The Blue Mountains

We had a great time on Monday travelling to the Blue Mountains, about 2 hours west of Sydney. On the way to Katoomba, a town where there is a lot of touristy things to see and do, we stopped off in Leura, the town right before it to hike some paths down to a waterfall. I can't remember the name of it but it was pretty! I think it was the Leura Cascades.

We hopped back into the Jeep and then drove to Katoomba. Once there we drove to Scenic World. This was once the headquarters of the Katoomba Coal Mines. (No, I'm not using my handy guide book...just the visitors map I picked up there.) We got a great picture of "The Three Sisters". According to Aboriginal legend these were three, yes, sisters that were turned into rock. Seen below. If you're wondering why the Blue Mountains are called the Blue Mountains...and even if you're not...they're called that because "the ever present haze that gives the Blue Mountains their name is caused by rays of light striking droplets of oil dispersed by the gum trees."

While at Scenic World we took the railway down to the bottom of the valley. Now this "train ride" was too much fun. It's the steepest railway in the world. We were enclosed in what felt like cages and then the train went almost straight vertically down. In the words of Phil, "They would never have a ride like this in the U.S." But don't worry, we had a plastic chain across the sides of the open train car to keep us in. Very fun.

We then walked along the boardwalk paths at the bottom and then took a cable car back up to the top. We also took another cable car across from one mountain to another. Very, pretty...and yes...I was a bit white-knuckled on the cable car even though it was completely closed in.

When we left Scenic World we drove to Blue Mountain National Park to see some kangaroos in the wild. Really...they were just eating the grass right by the side of the car. We also saw some cockatoos and one nasty spider.

Today, Phil is working till 3:00ish so I'm taking Dave and Amy to the Botanical Gardens and the Rocks this morning and early afternoon. Early tomorrow morning we have a tour scheduled of the Opera House. Should be fun.