Blue Mountain,Echo Point, Three Sisters in Australia

The good thing about renting a car in Sydney is we get to explore the Blue Mountain, situated in the west of Sydney. When you explore the Sydney city, it is always good to use the public transport like train, tram, and buses but when you want to do Blue Mountain, is good to drive 50 km west of Sydney CBD, about an hour drive.  Alternatively, you may want to get a day tour from Klook which include hotel pick up from Sydney and food.

Prepare your picnic food

Before we depart for Blue Mountain, we went into the local supermarkets in Sydney, can be Coles, Worthworth or Aldi to get some food for the picnic. If you lived near Sydney Chinatown, you can always get some nice restaurant cooked food from the hawker’s centers. We have gotten a roasted chicken, some huge prawns, salad, cokes, water, fruits. Don’t forget to get the seafood cocktail sauce and chili sauce for dipping with the prawn.

We left Sydney at about 10 plus in the morning and arrived in the Blue Mountain at around 11 plus, almost 12 pm.  Just the right timing for lunch.

Three Sisters Echo Point

There are a number of lookout point for Blue Mountain but people usually go for the most famous lookout point, called Three Sisters, Echo Point. You will see the unusual rock formation by land erosion of the Three Sister, the three rock pillars stand towering the Jamison valley are named Meehni(922m), Wimlah(918m), and Gunnedoo (906m). According to legend, the three sisters living in Jamison Valley are members of the Katoomba tribe and fell in love with three men from other tribes, called Napean tribe. Intermarriage between the Katoomba and Nepean was not allowed and so the three men caused a major tribal battle. A Katoomba elder and medicine man then turned the women into stones in order to protect them from a fierce battle. He promised to turn the three women back after the battle but he was killed instead. Hence the three sisters petrified until today. Obviously, this is just a made-up story which was told by the aboriginal generations. However, the legend was not made up by an Aboriginal but by a Katoomba local, Mel Ward.  This guy certainly has lots of imagination.

Other Lookouts

There are about 11 lookouts or more in the Blue Mountain area.

Other lookouts are the Lincoln Rock, Pulpit Rock, Govetts Leap, Wentworth Falls, Evans Lookout and Castle Head Rock. If you have extra time to spend hiking, these are the great lookout points.

Why named the Blue Mountains?

Well, you may guess it, due to the blue haze and look blue.

If you see other canyons in the world, such as the Grand Canyon in America and  Zhangye Danxia Mountain in China, then the Blue Mountain may not be the most impressive one but the Three Sisters rock formation still pretty unique and stands out as the iconic landmark in Australia.

What is the best time to explore Blue Mountain?

You can visit Blue Mountain all year round, summer will be hot so wear shorts and loose pants and comfy shoes, In winter, wear layers and bring a jacket up in case it is windy.  A hat is always helpful to stop your messy hair. In winter, snowfall is possible but very unlikely and to be frank, very rare.

Katoomba

Katoomba is the most visited town in the Blue Mountain. The name is from the Aboriginal term meaning “falling water tumbling over a hill” and takes its name from a waterfall that drops into the Jamison Valley in the region. Katoomba is one of the bigger suburbs in the Blue Mountains and has major scenic attractions. There are also several eating places in Katoomba, near the station.

Scenic World

The scenic World Blue Mountain is the man-made attraction which has 3 experiences:

The Scenic Railway – A railway with the steepest incline at 52 degrees, originally the railway was built as a way to bring coal from the Katoomba coal mine on the valley floor.

The Scenic Skyway – The Skyway has a glass floor that allows views of the valley below

The Scenic Cableway – The cable car is the steepest aerial cable car in the Southern Hemisphere.

Final thoughts:

Blue Mountain can be done in a day, leave early from Sydney and prepare your picnics so that you don’t have to waste time to find the restaurants is my advice.