Katoomba and the Blue Mountains

The Blue Mountains
(It's named after that becaue the Eucalyptus trees give off a blue glow when the sun rises.)

Scenic World glass-bottom cable car

View of the waterfalls from Scenic World

(I wish I could have taken a picture of what you see through the glass, but my camera doesn't do well through glass. So, you'll have to use your imagination.)

This must be an old car not in use anymore. But, it gives you an idea of what the incline is like.

08.12.08: We woke up at the crack of dawn again and took the ferry to Sydney where we took the train to Katoomba, a small town in the Blue Mountains, which is also listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. From there, we booked a hop-on, hop-off “carbon neutral” trolley tour. I asked the drive what made it carbon neutral and he had no idea. I’m guessing that the company pays for carbon offset. It included a ride down into a canyon on Scenic World, a glass bottom cable car over 600 feet above ground. From there, we took a ride down The Katoomba Scenic Railway, the steepest incline railway in the world. (52 degrees) I believe this must have been originally used for transporting coal before it became an amusement ride, as there was a lot of old coal mining displays when you got down there. After a brief hike though the rainforest, we took a ride back up the other side of the canyon via another cable car. If I were to describe Katoomba and the Blue Mountains from a Bay Area native’s perspective, imagine taking a 2 hour train ride from San Francisco to the Grand Canyon. Instead of the Colorado River at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, there’s rainforest. Now, imagine taking a cable car across the Grand Canyon, but the floor is glass. You get the picture. It was absolutely stunning to get out of the city and there’s this HUGE canyon. As you took these rides down, it just kept getting better. The only drawback was that the air was so chilly. I don’t know if that could have caused a stunning reaction too. But I don’t think so though!

After that, we jumped back on the trolley and headed to the next town over, Laera, for a late lunch. By the time we were done there, we caught the last trolley of the day back. The driver took us through more areas along side the Blue Mountains for more fabulous views. After that, we headed back to Sydney then Manly so we could stumble into our apartment and crash.