While searching for the places to visit near Sydney in Australia, the Blue mountains caught my attention. It was very near to Sydney and the scenery looked great in photos. It seemed to be a good place for a day visit.
Travel to Blue mountains was uneventful. The journey took little less than two hours. It took some time to cross Sydney suburbs but once past it, the drive was super smooth. I expected curvy roads due to the mountain section but the road was relatively smooth with gradual ascent for most part of the journey.
Our first place of visit was Echo point at Katoomba. Being weekend and start of the school holiday, I had expected it to be crowded. But we had reached the location quite early and the place was relatively empty. But parking around Echo point was not free and was charged on hourly basis. By the way, this was the only place in Blue Mountains where parking was charged.
Echo point provides a nice view of the mountains and the valleys. The prime attraction is the incredible view of Three Sisters. The information centre nearby provides good information about the place.
Echo point is the starting place for many treks. We decided to do two walks – a short and an easy walk to Three Sisters and a long walk to Katoomba falls. In fact, there are hundreds of walking paths in the mountains and it could be confusing for people to select!! While our walk to Three Sisters was quick and simple, the trek to Katoomba was longer. Some sections were bit steep and challenging to my Mother. The waterfalls in the area would have been great during rains but we were at the end of the summer season and the water was just trickling down in Katoomba.
We gave Scenic world a miss as it was expensive and we had done similar rides before and hence focussed on to just experiencing the nature. We drove along the cliff drive that provided nice views of the cliffs at several lookouts and waterfalls all along the way like Leura cascades, Gordon falls, Narrow Neck lookout and many more.
The last place we visited was Wentworth falls. This was away from the other lookouts of Katoomba. The walk to the falls is long and steep but since there was no much water, we decided to just view it from the various lookouts in the area.
Overall, Blue Mountains was a great place to visit and we enjoyed it very much. The weather was perfect, views were superb and very near to Sydney. Certainly worth a visit.
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