A Day in the Blue Mountains

Ethan sleeping and eating

We got up very early on Saturday morning, dressed and headed for the Mosman Bay Ferry Wharf. Ethan even looked like he slept as he ate his toast. The small van from Australian Eco Tours met us at the Wharf right on time. Our driver, Larry, was cheerful and knowledgeable. The seven of us were off for a fun-filled and loooong day. We stopped and picked up people from one hotel who were from California and others from another hotel from Alabama.

Here we are- a bunch of Americans off to see the Blue Mountains.

Great Breakfast

We first traveled to Featherdale Wildlife Park, a privately owned wildlife park, situated on 7 acres of natural bush setting. We first enjoyed a continental breakfast which featured ham, cheese, croissants, potato rolls, juice, coffee and Vegemite- the Vitamin B supplement that all Australians seem to enjoy several times a week. Must be an acquired taste- or so we decided when I tried some on the Indian Pacific train journey. A koala even came to breakfast with us.

blue penquins

Ngukhur- 14 ft. long croc

Big Lizard

The park is home to the world’s largest collection of Australian native animals, and we were able to get up close and personal with over 2,200 animals from more than 330 different species. We cuddled up to a koala, hand fed kangaroos, emus & wallabies and even got chased by an Emu who pecked at Jack’s shoes.  We saw 'Ngukhur' a 14 foot long saltwater crocodile. 

Wombat

Flying Foxes

Albino Kangaroo

We saw Flying Foxes and other creatures at the Ghost Bat & Bilby Nocturnal Exhibit. The wombats came out to play and there were even blue penguins. Kangaroos and Wallabys were everywhere and there was even a rare Albino Kangaroo.

Jack, Ethan and Michael all had fun feeding the variety of hungry creatures.

Emu Pecks Jack's shoe

We departed the Park and traveled to the Blue Mountains, stopping at Bilpin alongthe at The Fruit Bowl We continued further to Mount Wilson where there was an opportunity for a short nature walk to get the first glimpses of the Blue Mountains. Larry told an Aborigines Tale about Creation. The Creator came to earth and brought all the animals and all the plants to the land. He also brought people who were to be the caretakers of the animals and the lands. When the creating was done the Creator stepped back to the sky by stepping onto Mount Hay and Mount Banks- which of course we saw.” We began to think about the difference in the Genesis creation story where Adam and Eve were given “dominion over all living things.” Sure different than thinking of yourself as a “caretaker.”  

From this point, we crossed the mountains to Govetts Leap for the magnificent valley and waterfall views followed by a visit to the historic town of Hartley Vale. When the Victoria Pass road was completed in 1832, the doorway to the west was open and settlement in Hartley, at the base of the hill, began in earnest. The next 50 years saw Hartley grow into a bustling township surrounded by churches, a post office, stage couch facilities, and inns.  Unfortunately, Hartley was by-passed by the railway and, over a period, fell into disuse.  Luckily, today we are left with a remarkable remnant of a town largely unchanged since the mid-nineteenth century.  Hartley Vale has a population of about 8. We saw one buildining dating from the 1860’2 that served as a school, dance hall, and church or as Larry said, “ a place for work, whoopee and worship.”

Lunch was at the Katoomba Golf Club. Pretty good food and served with dispatch so we could continue our journey.

After lunch, we traveled to Megalong Valley for amazing mountain views. We stopped at Cliff Drive to experience The "Three Sisters" where Larry told us another Aboriginal dream-time legend that tells of three sisters, 'Meehni', 'Wimlah' and Gunnedoo' who lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe.

These beautiful young ladies had fallen in love with three brothers from the Nepean tribe, yet tribal law forbade them to marry.

Three Sisters

The brothers were not happy to accept this law and so decided to use force to capture the three sisters causing a major tribal battle.

As the lives of the three sisters were seriously in danger, a witchdoctor from the Katoomba tribe took it upon himself to turn the three sisters into stone to protect them from any harm. While he had intended to reverse the spell when the battle was over, the witchdoctor himself was forced to use his magic bone and turn himself into a bird in order to save himself. As only he could reverse the spell to return the ladies to their former beauty, he searched everywhere for the magic bone he had hidden. He could never find it. So the sisters remain in their magnificent rock formation as a reminder of this battle for generations to come and often around the rocks a small bird can be seen scratching looking for his magic bone.

Part of our journey was on the Great Australian Highway. In 1813, acting on the instructions of NSW Governor Lachlan Macquarie, Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and William Wentworth, travelled west from Emu Plains and by staying to the ridges were able to confirm the existence of a passable route directly west from Sydney across the Blue Mountains. They retraced their steps marking and initialing trees to create the route. The governor then made a deal with the convicts to build a road. No matter what their sentence was, when the road was complete they would receive a pardon and a land grant. So it took them 90 days to build the road. In the afternoon we traveled a piece of the road that is bring widened  and the roadwork had been going on for 30 years with a promise to finish the end of 2012. One of group wondered why they didn’t just get the convicts back.

We then visited the Scenic World attractions for a ride into the Rainforest on a Cablecar , a walk on a boardwalk through the floor of the forest, and a ride up on a steep incline railroad. Turns out Michael had been here just for the Rainforest on a Bush Walk from his school.

Bill, Katherine, and boys at floor of Rainforest

 It was an interesting place filled with people from many, many different countries. However, Scenic World felt to us like the Gatlinburg of Australia.

Bridal Veil Falls

Toasting the Day

We ended the time in the Blue Mountains at Wentworth Falls and Bridal Veil Falls. The views were terrific and the waterfalls tall.  We enjoyed glasses of chilled champagne and orange juice to toast the day in the Blue Mountains, before we finally headed back to Sydney.

Jack with Ice Cream

Ethan loving the Ferry

Our wonderful day ended at the Circular Quay Ferry Wharf. There was time for a snack of ice cream as we waited.  Many ferries came and left in the 40 minutes we waited. Lots of people use this as a major transportation around the area. Fairly cheap, runs often, and is on time- can't beat it! We rode across the beautiful Sydney Harbor back to Mosman Bay Wharf. 

Opera House

We viewed the magnificent Opera House and the Harbor Bridge, called by locals The Coat Hanger. We could see the walkers on the top of the bridge.
It was a long and a fun day of seeing interesting sights, having different experiences, and sharing time together!