The next day I took a trip via a guided tour to the
Blue
Mountains which starts around 30 miles (50 km) west of Sydney.
The tour had several pickup spots, one of which was about 3 blocks
away from my hotel (I had passed that place many times). The first
stop was at the Featherdale Wildlike Park, which is on the western
side of Sydney (Featherdale photos are in
Part 4).
We then stopped in the town of Leura for lunch.
After that we headed on to Echo Point, a lookout on the 3 sisters formation.
And then we went to Scenic World which has cable cars that go over the
vally, with a view of Katoomba Falls, and also have a rail car that
goes down to to Jamison Valley.
The bus then took us back to Sydney and dropped us off on the west
side of Sydney by Olympic Park, which was where the 2000 Olympic
Games were held at the ferry terminal. The ferry fare was included
in the cost of our tour, so the driver gave each of us a 10 AUD bill.
The ferry went to the Darling Harbor docks for Circular Quay. It
was a nice ride back, though a bit windy (but I didn't want to be
inside the cabin, there was too much to see!).
I used my Opal card to pay for the ferry. I walked home and had
dinner at a Singapore restaurant. A good, but busy day.
Monday October 14, 2024
001-DSC_9214-header: Heading Out
001-DSC_9214-headertext:
001-DSC_9214: Our bus went across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. 002-DSC_9215: Looking up at the top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge from the bus. 003-DSC_9216: More views from the Sydney Harbour Bridge from the bus. 004-DSC_9298: A memorial for soldiers from WWI and WWII along the side of a highway. 005-DSC_9299-header: Blue Mountains National Park and the Three Sisters 005-DSC_9299-headertext:
We had about an hour to spend at Echo Point. After spending time
at the lookout and ogling the view (even though it was an overcast
day, it was still cool to see), I went to look at the Three Sisters.
It didn't take too long to get there, but there were a lot of stairs
at the end. The little bridge to get to the actual first sister
was closed. The path went on, but I realized I had some stair climbing
to do to get back, plus I had spent time taking pictures of the area
(and having someone take a few pictures of me). Plus I stopped to
put on some sunscreen. Even though it was cloudy and col out,
the sun remained angry. I made it back with a few minutes to spare.
My guess was right—there wouldn't have been time to go further.
005-DSC_9299: The Echo Point lookout, with a view of the Blue Mountains area.
006-Blue_Mountains_Panorama2: Panoramic picture of the Blue Mountains
(the next picture has a map).
007-DSC_9305: A map of the features in the previous photo
(Mt. Solitary, etc.).
008-3_Sisters_Panorama1: The Three Sisters rock formation.
009-DSC_9308: The start of the trail to the Three Sisters (and beyond).
009a-DSC_9328: Approaching the Oreades Lookout on the trail to the Three
Sisters.
010-DSC_9309: The Oreades Lookout onto the Three Sisters and Blue Mountains.
011-DSC_9310: The first of The Three Sisters.
012-first_sister_Panorama1: Panoramic of the first of the Three Sisters
rock formation.
013-Blue_Mountains_Panorama1: The Jamison Valley by the Blue Mountains.
014-DSC_9317: The trail continues on past the first Sister.
015-1st_sister_Panorama1: The bridge to the 1st Sister is closed.
The sign on the far side of the fence says "The Three Sisters is CLOSED
to Abseiling & Climbing". Abseiling is rappeling, or "going down
a rope" (hut hut hut…).
016-DSC_9320: A lookout point near the Three Sisters.
017-DSC_9324a: A surprisingly doctored photo to darken the sky, bring
up the contrast in the mountains in the distance, while bringing up the
brightness in my jacket. I created a mask of me and adjusted the brightness
of that separately from the rest of the image. It looks quite similar
to the next picture which is "normal".
Addendum: My friend
Pierce suggested the following caption.
It's none other than Wombat Charlie. The first intrepid explorer
to witness, first-hand, wombats mating in the wild.
Well at least he's the first to witness it and live to tell the tale...
018-DSC_9323: Frank by the Three Sisters by the Blue Mountains in Australia.
019-DSC_9325: Looking up the first Sister rock formation at the Blue Mountains.
020-DSC_9326: The Giant Stairway trail. I didn't continue—I knew I'd
just have enough time to make the bus turning back at the closed bridge.
021-DSC_9327: The Jamison valley in the Blue Mountains.
023-DSC_9329: The Echo Point overlook from the trail back from the
Three Sisters.
025-DSC_9331-header: Scenic World and Katoomba Falls
025-DSC_9331-headertext:
Scenic World has two
cable car lines and a rail line. The Yellow Line goes from the main
entrance for Scenic world to the Skyway East Station, passing over
the Jamison Valley, providing an aerial view of Katoomba Falls.
From there is a short walk to the Katoomba Cascade, a series of
small waterfalls. The Blue Line goes from the main station to
the Jamison Valley, but it was closed for maintenance the day
we were there. The Red Line is a steep rail line that goes to
the base station in Jamison Valley by the historic coal mine.
The "train" is on a winch line, so while it is steep, the car
itself isn't providing the power to go up and down the hill,
the motor at the top is doing that.
In Jamison Valley is a walk through the forest and there are
paths on which people can spend days hiking. I had an hour
and a half to see as much as possible. So I went across the
valley and saw the cascade, then back, then down the railcar
to the valley, walked around a little bit, then headed back
because there'd be a line to get back up. I wound up being
on the second last train of the day, though I imagine they'd
keep running it if people were still waiting. I made it back
to the bus with a few minutes to spare.
025-DSC_9331:
026-DSC_9332: The Skyway tram that crosses the Jamison Valley about to arrive.
027-DSC_9334: Katoomba Falls while crossing over the Jamison Valley by the
Skyway (tram).
028-DSC_9335: Katoomba Fallls from the Scenic World Skyway tram.
029-DSC_9336:
030-DSC_9337: A cool looking insect on the ground. I don't know what kind
it was.
031-DSC_9338: A head on view of the insect. If not poisonous, I imagine
it carried a knife.
033-DSC_9340: There were a lot of cockatoos there, wanting to be fed
and climbing on people's shoulder to get to the food.
034-DSC_9341: One bird commenting to the other on its creepy dinosaur foot.
035-DSC_9342: The Sulpher Crested Cockatoos are quite pretty but they can
be pretty obnoxious too.
036-DSC_9343:
037-DSC_9344:
038-DSC_9345: The Katoomba Cascade, sort of like the mini-falls.
039-DSC_9346:
040-DSC_9347: Looking downstream from the Katoomba Cascade.
041-DSC_9348: More freaky trees (or stumps) with faces.
042-DSC_9349: The Blue Line Skyway tram at the top and the
rail station at the bottom.
043-DSC_9350: The 3 Sisters on the way back across the valley.
044-DSC_9351: Another view of the 3 Sisters from the Skyway tram.
045-waterfall_Panorama2: Katoombak Falls from the Skyway tram.
046-DSC_9355: Orphan Rock, an isolated rock formation, seen from the
Skyway over the valley.
047-DSC_9356-header: Scenic World and Jamison Valley
047-DSC_9356-headertext:
Scenic World has a train car attached to a cable that goes down and up the very steep tracks and then into Jamison Valley. There was a path to walk around that would eventually lead to trails that went quite a distance for people doing longer hikes. Since I needed to catch the train back up, I went as far as the Blue Line tram station in the valley and then headed back. There was a line but the train cars hold quite a few people. I only had to wait for one full up and down cycle. The park is an area where people can spend days hiking around. We had about an hour and a half or maybe 2 hours, so it was more of a chance to get a quick sense of the place. 047-DSC_9356: A chalkboard of messages from people waiting for the railcar down. 048-DSC_9357: Looking at the tracks going down, where the car will soon arrive. 049-DSC_9361: Arriving at the bottom, looking at the tracks going up. 050-DSC_9362: One of the original railway cars (maybe a replica). 051-DSC_9364: The Australian version of the Whomping Willow (actually a Strangler Fig). 052-DSC_9365: A backwards growing tree and an armadillo tree…I've got no idea what they are. 053-DSC_9366: 054-DSC_9367: Sometimes the trees grow in odd directions. 055-DSC_9368: 056-DSC_9369: Rock breaks scissors, Strangler Fig eventually beats rock, and other trees too. 057-DSC_9370: The trees and vines in the valley are just kind of weird, creepy and scary. 058-DSC_9371: The Blue Line Skyline station, which was closed for scheduled maintenance. 059-DSC_9372: The rail tracks. Walking back up is possible, but not pleasant. 060-DSC_9373: 061-DSC_9374: The Eastern Whipbird has a distinctive science fiction laser blaster call. 062-DSC_9375: 063-DSC_9376: A twisty, turny road outsiwith a nice view. 064-DSC_9377: 065-DSC_9378: One of the overlooks (there's a guy sitting on the fence if you look closely). 066-DSC_9379: The same overlook (look at the full resolution image). 067-DSC_9380: More of the valley, where the bus stopped briefly after leaving Scenic World. 068-DSC_9381-header: The Trip Back 068-DSC_9381-headertext:
The bus driver dropped us off at the Sydney Olympic Park ferry dock and gave us money to cover the fare back to Circular Quay that's kind of in the center of Sydney. The timing was good and the ferry left maybe 5 minutes after we got there. On the trip back, passed by Cockatoo Island, which the European settlers used as a place for secondary punishment for convicts and later shipbuilding. Of course it had been known to the Indigenous Australians for ages before that. The trip was maybe around 20 minutes. It was a bit windy on the upper deck of the ferry (I have my hat strapped to my chin so it won't blow away. 068-DSC_9381: The first part of Cockatoo Island had lots of tents resenmbling a WWII exhibit. 069-DSC_9382: More tents and a water tower on Cockatoo Island. 070-DSC_9383: The island is 44 acres, so it's small but not tiny. 071-DSC_9384: The ferry dock for Cockatoo Island (we didn't stop there). 072-DSC_9387: One last look at Cockatoo Island. We hardly knew ye. 073-DSC_9385: The high-rise buildings of the Sydney Central Business District (CBD). 074-DSC_9389: A large freighter in the center and another ferry on the left. 075-DSC_9390: Me, taking a picture of my reflection off of the door to the ferry cabin. 076-DSC_9391: Frank taking a picture of his reflection on the the ferry's cabin door. 077-DSC_9393: Once again, Packer's Pecker dominates the skyline. 078-DSC_9397: Approaching the dock. The half-circle building is the Westin Hotel. 079-DSC_9398: The Darling Harbor ferry docks at Circular Quay in Sydney. 080-DSC_9399: Some old boats and gray navy boats by the Australian National Maritime Museum. Bottom: