Since I only had a weekend, there wasn't time to fly to Melbourne or fly off to see the Great Barrier Reef. But I still craved nature, and everyone said the nearby "Blue Mountains" outside Sydney were the thing to see -- just a couple of hours away. So I did the easy thing and paid for a 10-hour bus tour. A dozen people sit on a minibus, while the tour guide ferries us around the mountains to cool places. You get to make some temporary friends, and overall it ends up being a really efficient way to see a lot of stuff in one day.
The Blue Mountains are mostly sandstone cliffs, covered with vegetation, that are worn-down and ancient, much like Applachia (as opposed to the Rocky Mountains.) Like most mountains, they look 'blue' from a distance, but when you get closer you realize that they're not covered with the typical conifer or or deciduous forests, but rather mostly eucalyptus and a dozen other species of 'gum' tree. They look... different. It was dead of winter when arrived at the first outlook (mid-July, about 14C / 55F), and the wind so strong that people kept losing their hats into the valley.
The first classic outlook is called "The Three Sisters" for obvious reasons.
Note that this was the point where I started flipping between digital and analog cameras. Yes, ANALOG FILM... slide film in particular. Check out the 2nd and 3rd photos below, of the same subject. The first is digital, the second is film. Same fancy Leica lenses.
Notice how much richer the colors are in the slide film? Yeah, I barely did any editing on either photo in Lightroom. I love the richness and contrast. From here out, when I post an analog photo, I'll put a little "FILM!" moniker next to it. :-) Just for fun, here's a digital vs. analog comparison of the sky-railcar that ferries people between the mountains (no, I'm not crazy, I didn't ride on it.)
In any case, a couple of us who didn't want to take the trams opted to "hike down" into the valley below -- a mere 1000 steps. The guide opted to join the two of us, because I think he was worried about how uneven the footing was, and because he could explain what we were seeing. It was pretty amazing. As soon as you went down a few stories on stone steps, the temperature warmed up considerably and we were surrounded by... jungle? I mean, it really looked like Central America, complete with waterfalls and ferns and such, but instead of monkeys in the trees there were koalas. :-)
About halfway down (it was a full hour to descend!) we reached a major waterfall. Again, here is digital and FILM versions!
Every once in a while, as we endlessly climbed down mostly irregular stone steps, we would see a beautiful view peek out. Some of the staircases started getting precarious too.
Once we reached the bottom, we were pretty exhausted. Our quads and ankles were sore. There wasn't much to do but look at the gift shop and then take a "train" that went straight up the side of the mountain. It was one of those crazy things that climbed up in 30 seconds at about a 50 degree angle; it felt like you were on one of those terrifying gravity-drop rides at amusement parks.
Eventually we got back on the bus and went to another overlook, at least as gorgeous as the first one.
