Blue Mountains!

So a couple weekends ago another intern, Liz, and I booked a trip to the Blue Mountains. It was with a tour company that was advertised on the Free Tour pamphlet. The tour/trip only cost us $65 so it was definitely a bargain. The cost included snacks in the morning, pick up, driving us all over, and boat ride back to the Harbours. It was supposed to include a trip to some wildlife place, but apparently the road to the place was having construction so we couldn't get to the place. Not sure if that was true or not, but at the end of the day I am not too sure we would have even had time for everything else and we would have been twice as rushed through everything.

Anyway - the Blue Mountains were gorgeous and it was SO NICE just being around green and fresh air and NOT cement buildings and dirty air that makes my eyes water. My lungs and eyes were happy! :-) So the Blue Mountains are called the Blue Mountains because of the blueish hue they sometimes give off from a distance. This is because there are tons and tons of eucalyptus trees (or gum trees) and when due droplets are in the air they reflect of the blue color. And, yes, you can smell the awesomeness of the eucalyptus trees - REFRESHING! There were also tea tree plants too. The views were also awesome!

After we spent time "bush walking" on the trails we went a little town called Leura for lunch. Liz and I chose a Thai place to eat at and it was great food and they were quick even with our time constraints. After we had lunch we back to Katoomba falls and got ride down the world's steepest railroad (it's in Guinness) and then walk through the rain forest. We also got to see the Three Sisters rock formation. The Aboriginal who knew our tour guide told him that the Three Sisters rock formation is a place where women go to give birth. The other story (which apparently isn't true) is that three sisters fell in love with warriors and this was a big no no, Their father got mad and had them all turned into stone/rock so that they couldn't run off with the warriors. So you choose which story you like better. :-)

Once we were finished at Katooma we went to some off road sight where we were shown and old aboriginal carving of a kangaroo. We were shown how we could tell what direction the hunters came from and in which direction they were going and how they killed the kangaroo. The direction the tail was pointing was the direction in which they came from and where the nose was pointing was the direction in which they were going. They started the hunt with a hunting boomerang and ended up using a spear that went straight to the heart.


We ended the tour with a boat ride back to the Harbours. We could either get off at Circular Quay (Opera Hosue Harbour) or Darling Harbour. Either way we weren't getting dropped off like we were picked up that morning. That was kind of a disappointment, but I got to see what Darling Harbour was like at night......full of tourists. :-)

All in all the Blue Mountains trip was great even without the wildlife visit. It was definitely worth the money. :-)   And if I ever got the chance to come back to Sydney I would definitely visit the Blue Mountains again!