Sydney: Blue Mountains

The Blue Mountains to the west of Sydney are on the UNESCO heritage list. It is so named because of the blue haze produced by the Eucalyptus trees. For some reason, John and I both expected it to be overrated. On Easter morning, we took the first train from Sydney Central. Our carriage was completely full. We did the rim walk, Prince Henry Cliff Walk, from Katoomba Station to Leura Station. The place was beautiful - it was like the Grand Canyon, but covered in forest, interspersed with waterfalls. There were some trail closures, so we didn't walk as much as we had expected. Nevertheless, we were very pleased with our visit.

We got up early to take a train (1st below) to Central Station, to then catch the 6:24 AM train to Katoomba Station (2nd below).




From Katoomba Station, it was an easy 3km downhill walk on Katoomba Street with historic buildings, the most interesting of which was the The Former Embassy Theatre (2nd below), to the start of our hike at Katoomba Cascades (3rd below)






We then followed the Prince Henry Cliff Walk to the Katoomba Falls Lookout. Wow! 230 meters (800 feet) tall.


If you're not walking the Prince Henry Trail, you can view The Falls from the "Scenic Skyway Aerial Cable Car".




Amazing views of the Blue Mountains. They really are blue!






The Visitor Center and its parking lot are adjacent to the famous Three Sisters rock formation. The lookout was busy!






The Prince Henry Walk continues over to Bridal Veil Falls with even more lookouts.






And let's not forget the Leura Cascades Fern Bower Circuit.

Sydney: Coastal Walks

Before coming to Sydney we did some research and picked the Split-Manly walk over the Bondi-Coogee walk. Even though there were a lot of people because of the Easter holiday, we enjoyed it so much, we decided to check off the Bondi-Coogee walk as well. Since they were both jammed with people anyways, I may even prefer the Bondi-Coogee walk.

The ocean waves were kind of big; impressive. We didn't see as many surfers as I had expected. It wasn't until later we read that six people died in the waters around Sydney over the holiday. Nevertheless, there were many, many people enjoying the coast in so many different ways and different places.

We took the ferry from Sidney Circular Quay to Manly Wharf on a beautiful day. From the ferry there were good views of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.






Manly is more than just the start of the coastal walk. It's a destination itself with busy beaches, vintage hotels, and tourist amenities like pubs, restos, and ice cream shops. The ocean was angry and some surfers were in the water.








The walk to Spit Bridge starts on the North Harbour side of Manly near the Manly Wharf and its iconic clock tower (1st below).




We passed several nice beach parks, with grassy lawns, ocean pools, and more, on the well-marked trail.










After 2 kms or so we entered Sydney Harbour National Park where the trail became more rugged and we ascended several headlands (picnic lunch time) with great views of the harbour and the occasional view to Sydney CBD (Central Business District). See the embedded video first below or click here.












Arriving at Spit Bridge (below), we took the bus back to our hotel.


Several days later we rode the bus to Bondi Beach and walked south along the coast to Coogee. The ocean waves were large and the Surf Rescue Teams were ready.








At the south end of Bondi Beach we were mesmerized by the big waves crashing into the ocean swimming pools of the Bondi Iceberg Club. Video first below or click here.








After Bondi, the walk continues with numerous awesome views: Tamarama Bay (1st below), Tamarama Beach (2nd), Bronte Beach (3rd).










And another ocean swimming spot and pool at the very narrow Clovelly Bay. Mesmerized again. We just don't have anything like this in North Carolina. Embedded first below is a video, or click here.












Gordons Bay


At Coogee we took a look at the beach and the Giles Baths, then caught a bus back to the CBD.