After a few weeks driving along some of the most beautiful beaches of Australia on the East coast, we head to the Blue Mountains for 3 days before going to Sydney, for the last days of our trip in Australia.
The Blue Mountains, are a world heritage site, and get their name from the bluish haze emanating from the oil bearing eucalyptus trees that populate the forest. This mountain range is part of the Australian Great Dividing Range, that stretches along the East coast for over 1,800 miles.
The Blue Mountains represent a million hectares of cliffs, bush, waterfalls and eucalyptus forests. It is just an hour and a half away from Sydney, and offers a great escape from the city.
It is supposed to be nice and cool in the mountains, but not for us. The temperatures for the next few days will be around 95 degrees, because of an unusual heat wave hitting the country. By the way, out of curiosity we checked the temperatures in the outback, and the real feel is around 120 degrees ! We sure are glad to be along the coast now.
Early afternoon we arrive in Blackheath, one of the villages in the Blue Mountains, and we first stop at the visitor center to get a list of the trails we can do in the area.
So it is possible do not hike at all but still see beautiful landscapes. Indeed, there are plenty of lookouts with parking lots just a few feet away. So plenty of people just drive to every lookout, hop off their car (without turning the AC off of course) and hop back in to the next lookout. Of course we are absolutely not going to do that. So after our stop at the information center we decide on the hikes we will do during the next three days.
Pulpit Rock, 4.3 miles
And we start with the Pulpit Rock hike that starts from Govett’s Leap lookout.
It is 2 pm when we start, and it is really hot outside. We take plenty of water with us for this 2 hour walk.
The hike is very nice. Here we overlook the Grose valley.
We hike along the top of the cliffs.
We are almost all alone on the way. There was a lot of people on the parking lot of Govett’s Leap but none of them on the trail.
The landscapes are stunning.
And we are lucky to have a beautiful weather.
When we arrive at Pulpit Rock, we are stunned by the breathtaking view. We stay a while just standing and admiring mother nature’s work.
A few clouds are in the sky, and their shadows on the mountains are very pretty.
Thrilled with our first hike, we drive to the free campsite we spotted on Wikicamp. And we made it just in time before it was full. This one is the closest free camp to the Blue Mountains so it seems to be super popular. We go to bed early because tomorrow we plan on hiking 11 miles, and given the high temperatures we want to start early.
Grand Canyon Walk, 3.7 miles
6:45 am, we arrive at Evan’s Lookout.
We start the first hike, the Grand Canyon Walk, a 3.7 mile long loop.
This hike is very different than what we have done yesterday. Here we hike down in the canyon and walk along the river.
The air is cool down here and it feels great. The walk is really nice, and once again we are all alone.
The canyon and it’s lush vegetation are incredible.
Most of the walk is down in the canyon along the river.
Waterfalls, passing through the cliffs or crossing rivers, we love it ! We finish the hike in around 2 hours.
Cliff Top Walking Track + Junction Rock, 7.3 miles
After stopping by the van to fill up our camelbacks, we start our second hike. This one we be a little harder, it is almost 9 am and we can already feel the heat.
The first part is along the cliff top to Glovett’s Leap, the lookout where we started yesterday.
This part offers amazing views on the Grose valley.
Again we cross a few rivers and waterfalls.
Then from Govett’s Leap we start the fun part, hiking down in the canyon. The way down is very steep and Maider’s knees are starting to bother her. But the landscape is incredibly pretty.
We walk along the cliff.
And we get closer to the waterfall. Beautiful.
We continue in the canyon and cross forests, rivers and other waterfalls.
And we get to see a ton of lizards.
It is really hot out. And the way up will honestly be pretty tough. Maider’s knee hurts pretty badly, and the outside temperature continues to rise, it must be over 95 degrees now. We thought the last part would be in the shade, but we were dead wrong. The last kilometer is clearly the hardest, we have almost no water left, the trail is very steep and boy is it hot ! This was hands down the most we have suffered during any of our hikes during our trip around the world. Even though it wasn’t the hardest on paper, only 11 miles and 3,280 ft elevation gain, but the heat combined with the fact that we hadn’t hiked in a while just killed us.
We end this part of the hike in 4 hours and when we arrive at the parking lot we see a lot of people that are letting their engine run and let the AC on as they walk a few feet to the lookout, take a picture and drive to the next lookout. We definitely don’t have the same way of visiting. But we had a great time, the landscapes were unreal and we were once again all alone.
We think we earned an ice cold beer, so we drive to the local pub before heading back to the free campsite we stayed at last night. We are exhausted and go to bed early before our last day in the Blue Mountains.
Echo Point, Three Sisters, Katoomba Cascades, 2 miles
We wake up early, today the most touristic sites of the Blue Mountains await us in the village of Katoomba.
We start with the most famous of the lookouts, Echo Point. Here we even have to pay for the parking ! But only after 9 am, and it is around 7:30 am that we get there. From here we have a nice view on the Jamison valley where we can see the famous Three Sisters, these 3 huge rock formations side by side, sculpted by erosion.
We then go and walk toward the Katoomba Falls. The trail is along the cliff top, and we stop from time to time to admire the view.
Once again, as soon as we get a little bit away from the lookouts, the trails are empty.
We stop at the Katoomba Cascades and don’t continue down to the falls because Maider’s knee hurts. And each step down is a nightmare.
So no big hike today because of the knees. Instead we just stop one last time near the Three Sisters.
Before hitting the road to the campsite we booked, just 30 miles outside Sydney. We will head to Sydney the next day for New Year’s Eve and spend our last days in Australia.
Probably not the most beautiful thing we did in Australia, the Blue Mountains are still a nice stop. Too many tourists for our liking, but we also realize that we are in the high season with people on Christmas holidays. And we were still able to find nice spots away from the crowds.
Next stop in Sydney for our last days in Australia where we will spend the New Year.