Having taken recent delivery of our new car, we decided that it was about time to take it out for a long run that would enable us to see a bit more of Sydney and the surrounding areas. We’d also recently purchased a Sat Nav, so thought that this was an ideal situation in which to try it out. We decided that a visit to The Blue Mountains would be perfect and it was something that we had wanted to go and see for a while now.
The Blue Mountains were originally called the Carmarthen and Landsdowne Hills. They were named by a European settle and the first Governer of New South Wales, called Arthur Phillip around 1788. However they are now commonly known as The Blue Mountains due to a blue tinge that can be seen over the mountains. This is apparently caused “by mie scattering which occurs when incoming ultraviolet radiation is scattered by particles within the atmosphere creating a blue-greyish colour to any distant objects, including mountains and clouds.” Some stories suggest that the colour is caused by light reflecting off the vapours from the eucalyptus leaves.
The mountains have a long and interesting history with Australian Aborigines being the first to inhabit the mountains, difficult first attempts to cross the mountains, a gold rush, railway history, not to mention the fact that the transported convicts thought that if they managed to escape and cross the mountains they would be free men and arrive in China! This link will give you more detail on the Mountains’ history.
http://www.bluemts.com.au//tourist/about/history-detail.asp
The drive up was lovely (we took the scenic route, had the roof down and blasted out some good tunes on the stereo) Adam even persuaded me to do a bit of a bush walk along a track, part of the way up! It wasn’t something that I was overly keen to do as there had been lots of news reports on the tv recently about lost and injured bush walkers. I certainly didn’t fancy becoming the next news story, although Adam reassured me that we would be fine! The other problem is my fear of all things creepy crawly and snakey! I’m doing all I can to avoid situations where I may have to come face to face with these creatures (many of which are deadly here in Oz!) This I felt would not be a situation where avoidance would be easy! But I went anyway and managed to survive unscathed!
Our Bush Walk
After our little Bush walk we carried on up to Katoomba to a viewing point where you can see spectacular views of the mountains and see the famous 3 sisters. Whilst at the visitor centre we just had to have our photo taken with a giant cuddly koala, we also got something to eat overlooking the mountains before we had to make the journey back.
http://www.bluemts.com.au/tourist/towns/Katoomba.asp
Kookaburra In A Tree In The Car Park
In The Visitor Centre
View At Katoomba Of Three Sisters
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