It was about 10 years ago since I last went to the Blue Mountains National Park, about a 90 minute drive East of Sydney, so I can’t remember much other than I loved it at the time. First stop was the Featherdale Wildlife Park which is full of Australia’s animals, mammals and reptiles. The highlights for me being the Koala’s and Kangaroos, the latter which hop all around you in different parts of the park. You can purchase a cone full of food for a few dollars which I did in the hope I would get close. They did, but instead of eating it slowly one of them swiped the whole lot from my hand! Well, I wasn’t going to argue with a full grown red male kangaroo!
The next stop was the Blue Mountains and we started it at a few Aboriginal sites in the bush where we saw a some caves, aboriginal signs and some amazing views across the valley. We then went on to ‘Honeymoon’ point which was a lookout point with some great views and picture opportunities that made it look like you were ‘hanging’ off the cliff! Next stop was Wentworth Falls and we trekked from the top of the falls, all the way down and back up again which took about an hour. The falls themselves are pretty impressive and would be even more so in the wet season when the water is gushing more over the huge drop.
After a few more lookout points, we paid the extra to enter ’Scenic World’ where we had the opportunity to ride 3 different modes of transport; the traditional cable car, the worlds steepest incline cable car and a horizontal cable car across the valley. You have a great view here of the ‘Three Sisters’ which are 3 rock formations that stand horizontally at the end of the cliff face (in the main pic). We also got to see them from Echo Point too where you get a closer up view.
Back to Scenic World - the first cable car down (the blue one) was a normal cable car to the bottom of the valley where we did a scenic walk amongst the rainforest. You then reach the ‘red’ one which can only be described as something like a theme park ride where riders sit inside the vehicle and can select their seat in terms of how steep they want it to be. The ‘Cliffhanger’ is the steepest! Well, to say this thing is steep and fast is an understatement. It’s so steep and so fast to the top again but very cool! Something I wasn’t expecting. It was built on the old system used back in the days of the mines in the area which has been modernised and adapted. We did get to see some of the mines and you can see some of the mine shafts and old coal vehicles as you walk around. The last ride is the ‘yellow’ one, a horizontal ride over the valley which has a view of the Three Sisters again and the Katoomba Falls. An added bonus is the glass floor which is frosted when you enter, goes clear half way over the valley!
We had a late lunch in a picturesque town called Leura where there were loads of bakeries, boutique shops and deli’s. The flowerpot scones were a clear winner in the local scone shop which is apparently quite famous!
