Sydney – Day 8

Today is all about the Blue Mountains!

 

When we planned for the Blue Mountains, we originally thought we would take a tour bus to see the sights.  However, tour bus companies wanted about $60 AUD for the cheap ones all the way up to $160 AUD for the premium packages.  At church on Sunday, I had met a very friendly and helpful mate who told me to simply go to Katoomba, the city nearest the Blue Mountains, and simply walk around to see everything we wanted sans tour.  I am so glad we didn’t go with the pre-packaged tour because it gave us great flexibility in where we went and when. 

 

The only complaint—and I can hear some of you groan as you slip on your cold boots and heavy coats—was that it was hot!  Wish I had a hat…

 

We rode the train to Katoomba.  Round-trip tickets were only about $12.  The train took about 2 hours, but it was clean and nice enough to make the trip comfortably.  From the train station, there is about a 2km walk with restaurants and tourist orientated shops.  We were going to stop several times as one restaurant or another presented itself to us as we walked, but finally settled on the Blue M Café.  Wow!  It was soooooo good.  Quick service, great food and a beautiful day, what more could you ask for?

 

After lunch, we made it to the lookout where we could see the Three Sisters rock outcropping.  From that vantage point, the Blue Mountains looked like a very green Grand Canyon.  Absolutely gorgeous!

 

We decided—or maybe it was I pushed—to walk the trail around to the sky-rail/nature walk/vertical railroad area.  The trail was extremely wet as it must have rained the night before.  Still, it was nice to walk to the various lookout points and see everything again from different perspectives. 

 

After about an hour and a half, we arrived at tourism mecca of the Blue Mountains.  Even though it was really touristy, we did ride the steepest railroad in the world, a walk on the rainforest boardwalk and then a ride back to the main road. 

 

We went, we saw,…we finished and decided to go.  We hurried back to the train station, stopping only long enough to pick up a Subway sandwich…although one in the party had a recent experience with Subway which led her not to get a sandwich…and that still gave us plenty of time to get on the train.

 

By the time we made it back to the hotel it was very late and we were all ready for bed.

 

More to come…