk on the wooden path built for tourists, so we decided to cut our route short and head back up the last untested cable car. This is a world rarity – as it is the train with the highest elevation (up to 52 degrees) – the Scenic Railway. When you get on you feel like you’re about to start a roller coaster. But the train is going slow, so I have no adrenaline rush; otherwise, I would probably have to leave.
Overall, given the lifts and the physical ease of all these lifts, there are a lot of tourists around, which isn’t exactly my cup of tea. So I liked the first day better, not to mention that no sooner had we got back up the cable car than it started to rain, the clouds rolled in, and the views were over. Perfect time to head back to Sydney, as tomorrow we have about a ten-day road surf trip from Sydney up the east coast to Queensland on the Gold coast, and we want to help Arthur pack and also do some shopping
