Awesome day out exploring the Blue Mountains with a small group. Definitely would’ve preferred a private tour, but all in all, had a good time and got to see all sorts of views and wildlife.
Photo Gallery: https://pics.mattichan.com/-uwc088
Heading to Tour
Terry showed me last night which ferry to take across the harbour (and where to go), so instead of walking over the bridge yet again, I took the ferry this time across the harbour back to The Rocks. Walked through the secret garden park first and had some really nice views as I meandered over.
Tour
We got all our folks from our pickup point, and also picking up a few other people at a second location. All in all, we had about 10 people in the big van. Since I was solo, they put me in the front seat, so didn’t have to sit next to anyone which was kind of nice. We set off for the 10(ish) hour tour of the Blue Mountains.
Calmsley Hill City Farm
The first stop was at Calmsley Hill City Farm which was a nice little teaser for all the wildlife we’d see as we travelled through the Blue Mountains (and the rest of Australia for me).
Birds
A whole row of really colorful birds, but all in cages so didn’t spend a ton of time watching them.
Wild Birds
Ended up wandering off, and some cockatoos were being loud (as they usually are) and got to watch them having some breakfast. Also saw a bunch of falcons (I think) soaring above us.
Roos, Wallabies and Goats
Some really cute roos and wallabies running around, and they even let you go up and pet them…but not for me.
Koala
Highlight of the farm was a nice little koala encounter, where we got to meet two brother koalas. Got to talk with the ranger and find out about their appendages and how they aren’t all separate, etc. Pretty fun, but again, didn’t need to go bother it’s space even though the rest of the group did. I have Lone Pine in a couple days so no need for me to go touch and see. This guy definitely was “tolerant” of people, but wasn’t super interested in the humans.
Emu
Couple emu as well, that were watchfully keeping an eye on us from their fenced off area. Such interesting creatures.
Lunch – Mountain High Pies
Next, we staged for lunch at Mountain High Pies and had a really nice local pie. I went with a lamb pie and it was SO good. As we were leaving, more cockatoos right outside in the parking lot, they really are everywhere, and also very loud.
Blue Mountains National Park
We then went on to our hike around wentworth falls. It took around 1-2 hours, and we didn’t really hike super fast. It was interesting because the tour is marked as strenuous and definitely mentions hiking and the number of stairs and inclines on the trail, but the group definitely didn’t have the greatest mobility, so we went very slow (and also we were VERY loud…there was a couple guests that would not stop talking about their life stories, while we were on the trail).
I ended up leaving the group and going ahead to photograph stuff and waiting for the group to catch up, etc.
Wentworth Falls and Surrounding Falls
Views on Hiking Trail
Humans. The Worst.
SIGH. Like, really….pick up after yourself. Common courtesy apparently isn’t common.
Three Sisters Overlook
Spectacular views as we made it to the Three Sisters Overlook before the storm and fog rolled in to cover the entire view. Craig made sure we got there before the fog came in.
Just sat for a bit taking in the vastness of the valley below and just how green everything was with the rolling layers of fog coming in as well.
A lot of cool birdlife around as well.
Roos
We went to a secret spot to find some roos, and we did find a whole bunch, but the group was still pretty loud, and the roos all ran away while I was changing lenses to get a more zoomed in photo. We did get to see the whole mob jumping away which was pretty cool and boy can they move quickly.
If only people could understand that wildlife is wild and not like…RUN and scream about the roos.
Dinner – The Henry
Last stop on the tour was dinner at a local pub The Henry. Had an awesome steak sandwhich with chips and just got to hang out with the group for a bit before heading back to the city. Got a nice little souvenir koala to take with us after the tour as well.
Night Harbour Views
On the way back to the AirBnB, I backtracked through the park and took a bunch of photos of the harbour. As I was shooting this gigantic bright light filled my viewfinder and upon looking, turned out it was a Virgin cruise ship that was in port the day before the Serenade (which caused them to have to tender in the morning and then dock in the afternoon). Pretty fun shot of the Ahoy Sydney lit up on the side of the Virgin ship though.
Vibe Check
3 parts joy
1 part sadness – could’ve seen so much more on a private tour
1 part anger – for people not knowing how to behave in nature
Feedback
Leave a comment or question if you have any thoughts! Anything you want to know about as we go around the world? Any things you want to share as feedback, or any images that particularly spoke to you. I’ll try to read all of them as time permits!
Matti 
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