Australia #3 - The Blue Mountains - New South Wales

We didn't have a car while in Manly so decided one day to take a bus tour. There were several options, and lots of tour providers to choose from. We inquired at the tourist information booth by the entrance to Manly Wharf, and a couple of days later were picked up there by Jason, our very friendly and knowledgeable driver/guide from Oz Tours, who let me plug in my new GPS and get oriented to it, then, because I asked, tried to explain cricket to me while driving to the next pick-up point. We have an impromptu tour of Sydney while we pick up everyone, people from Japan, Belgium, California, Malaysia, China, UK.

The hour drive out to the Blue Mountains is very pleasant. We stop at a park on the Nepean River on the outskirts of Sydney for juice and biscuits, serenaded by numerous cicadas while Jason and the tour company administrator sort out those who haven’t yet paid or who want to buy tickets for Scenic World.

At Scenic World there is a cable car across a valley and an extremely steep funicular return, and some wonderful views of the Blue Mountains.

The Three Sisters is the most well known feature, and Jason explains the Aboriginal legend about them. If you look closely you will see the face of the sister on the left.

Adventurous folk at the base of one of the falls.

One of several cockatoos we saw on our walk.

After a short stop in Leura for lunch we went on to Wentworth Falls. It is only about 26 Celsius, but very humid.

Our guide Jason explained that eucalyptus is the reason there is such a strong forest fire hazard throughout Australia due to it’s bark debris building up.

We were ahead of schedule so were able to make a slight detour to see an Aboriginal engraving of a kangaroo used to train young men to hunt, which is very interesting.

Finally we do a quick drive through Sydney Olympic Park, which unlike those in a lot of cities has been transformed into a commercial and residential hub. The venues are all active, and there are over 7,000 events large and small each year, including such things as swimming lessons for school-children all the way up to massive rock concerts. Unfortunately no pictures!

The residents commute to the CBD on the river, and that’s the way we return to avoid the late day traffic, with a fast trip back on the river and into the harbour on the catamaran Sensasea. We are dropped at Circular Quay, walk round to the ferry terminal, and end the day with a pleasant ferry ride back to Manly Wharf.

And why are the mountains blue? Oil droplets from the eucalyptus trees combined with dust and water vapour affect the sun's rays as they pass through the atmosphere, emphasizing the blue portion of the spectrum!

And, despite Jason's explanation, I never did understand cricket!

Join me for my next post - the Northern Beaches!

Thanks to @benfenson for watching over my Oz posts!

!steemitworldmap -33.722069 lat 150.302758 long Blue Mountains New South Wales Australia d3scr