The Blue Mountains are kind of like the Smoky Mountains of New South Wales: there are a lot of B&Bs, small towns with gifts shops and cafes, and lots so great hiking and vistas. The mountains are about an hour and a half outside of Sydney, so lots of people from the city go up for quick day getaways. On Saturday, that was us!
We caught a Mountain Line train out of the city to head up to Emu Plains where our day was to start. (Most disappointingly, there are no emus in Emu Plains.) A fun surprise greeted us in our train carriage; did you know that June 8th was "Knit in Public Day??"
Luckily those knitters behaved themselves and we had a nice train ride through the countryside. Rachel met us at the Emu Plains station and graciously chauffeured us around for the whole day.
We started our day by driving up through the mountains to the far side so we could make our way back toward the city. It was quite a bit colder in the mountains than in the city: it only got up into the 50's during the day and was very chilly when we started out. Our first destination was Mount York, which is on the edge of the mountain range and overlooks a valley. The bad news was that a heavy fog set in during our drive so we couldn't really see anything. The good news was that there was a handy sign with a picture of the view that we would have seen.
The fog made the overlook beautiful in its own way, so it was a great start to the day!
The next stop was Govett's Leap. Luckily the fog had cleared and we had amazing views of the mountains.
This was our first glimpse of the full mountains and it really gave us a good idea of how vast they are.
Here's a picture of me & Rach. You may think it doesn't get cold in Sydney, and just because I'm not wearing a coat, don't think it was warm! I'm wearing 4 layers here, including a nice thick vest.
It was time to warm up after that! We stopped in at Blackheath, a cute little mountain town for some lunch. There was a wood burning stove in the cafe so we got toasty warm!
Parts of these mountain towns look like they haven't changed in 100 years. This building houses the Common Ground cafe, which ironically enough, was started by a religious cult founded in Chattanooga, TN. The cult is called The Twelve Tribes and has spread worldwide - including, it seems, the isolated mountains of NSW.
After some food & warm-up time, we headed off to the most iconic point in the mountains: Echo Point and its view of the three sisters.
Interesting fact about the overlook at the Three Sisters: it's by far the fanciest one in the Blue Mountains and that's because the Queen visited there in 1954.
We did a short trail to another overlook. Here's me!
Our next stop was Leura Cascades, which ended up being T's favorite stop of the day. That area is down between two mountains and so we went on a short hike under the tree canopy.
It was very rainforest-y under there: the difference between being at the top of the mountains and between them was remarkable.
Our trail led us to this cool cliff overhang. Luckily no bats were waiting for us in there!
Before we left the parking area, Toby braved this cool cavern of a bathroom.
Our last stop of the day in the mountains was Wentworth Falls. We did a short hike to an overlook of the falls, and once again, the views were spectacular!
Even though it was cold, there were still some flowers & bushes blooming that we saw throughout the day.
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It was a fabulous day, and it made us feel more connected to Australia in a way the city cannot do. We loved the mountains and can't wait to go back. Thank you, Rachel!
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