Journal #32: Blue Mountains
Cover Photo: “Blue Faces”
Date: 4/3/16
Killer Animals Spotted: 2(+a full army of drop bears)
Today I got up early to head out the Blue Mountains, which are located in a big National park inexplicably called “Scenic World” (based on that name, I fully expected to see roller coasters and cotton candy stands).
They call the mountains the “Blue Mountains” because the area surrounding it is full of Eucalyptus Trees, which release a blue haze/oil into the sky giving the whole area a bluish tint.
You can actually get there by train, but for the purposes of simplicity, I chose a full-day guided tour, which was fantastic. There were only 8 of us on the tour and the entire trip was great from start to finish. If you are visiting Australia check out “Blue Diamond Tours”- they were awesome!
As part of the “Scenic World” pass you can ride on two different Gondolas and a train that runs on a 55 degree incline (apparently the steepest train in the world- it felt like we were going vertical). The first Gondola you can see in today’s cover image- it’s fantastic and even has open windows so you can shoot great photos.
The other gondola and the train take you down to the ground, where you can hike around. There’s not a whole lot to see on the ground level: similar to the Grand Canyon, the best views of the park are seen from the rim. That said, there was an artist down there working on a massive display of a “Drop Bear” invasion- I made this collage of some of my favorites:
The main landmark in the Blue Mountains is a rock formation called “The Three Sisters”- you can see it in the background of today’s cover photo, but here’s a close-up:
After leaving the Blue Mountains we headed to “Featherdale Wildlife Park” which is basically a zoo where you can pet Koalas. It’s a bit awkward to pet the Koala because you can only touch them on their butts and they freeze up and give you a weird look when you do it (in case you are wondering- touching them elsewhere makes them think you’re a predator and they can scratch/bite you). Every photo I took with the little guy looked super creepy- so I’m going to hold off on posting those photos…☺
There were quite a few other interesting animals there that I hadn’t seen before. Here’s (I think) a Pademelon, which is a little Kangaroo that you can feed (it could also be a Wallaby- I can’t remember the difference):
Finally-This guy may look cute, but don’t leave any babies near him:
Tomorrow is my last full day in Sydney- so it will likely be another tourist blitz. Prepare thyself!
-MB
