Sydney - Day 3
Blue Mountain Day
Today we made a day trip to Blue Mountain to visit the Three Sisters. Sunday happens to be the cheapest day to travel on public transport in Sydney, particularly if you need to travel far. We did plan but this is really the only day we have to do a full day outing so we got lucky that it falls on a Sunday. This is because Opal card users have a daily maximum for unlimited travel. For weekdays, it is $15.80. For Sunday, the daily maximum expenditure for unlimited travel is $2.70. Going a 200 km round trip for $2.70 is a treat anywhere,
Blue Mountain is 2 hours away on the main train leg so we started out early, leaving at 7am. All the transportation schedule worked out spectacularly well and we have enough time in between to relax, use the washroom, buy coffee, etc. Again today, we use the full array of services including Light Rail, train and bus. This intercity, Blue Mountain Line, has reasonable amount of stops, skipping smaller stations along the way, Not sure whether the towns are built around the train line or vice versa but they are all very close if not packed together; unlike Canada where they are really far apart. This is the main reason that it takes 2 hours to go 100 km, with the train never travels very fast.
A bus leg connects the Katoomba Station with our final destination. It takes people to the main view point, Echo Point, as well as the main attraction, Scenic World. I have not experienced anywhere that the public transport is so geared to have everybody being able to go to the main attractions. Particularly on Sundays, for $2.70 and the bus drops you off at the entrance of Scenic World; closer than the tour buses and essentially free coming back. Amazing!
Scenic World is also unlike other attractions that I have been, It does not have a specific theme but perhaps its name gave us a clue. It would make sense that their theme is none other than just nature. The three different rides: the Skyway, the Cableway and the Railway connect you to the Walkway where you can enjoy nature in the canyon.
On a whim, I went on the internet the night before to check out whether there are discounts buying tickets on line. There wasn't any but I found that they have currently a Dinosaur Valley exhibit at the same price. I also saw the administration fee charged to online tickets and almost skipped it. Fortunately I didn't and bought the tickets online as we totally skipped the long ticket line to the front as ticket holders. We also had the foresight to pack lunch for everyone so it was a nice picnic at the Walkway.
The place only has three rides radiating from the central main area so it should not be hard to figure out but still we managed to confuse ourselves and wander about in the Walkway looking for something that we had done already. We blame it on the maps.
The all-inclusive tickets allow unlimited rides, we ended up doing the Skyway three times, the Cableway twice and the Railway 4 times. With a single ride costing $23 so it feels like a win to ride 9 times for $43.
After a long day, we still chose to walk along the Prince Henry Cliff Walk from Scenic World to Echo Point where we had a closer look at the Three Sisters.
Bus and train later, we are back in town. It was an exhausting day but we are happy.
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