After spending a few days in Sydney exploring its main tourist attractions, on the third day, we decided to take a pre-planned trip to the Blue Mountains National Park.
Of course, we really liked the city. It’s a pleasant and comfortable place. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the chance to visit any museums. Yet, there are several quite famous ones there: the Maritime Museum, the Australian Museum, the Science Museum, the Justice and Police Museum and the Mint. There are also a few small but equally important historical monuments. Australians really love the word “Museum” and they set up a museum wherever they can exhibit an old car or a 19th-century horse-drawn carriage. After all, 100–150 years ago, there weren’t many historical artifacts or works of art here. The land was simply full of kangaroos and naked Aboriginal people.
Sydney also has a massive aquarium. Apart from that, there are many interesting suburbs along the city’s indented coastline. And, of course, since we arrived in “December” during summer, there are plenty of beaches where you can relax and spend a lot of time. So, two days were definitely not enough for Sydney. However, we have a tight schedule: reserved flight tickets, hotels and a travel itinerary that only started a few days ago are waiting for us.
Blue Mountains Trip
The trip started at 7:20 AM at the tour company’s office, “Oz Experience Office” located at 804 George Street. This meant another early wake-up and a quick taxi ride to the city center. On the bus, there were about 12 other tourists, mostly from Europe. Interestingly, most of them were young women.
During the journey, the tour brochure and guide informed us that the Blue Mountains Park was established in 1959 and currently covers an area of about 2,481 km². There are several rivers in the park: Wollangambe, Grose, Coxs, Wollondilly and Nepean. They told us that if we were lucky, we might see some of the animals living in the park: kangaroos, koalas, dingoes, emus, foxes, stray cats and even horses. The scenic stops on the trip would also include the Three Sisters rock formation, Wentworth Falls and the Blue Eucalyptus Forest. Amazing.
After a few hours of travel, we moved inland and reached the outskirts of a town. There were no mountains in sight. Just a flat plain everywhere. Our driver, who was also our guide, left the bus outside the town and led us to a trail and we began descending.
The Descent into the Blue Mountains Begins
I thought to myself, "What kind of mountain is this? Why are we going down?" However, after walking a few kilometers down the path, we arrived at Wentworth Falls, a small two-story waterfall about three meters high. Although the upper part was a bit dry. Everyone happily started taking photos, posing in the "Me and the waterfall" style... After descending about 100 more meters, we reached a viewpoint where we could see the other "side" of the mountains in the distance.
The Valleys of the Blue Mountains
At that moment, we realized that the town where we left the bus was situated on a plateau. Everything became clear. The mountains were actually a massive rift or canyon, filled with peaks, small mountains and valleys that had been eroded by water currents in ancient times.
Hiking in the Blue Mountains is a Must.
Geologically, the Blue Mountains are a giant plateau made of sandstone. Over the last three million years, deep and narrow valleys, steep slopes, waterfalls and rushing mountain rivers have formed on this plateau, which has been gradually rising due to downward collapses. The elevation difference ranges from sea level to 1,215 meters (Mount Verong), while the lowest point drops to 20 meters (Nepean River).
According to Australians, the valleys are covered by a blue mist created by the volatile oils evaporating from the eucalyptus trees. However, we have a saying, "It disappeared into the blue horizon," but we don’t have eucalyptus forests. This is likely a common atmospheric phenomenon seen in the mountains on clear days and the resourceful Australians have cleverly capitalized on it. Still, today we know these mountains as the Blue Mountains.
A Burnt Forest in the Blue Mountains
On the way back, we passed through a eucalyptus forest that had been burned last year (or the year before). Small bushes were damaged, their branches turned black and nearly leafless. The large trees, however, still had plenty of leaves and the grasses had grown normally. There were still many dry branches and leaves on the ground. There was plenty of fuel left for a fire.
Eucalyptus Shedding Its Garment
When we reached our bus, we moved to another location for lunch, a lush green grassy area. Tables and benches were placed in different spots. Since it was Sunday, all of them were occupied. Some tourists were lying down and resting.
We didn’t look for a new spot and just settled directly on the grass.
Lunch: meat, sausages, vegetable salads, bread, fruits, hot tea-coffee and water was brought by our guide and placed on the folding tables taken out of the bus. Everyone lined up as if they were at a restaurant and took as much as they wanted. There was even a second serving for those who wanted more. After the meal, we set off to see another part of the Blue Mountains.
We started descending again on a mountain trail, heading towards a valley. The path took us to Katoomba Falls, a waterfall cascading from about a hundred meters high. The waterfall was quite weak, likely much more impressive in the spring, around September. Then we approached a cliff and again saw the other side of the mountains stretching towards the "blue" horizon in the distance.
On the left, we saw the interesting rock formations of the “Three Sisters”. There is a legend related to these rocks: The chief of the Katoomba tribe didn’t want to marry his three daughters to men from another tribe. As a result, the other tribe went to war. At a critical moment in the battle, realizing that his daughters would be captured, the chief turned them into three rocks. After winning the battle, he planned to reverse the spell, but unfortunately, he died in the war. Thus, his daughters: Mihni, Vimla and Gannedu,remained as rocks forever. What a beautiful legend. Moreover, these three rocks really have a quite unusual shape and add a wonderful liveliness to the view.
