We kept reading that no trip to Sydney would be complete without visiting the majestic Blue Mountains and the Three Sisters which is a World Heritage site and a two hour train ride from Sydney to Katoomba. Thus, we set off today for the Blue (really?) Mountains. Although the Blue Mountain got its name due to the blue haze that hovers over them, we just didn’t experience this phenomenom on our visit. This national park has numerous walks and reasonably marked trails. In the middle of this World Heritage site is a Scenic Skyway with breathtaking views revealed beneath your feet through the glass cabin floor which travels across the canyon. There was another very steep Scenic Cableway that took us to the valley floor of the Jamison Valley, an incline railroad (world’s steepest cable-driven funicular railway) to the valley floor & a 2.4 km raised boardwalk through the valley floor of a Jurassic-type rain forest. All these “rides” are called Scenic World essentially a tourist trap of three rides with amazing views and a “platformed” walkway through a forest. Although we did go on every “ride” and the rain forest boardwalk, it was just too commercialized for us since it was in the middle of a World Heritage site.
We did the unthinkable (as we dislike touristy stuff) and bought a Hop On Hop Off pass for Blue Mountain based upon the recommendation of a very helpful Visitor Center Guide in Sydney. What a big mistake! Upon our arrival in Katoomba, we hoped on the bus and got off about 5 minutes later at Scenic World. Once we finished the amusement rides, we hiked to the three sisters which is the Blue Mountains most spectacular landmark. It is essentially an unusual rock formation representing three sisters who according to aboriginal legend were turned to stone. We took the very, very steep stairs down to the three sisters and a bridge across to one of the rock formations. We then continued to hike to many lookouts and cliff trails for the next three hours and finally ended up at location 18 out of 29 on the Hop On Hop Off bus route for a 15 minute ride back into town to meet the train back to Sydney.
