Valleys and Waterfalls: The Blue Mountains

The Blue Mountains national park sits just hour or so east of Sydney. Full of aboriginal culture, canyons and waterfalls it really has it all. The best way to see all the incredible views and to understand the aboriginal stories is to go with a local guide.

Top Walks

Wentworth Falls is a 187 meters tall waterfall that is fed by Jamison Creek. It is the most breathtaking hiking location.

The Grand Staircase:

The almost-vertical track down to the base of the falls, known as The Grand Stairway, is about 2km and it takes about 45 minutes.

The real challenge in this walk are the super steep steps, it literally made our legs shake! So to learn that it was built by a group of Irish men in the early 1900s using chisels seems absolutely unfathomable.

The rocks that form the steps of the trail are pretty slippy from the intense spray from the waterfall. Once we reached the base of the falls, the refreshing spray was well deserved the photo ops are defo a huge benefit. This was one of the most stunning views I have ever seen, the deafening noise of the waterfall was immense, it didn’t feel like a real place the entire time we were there I was totally speechless.

Fuelled by the beauty we saw at the base of the falls, the hike up the staircase proved a little easier than on the way down.

Princes Walk

The Princes Walk leads you in a loop from the carpark and picnic area to Fletcher’s Lookout, which is where you get your first glimpse of the falls. The walk is much more gentle than The Grand Staircase but the views are just as extraordinary. Once we reached the lookout we could see the entire falls from the top to bottom.

Throughout both walks there are plaques on the cliff side which explain the rich history of the Wentworth Falls area of the Blue Mountains park.

Top Views

Tunnel View Lookout

The most expansive viewpoints in the Blue Mountains would be at the Tunnel View Lookout. Views extend for miles over the densely forested canyon and the only way to describe it totally is to imagine the ‘I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here’ intro sequence. The trees which fill the canyon are a type of eucalyptus trees which cause a blue haze to cover the area as the eucalyptus oil and water vapour in the air mix.

Lincoln’s Rock

This picture-perfect cliff side lookout which offers views of the entire Jamison Valley. There’s plenty to explore through various caves and lookout points. The steep drops prove for some hairy moments too.

Top Cutlural moment

The Three Sisters

The three sisters is a large rock formation of three giant rocks stood side-by-side near the town of Katoomba.

Than landmark gets it’s name from an aboriginal story about the three sisters in the town. They were from one tribe and some men from another tribe were interested in dating these three ladies, however, in true Romeo and Juliet style, this was forbidden and war broke out between the tribes. There was a sorcerer in  The Sister’s tribe who decided it was best to turn them to stone in order to protect them through this war. However, the sorcerer was killed in battle and The Sisters therefore could not be turned back into girls and remained as rocks forever.

A day trip to The Blue Mountains should be on everyone’s list when visiting Sydney.

Speak soon, Bella x