I jumped in with an adventure tour to serve as my transport up to the Blue Mountains for a little self-made 3-day (now 4-day) retreat! After traveling all over the city of Sydney accumulating one backpacker after another, we were on our way to Olympic Park, en route to the mountains. I wandered around the park just a tad and had a chance to get up close with the torch, main stadium, and volunteer remembrance poles… the design and layout of the park is fantastic – the activity of it is ghost-town like… which is shocking to me after being surrounded by the liveliness and spirit that lives on in Lake Placid from the Olympics there.
An hour later we arrived in Blue Mountains Nat’l Park and headed 2 valleys over to an area called Euroka – specifically to the trailhead for Bennet’s Ridge (I was SO wishing I had my mountain bike and a couple hours at this point!)… we wandered down into the grass fields leading to the valley’s creek, and got to hang out with 3 kangaroos!!!!!!!! Well, not too close, as their wild… but close enough that we could really spend time watching their every move, in a rather intricate detail. [Disclaimer: we were told by our guide that they are kangaroos, but some people I’ve crossed paths with believe they’re wallabies… either way – they’re adorable and they hop!] One thing that did surprise me is that they lay down on the ground and chill out like dogs do!
We grabbed lunch in the township of Glenbrook, and wandered around a tad. This small town was filled with locals in the park – quite a few playing tennis – and in the little cafes and markets. From here we ventured to Wentworth Falls and took a nice 1-hr hike along the ridge, and down into the valley’s temperate rainforest along the Undercliff Trail. The views were spectacular!
And there’s more… after a quick trip into and through Leura, we arrived in Katoomba 5mins later and went to their Scenic World area to walk down the Furber Stairs (about 1000 of them – steep down the side of the mountain) to get next to Katoomba Falls, and meet up with the train that makes its way straight up the edge of the cliff back to the top… backwards… through a tunnel… with you feeling like you will slide off the seat if you don’t brace yourself – it was so surreal… and therefore, I loved it!
We had many amazing views of the well-known “3 Sisters” (3 jagged rock formations beside each other, on the edge of the cliff)… and we stopped for 1 more on our way back into Katoomba, where I would say goodbye to all of my new friends (I was the only one staying in the mountains.)
An hour later we arrived in Blue Mountains Nat’l Park and headed 2 valleys over to an area called Euroka – specifically to the trailhead for Bennet’s Ridge (I was SO wishing I had my mountain bike and a couple hours at this point!)… we wandered down into the grass fields leading to the valley’s creek, and got to hang out with 3 kangaroos!!!!!!!! Well, not too close, as their wild… but close enough that we could really spend time watching their every move, in a rather intricate detail. [Disclaimer: we were told by our guide that they are kangaroos, but some people I’ve crossed paths with believe they’re wallabies… either way – they’re adorable and they hop!] One thing that did surprise me is that they lay down on the ground and chill out like dogs do!
We grabbed lunch in the township of Glenbrook, and wandered around a tad. This small town was filled with locals in the park – quite a few playing tennis – and in the little cafes and markets. From here we ventured to Wentworth Falls and took a nice 1-hr hike along the ridge, and down into the valley’s temperate rainforest along the Undercliff Trail. The views were spectacular!
And there’s more… after a quick trip into and through Leura, we arrived in Katoomba 5mins later and went to their Scenic World area to walk down the Furber Stairs (about 1000 of them – steep down the side of the mountain) to get next to Katoomba Falls, and meet up with the train that makes its way straight up the edge of the cliff back to the top… backwards… through a tunnel… with you feeling like you will slide off the seat if you don’t brace yourself – it was so surreal… and therefore, I loved it!
We had many amazing views of the well-known “3 Sisters” (3 jagged rock formations beside each other, on the edge of the cliff)… and we stopped for 1 more on our way back into Katoomba, where I would say goodbye to all of my new friends (I was the only one staying in the mountains.)
No comments:
Post a Comment