The Blue Mountains are about 2 hours west of Sydney. I can't remember the last time I went out there. It might have been when Jane visited me in Sydney in the mid '90s. I remember it being a really rainy day and we wore garbage bags over our raincoats. The day Hubby and I went, it was more of a sun hat, sunglasses and multiple layers of sunscreen type of day.
The Blue Mountains are named such because when viewed from a distance, the mountains have a blue tinge. I was told the blue tinge is caused by light reflecting off the leaves of the blue gum trees (eucalyptus). Apparently that's an urban myth. There's a much more scientific reason which involves ultra violet radiation, particles, mie scattering and other stuff that is beyond me. I'm sticking to the light of the leaves theory.
There is much to do in the Blue Mountains, bush walking, abseiling, caving, steam trains, museums...There should be, it's a huge area. Over 10,000 sq km. The Greater Blue Mountains National Park is listed as a World Heritage Area. (Hubby laughs at "mountains" in Australia. Mt Kosciuszko at 7310 ft asl is our tallest mountain, but in Canada it wouldn't even rate within the 100 tallest peaks!).
We spent our morning at Scenic World. Scenic World is home to the Scenic Railway, Skyway, Cableway and Walkway and Cinema. We skipped the cinema, no necessarily on purpose, we didn't even know it was there until after we left. That's okay we were more than happy with our day.
The Scenic Railway is the world's steepest incline railway. The ride is 415m long. When you get in the railcar you are pretty much laying on your back and then as you go down the incline brings you upright. The photos really don't show how steep it is.
If it was anywhere in North America it would have a safety belt or at the very least a safety bar that locks you into your seat. Uh-huh, not here. You just hang on tight. It's really steep. Did I say that before? And I got wet. As we went through a cave cold water dripped all down the back of my shirt.
Good thing neither of us is afraid of heights. 'Cause the glass bottomed Skyway hangs 270m above the bush, ravines and waterfalls.
From the Skyway stop there are a couple of walks from 10 mins to a couple of hours. We took the short walk to Katoomba Falls. We played in the cool, refreshing water for a bit before heading back on the Skyway to Scenic World.
We made our way down to the Jamison Valley, this time on the Cableway.
We took our time strolling from the Cableway back to the Railway. We saw ribbon gums, sassafras trees, old ropeway buckets, climbing vines, kissing tress and an old coal mine.
One last ride up on the railway. I love the warning signs - Limbs are difficult to replace. (um, yeah, ignore my fingers over the lens).
After lunch at a bakery in Leura, we stopped at Echo Point to get a closer view of the Three Sisters, a rock formation caused by erosion and then it was time to start driving towards the city.