A Day In the Mountains

Millions of years ago seismic activity created a massive sandstone ridge about an hours drive west of

Sydney. Today this area is called the Blue Mountains.
Attempts to cross this ridge by early settlers proved fruitless until a route was found along the top of the ridge. The highway today follows this original trail in some areas to a height of 1000 metres. Deep canyons covered in eucalyptus trees radiate out along each side of the highway.

Our first stop of the morning was the Featherdale Wildlife Park where we saw many of the indigenous Australian animals.

Our morning drive included stops at many scenic lookouts overlooking the Jamison Valley.  At one location Jack and some of the group descended 250 steps to a better, more photogenic, spot. Unfortunately since it had not rained recently, the waterfall was a "water trickle".  

Our final stop was to view the famous "Three Sisters" before lunch at the Hydro Majestic Hotel.

 In olden days, people would come from the city for a week of clean air and hiking in the Blue Mountains.  As methods of travel improved, and day trips were possible, the grand hotels fell into disrepair.  Some are now being refurbished and are quite beautiful.

At Mt. Tomah Botanical Gardens, we saw only a small fraction of plants indigenous to the continent.  More about plants tomorrow after we tour The Botanical Gardens in Sydney.  However, one special treat was seeing the Wollemia Pines.  These were discovered in 1994 in a rainforest gully in Wollemia National Park. These are the only plants of this genus known and date back hundreds of millions of years.  Therefore, they are called "the dinosaur trees".

 Our trip home included a stop at the Olympic Park built for the 2000 Summer Olympics.  Then it was time for dinner at Hart's Pub and home after a long but informative day with Charles from AEA tours.