To travel in New South Wales, you need an Opal card. This allows you to travel on the bus, train, ferry and light rail. It uses a 'tap on/off' system and deducts money from your card accordingly. There are many benefits of using an Opal card, however, one that I have taken advantage of the most is that all fares are capped at $2.50 on a Sunday.
To put this into perspective, the day I travelled to the Blue Mountains I took one bus, two trains that lasted over two hours each and then another train to my local train station. I only paid $2.50, essentially only paying for one of these journeys. The capped fare gives you the opportunity to explore more of New South Wales on the cheap. This means you could head up to Newcastle, which is three hours north of Sydney or head two hours west to the Blue Mountains.
The Blue Mountains is a mountainous region in New South Wales and takes just over two hours on the train to get there. Last Sunday, Lucy and I decided we would finally go on our own and visit the ever famous Blue Mountains - a 'must do' if you're visiting Sydney. There are many options for visiting the Blue Mountains. One popular way and arguably the most expensive is to go with a tour operated company. You can do day visits or overnight visits, but this will cost you anything starting from $100. I'm not bashing these tours because they are probably very good and I imagine you'd see some less touristy places in the Blue Mountains, but neither Lucy nor myself were really bothered about this aspect and we also wanted to do it as cheap as possible.
After an early morning, Lucy and I headed to Central to find the train we needed. It was an upstairs/downstairs train and reminded me of the train I'd taken in New York to Penn Station. We arrived in Katoomba, the little town that borders the Blue Mountains, shortly before dinner time. It was absolutely freezing, both of us were wrapped up but we were excited to do some walking.
So much green
After a thirty minute walk, we arrived at Echo Point and caught our first glimpse of the Three Sisters, which tower above the Jamison Valley. There is a fascinating story behind the aboriginal legend of the Three Sisters. It tells the tale of three sisters, Meehni, Wimlah and Gunnedoo, who were members of the Katoomba tribe. The sisters fell in love with three men of the Nepean tribe. However, the marriage was forbidden due to tribal law. The men refused to accept this law and captured the three sisters. During a tribal battle, an elder turned the three sisters to stone in order to protect them. The elder was ultimately killed during the battle and so the three sisters remain in stone forever.
The Three Sisters
From Echo Point, we then decided joined the Prince Henry Cliff Walk heading towards Katoomba Cascades. At this point the wind had picked up a little and it felt very cold. The walk was mostly fairly easy I'd say, though there were definite points were we looked at each and laughed as we were both out of breath. Also, there were definite parts of the walk that we felt in our legs and bum.
Jamison Valley
Jamison Valley
Jamison Valley ft me being awkward haha
Jamison Valley
Lucy and I had both made sandwiches and had snacks (Lucy- that frosting though?!) and so we stopped for dinner. It was nice to give our legs a little rest. We decided to head back to Echo Point and do a part of the Three Sisters walk.
Hiding my terror of falling into the Jamison Valley
The walk itself was fairly easy and only took 30 minutes. The views of the Jamison Valley were stunning. We then decided to head down to the first sister. There were steps going down around 50m, some were more stable than others but there was only a little railing at the side for support. It was extremely busy, the steps were so narrow and there was people trying to head down as well as back up. It was a little bit stressful in all honesty. However getting down was nowhere near as tough as getting back up. Talk about a leg workout. By the time we reached the top, we were both knackered and seriously out of breath so sat down for a rest.
View from one of the sisters
Another view from one of the sisters
Underneath one of the sisters
We had wanted to visit Wentworth Falls, but it was going to be a two hour one way walk from where we were. It was already late in the afternoon and neither of us wanted to be doing any of the trails in the dark, so we decided to leave it there and headed back to Katoomba. We stopped in a little cafe for a hot chocolate and to warm up, before hopping on the next train that was going back to Sydney.
I had such a good day and I know Lucy did too. The small fraction of the Blue Mountains that I was lucky enough too was absolutely stunning. At certain points I couldn't believe how beautiful it was and how the view just went on for miles. If you like national parks, walking and hiking, then I would definitely recommend a visit to the Blue Mountains if you're in or close by to Sydney. It's well worth seeing and makes for a great day out - especially when it only costs $2.50.
Love,
Brogan
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