About the Blue Mountains
Long home to Aboriginal peoples, the Blue Mountains were a formidable barrier to early European settlers in Sydney. Crossing them in 1813 opened the way to inland expansion, and towns like Katoomba later became popular retreats as railways made the dramatic scenery more accessible.
Today the region is known for its vast eucalyptus forests, which release oils that create the famous blue haze. Sheer cliffs, waterfalls and landmarks like the Three Sisters draw visitors year-round, while walking trails and lookouts make it easy to feel a long way from city life — despite being just a couple of hours from Sydney.
Getting there
So either we are doing something wrong with the touch in/touch out on Sydney transport, or it seems that every fare, no matter where you go is a $1, yep ONE Aussie dollar. Our journey to Sydney Central the other day was $1, and so too was our 2.5 hour train ride to the blue mountains. Assuming we don’t get any further charges, Nikki is seriously thinking about personally writing to Sadiq !
The train ride was fab. Up and up and up it went, sharp corners, sheer drops, forrests and valleys, finally rising to 1030 meters (3,400ft) on reaching Katoomba.
The Carrington Hotel
We arrived around 3.30 and tbh, and based on the photo’s on the hotels website we were not expecting much from our hotel, but WOW ….. we would highly recommend the Carrington, oozing in old world colonial charm, lovely staff and a great verandah (Nikki does like a verandah). We later learnt that in the ‘old days’ it was THE honeymoon destination for Sydneysider’s.
Be very afraid (pause here)
Old City Bank Bistro served up a lovely (if not quick) evening meal. Nikki had the steak and ale Pie, Steve a Porterhouse, but TBH we are not loving the Aussie cuisine. Still it’s early days and with one exception most of our meals to date have been a bit rushed. We treated ourselves to a bottle of red wine and after dinner took it outside to watch the world go by, without realising that the bar had shut behind us, as had Katoomba in front of us. We did find a bar that was still open, bumping into some fellow poms from Newcastle, who were also searching for somewhere to drink after 9.30pm.
Probably a good thing though, as we had an early start Thursday.
The wheels on the bus ...
We had booked the hop on/hop off explorer bus for our day in the blue mountains, which included Scenic World. We grabbed a quick breakfast and boarded the bus at 9.15, deciding to get off just a couple of stops in to ‘bush-walk’ to the next stop.
It was an easy-ish walk, although a bit rushed as we didn’t want to miss the bus, but it afforded some fantastic views and even some wildlife, the Crimson Rosella.
There were spectacular views across the mountains, and look outs at 3 Sisters (3 rock outcrops) and Echo Point, though we barely saw the latter as the bus was due to pick us up, or we would have to wait an hour for next one.
One observation about these views – we saw a lot of mountains, and we can confirm that not one of them is actually blue.
Scenic World
Once back aboard the bus we headed over to Scenic World – it’s bit of a rain forest theme park. Think Jurassic Park without the danger.
We arrived at the Eastern gateway to catch the Scenic Skyway into Scenic World, which has a number of other attractions including the world’s steepest passenger train ride, the Scenic Cablecar which takes you down into the Jameson Valley, and a rainforest board walk, part of which is around the old coal mine there.
Scenic World was great, the Cafe not so much, although we knew about that as Nikki had looked at the reviews. There were only 9 reviews, and 5 of them rated it terrible. We only had a coffee which was pretty gruesome and if we could bother would have made it 6 terribles. Still, at least the staff were having a good natter.
It also had started to rain a bit, so we headed straight down to the valley on the train for some protection. The seats on the train can be adjusted to make the ride a little more thrilling. We chose the ‘cliffhanger’ setting as I think did many others, and as we set off there were quite a few screams from our fellow passengers.
The walk at the bottom was fabulous, and by about 10.30, Nikki’s watch confirmed that she had already met her exercise and move goal for the whole day.
To exit the valley, you take the cable car back up the mountain. The queue was enormous but don’t think of this as a Swiss style ski cable car, dangling precariously over snowy slopes, this was a beast and we made the second car with ease.
Watch our ascent from the valley
Click ‘<‘ to expand full screen | Click play button to watch
Cascades
After Scenic World we got back on the bus, stopping at a few places, lots of beautiful scenery, waterfalls everywhere, and we thoroughly enjoyed our day.
Katoomba cascades were beautiful, and after scrambling over some rocks for some photo’s we followed the path to the Katoomba Falls lookout, now very much inappropriately ‘dedicated’. Australia obviously haven’t got as far as cancelling them yet.
It was interesting to see the Scenic Skyway from the mountains back.
A short hop took us to another sight – Leura cascades. The signage here wasn’t so good, but we both set off on a trail which was all down-hill. Around this time Nikki decided her knees would probably not make it up the steps we had already been down, so she headed back with Steve continuing on to the lookout.
Final step count was 18,500, about 7-8 miles, yikes, no wonder Nikki’s legs were feeling a bit heavy by the end of it all, we were both knackered, Steve barely making it back.
As we headed back into Katoomba, the fog came rolling over the mountains, it was a right pea-souper, thank goodness that hadn’t happened at the start of the day or we would have seen nothing.
A brief well deserved Schooner, or 3, before getting back on the train to Sydney, both of us napping on and off on the way back. A quick meal back at Kings Cross and our Blue Mountain adventure was complete!
Hamish says
Visiting the Blue Mountains, and particularly Katoomba, is very much like a step back in time.
The scene is probably set by the arrival at Carrington Hotel which so evokes an earlier time – maybe the Fifties? The Grand Dining Room; the Grand Ballroom; the Billiards Room, even Champagne Charlies Cocktail bar are names that inspire thoughts of a different age, and of course the walls covered in historic photos does not help dissuade the nostalgia.
It’s more than the hotel though – the signs at the railway station are styled very traditionally; you walk up the main street and it all feels very sleepy and you expect an old fashioned car horn at any moment. The bars and restaurants putting chairs on tables just after 9pm also makes you feel you are in a different world – the age of the consumer and what is right for them has not yet reached Katoomba!
The fact that we probably saw more goths and assorted freaks in its way seemed to emphasise the point even more – clearly small town acts of rebellion that shout “get me out of here”.
The scenery though is timeless, and often breathtaking. There is so much to see that our two day escapre from Sydney did not seem long enough.
A fantastic experience and many memories created. Thanks Katoomba.
What's next
We spend 6 days back in our AirBNB in Sydney. Fortunately, Nikki has undertaken masses of research and we have many plans. Steve hopes for another beach day, but if forecasts are accurate, the weather looks as though it will be against us.
The highlight, though, should be our last night when we go for our first opera together at the world famous Opera House – some way to get your feet under the table of that piece of culture.