STRAY’s full-day tour of the iconic Blue Mountains
August 1, 2019
As a last-minute decision, I booked a day trip to the Blue Mountains with the STRAY tour company in order to get out of the city. It was an early morning with a departure time of 7:30 AM, or in reality, 7:28 AM. This slightly early departure led to the bus leaving without a friend I made at the hostel (and the reason I booked the tour in the first place)! So that unfortunate incident left a sour taste in my mouth and ruined the beginning of my trip to the Blue Mountains.
But on with the show…
Why are the Blue Mountains called the Blue Mountains?
Something Australia is known for is naming things exactly how they are. For instance…if you see a black spider with a red stripe on its back, its name is the ‘redback spider’ (a very deadly spider by the way). If you travel south in New South Wales and see some mountains with snow on top, they are called the Snowy Mountains. Starting to catch my drift?
So the infamous mountain range outside of Sydney is called the Blue Mountains because…they are mountains, and they look blue.
The reason the mountains have a blue hue to them is because of the eucalyptus trees there. Eucalyptus trees are more commonly referred to as gum trees in Australia. In the sunlight, the trees release eucalyptus oil as a mist and when the sunlight refracts off the oil, it gives off a blue hue!
Stop one was a dud
We drove about 2 hours outside of Sydney to reach the mountain range. The first stop of the day was Euroka Campground inside the Blue Mountains National Park. Here, we were supposed to stop and see some wild kangaroos in the fields, but unfortunately, we did not see any. This is because Australia is currently under severe drought and a dingo has moved into the area looking for food. Dingos don’t eat kangaroos because they are too big, but its presence in the park has scared the kangaroos away. The guide, Cameron, had warned us before arriving that we might not see any because of this reason. He was hoping they might have returned to the area this week. So instead we just went on a stroll through the fields and happened across a wombat den!
Wentworth Falls
Our main hike for the day was the hike down to Wentworth Falls. It was a two-hour hike round trip and boy was it a scary and difficult hike! The start of the hike was a dirt path going down, down, down. It then leveled out and hugged along the cliffs! The view of the Blue Mountains was phenomenal though! The mountain range reminds me of the Grand Canyon, but with trees!
We then reached the top of the falls called Queens Cascade on Jamison Creek. There was a path of rocks in the water we used to hop across the waterfall!
Then…came the most difficult part of the hike. The stairs.
The guide stopped us before we reached them and said if anyone does not feel physically fit to hike down and back up stairs then they are to remain at Queens Cascade. Having just hiked in Glacier National Park, I figured I would have no problem and it would be a piece of cake! But I was wrong, those stairs kicked my butt!
This trail is not for the faint of heart. The stairs hug along the side of the cliffs and there are a few switchbacks. My suggestion, don’t look over the side!
When we got to the bottom of the path and the waterfall, my legs were shaking badly! But the view was beautiful! The mist off the waterfall was very welcoming and helped cool us all down.
We stayed at the bottom for about half an hour to recuperate before our hike back up to the top! While I was lounging on a rock, I made a little bird friend who kept hanging out by me. In Australia, birds are NOT scared of humans.
The climb back up was as difficult as I imagined! I took my sweet time and finally made it!
Spidey Sense
The tour guide stopped us at a point along the cliffs to point out some holes in the rocks next to us. These small holes were nests for the Funnel Web spider! This is the most dangerous spider in Australia. EEK! He explained that they are small, but their fangs make up 60% of their body mass. They are the most deadly spider in Australia because their venom has the toxicity to kill 150 men with one bite! He said that it was very uncommon to get bitten by one (only 8 known people killed) because they scurry off when they hear you coming and sense your vibrations. I hopefully never see one of those while here in Australia!
The Three Sisters
After a quick lunch, we drove to Katoomba and did a short hike to the Three Sisters. The Three Sisters are a very popular site for visitors and there is a large viewing platform right off the town. But instead of stopping there, we did a half-hour hike along the cliffs to the platform. Thankfully, this hike was mostly flat, with some stairs, and not very long.
After spending some time at the platform and visitors center, we made our way back to Sydney. Although the tour started off on the wrong foot, I did enjoy my time exploring the Blue Mountains!
