The Blue Mountains
Sunday, Oct. 29, 2017
Today was an extra day we added to our trip. Prior to our trip we arranged for a private guided trip to the the Blue Mountains, a mountainous region west of Sydney in New South Wales. Our guide, Chris, pulled up to our hotel in a really big souped- up 4 wheel drive and we knew we were in for a great day!
Chris was so knowledgeable about the history of the development of the roads through the mountains. He began with taking us to some caves that were used by the early explorers who were in charge of developing the roads. All of the roads were eventually built by convicts who were promised some land and their freedom when the roads were finished.
We took a break and stopped for some tea and cakes which Chris provided. We were amazed that he actually had a table for the food and even generator to plug in the tea pot.
Then we went off to many lookouts to take in the amazing views of the mountains. One of the last views we saw was actually referred to as the Grand Canyon. It really did look similar to our Grand Canyon only it had a lot of trees in the bottom of the canyon.
Our first lookout was called Lincoln Rock, which was renamed in honor of a local man who died climbing Mt. Everest. It was a wide flat rock that looked out over mountains and had no guardrail! I was very nervous but managed okay. Then Chris asked me to come over to an edge to see if I could handle it. He said if I looked down I could clearly see shrubs and would realize it wasn't far down. He wanted to take our picture there. I did look and realized it was okay so Bob and I stood there and Chris went way off in the distance to take our picture. The picture turned out really well and it wasn't until later in the day when were across the way from where we originally were, that I realized we were actually standing on quite a precipitous ledge! Chris had tricked me!
The next lookout was quite an arduous trek. We descended hundreds of crude steps formed from rocks to view the waterfalls. The steps wound around the edges of the mountains and were quite steep. At the beginning of the trip Chris asked if we were okay with climbing and we said yes; however, we had no idea he meant so much steep climbing. I have to say the views were beautiful but we were exhausted after climbing back up.
We then stopped for lunch in the lovely and quaint town of Loura and the rest of the day was much easier. We saw the popular Three Sisters formation as well as some other spectacular viewpoints.
We returned to our hotel around 5:00 p.m. and decided just to have a sandwich in the hotel bar and lounge because we had packing to do.
Our trip was a wonderful experience. We covered a lot of territory in a short amount of time and learned so much about the history of the country. In reflecting on the trip, I was we had one or two more days in Sydney because there is a lot to see there. However, we were thoroughly pleased with all of the activities that Tauck provided and all of the local guides were outstanding. We made some good friends on the trip and will surely keep in touch.
Today was an extra day we added to our trip. Prior to our trip we arranged for a private guided trip to the the Blue Mountains, a mountainous region west of Sydney in New South Wales. Our guide, Chris, pulled up to our hotel in a really big souped- up 4 wheel drive and we knew we were in for a great day!
Chris was so knowledgeable about the history of the development of the roads through the mountains. He began with taking us to some caves that were used by the early explorers who were in charge of developing the roads. All of the roads were eventually built by convicts who were promised some land and their freedom when the roads were finished.
We took a break and stopped for some tea and cakes which Chris provided. We were amazed that he actually had a table for the food and even generator to plug in the tea pot.
Then we went off to many lookouts to take in the amazing views of the mountains. One of the last views we saw was actually referred to as the Grand Canyon. It really did look similar to our Grand Canyon only it had a lot of trees in the bottom of the canyon.
Our first lookout was called Lincoln Rock, which was renamed in honor of a local man who died climbing Mt. Everest. It was a wide flat rock that looked out over mountains and had no guardrail! I was very nervous but managed okay. Then Chris asked me to come over to an edge to see if I could handle it. He said if I looked down I could clearly see shrubs and would realize it wasn't far down. He wanted to take our picture there. I did look and realized it was okay so Bob and I stood there and Chris went way off in the distance to take our picture. The picture turned out really well and it wasn't until later in the day when were across the way from where we originally were, that I realized we were actually standing on quite a precipitous ledge! Chris had tricked me!
The next lookout was quite an arduous trek. We descended hundreds of crude steps formed from rocks to view the waterfalls. The steps wound around the edges of the mountains and were quite steep. At the beginning of the trip Chris asked if we were okay with climbing and we said yes; however, we had no idea he meant so much steep climbing. I have to say the views were beautiful but we were exhausted after climbing back up.
We then stopped for lunch in the lovely and quaint town of Loura and the rest of the day was much easier. We saw the popular Three Sisters formation as well as some other spectacular viewpoints.
We returned to our hotel around 5:00 p.m. and decided just to have a sandwich in the hotel bar and lounge because we had packing to do.
Our trip was a wonderful experience. We covered a lot of territory in a short amount of time and learned so much about the history of the country. In reflecting on the trip, I was we had one or two more days in Sydney because there is a lot to see there. However, we were thoroughly pleased with all of the activities that Tauck provided and all of the local guides were outstanding. We made some good friends on the trip and will surely keep in touch.
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| The Blue Mountains |
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| Falls at Blue Mountains |
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| The Three Sisters |
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| Three Sisters |
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| Bob and I at the Three Sisters |
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| Part of the Grand Canyon |
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| Cave where early crews kept their materials |
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| Out on a ledge |
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| Falls |
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| Lower Falls |
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| Distant view |
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| Check out the ledge we were standing on! |
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| Our tour group on the steps of the Sydney Opera House |
Weren't the Blue Mountains amazing?!
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