Saturday, May 21, 2011

FRIDAY, 20 MAY 2011 A TRIP TO THE MOUNTAINS

Today we decided to visit the Blue Mountains. The choices were: 1) small guided tour that would take us to a zoo where we could feed kangaroos and pet koalas, plus a vegetable market, plus see some of the sights of the Blue Mountains, all for $150 per person; 2) take the train out to Katoomba ($15) and ride the Hop On Hop Off bus ($31.50) and spend the entire time seeing the beauty of the Blue Mountains. Hmmmm....$600 vs $186. The train trip took us through some scenic lands, and the bus provided some very animated and informative drivers.
At the first stop we got on the Scenic Skyway that took us over a beautiful gorge with a view of the Katoomba Falls.



Next we took the the steepest incline Railway in the world, the Scenic Railway. The 415 meter descent goes through a cliff side tunnel on an old coal mine tracks.
                  Once at the bottom a short hike took us near the base of the Katoomba Falls.
 We walked through some beautiful rainforest
 The Scenic Cableway took us out of the Jamison Valley, back to the top of the gorge
 
                                             We caught the bus to another trailhead.



 The Three Sisters are the most notable rock formation in the park


Jim and I hiked down 120 very steep rocky stairs to a section of one of the "sisters"
 

After lunch at the Three Sisters Café, we got back on the bus and got onto another trailhead.
  Bridal Veil Falls had many levels to it
 
 We saw a flock of cockatoos fly into a tree. Hank started calling out, “Hello Henry.” It got their attention because they did several flybys over us checking us out.
  

 Leura Cascade is above Bridal Veil Falls
Once we got back to the road, we waited for the bus, which dropped us off at the train station, and we headed back to Sydney.

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