ONE DAY TOUR IN BLUE MOUNTAINS

I met up with my friend Veyana at Strathfield station since both our lines intersect at that station and we can take the train to Katoomba (Western Line-Yellow) from Strathfield too. We opted for the all-stops train so the journey took us about 2.5 hours. From Strathfield to Katoomba, it's around 20 stations though you can also get on from Central station, Wynyard or Town Hall if you're staying in the city.

It was my first long distance train ride in Sydney and when the train arrived, we hopped on to the nearest coach towards us. Veyana and I fell asleep immediately because we were still exhausted from what we did the day before, until the sound of a woman talking loudly woke us up. Apparently we were in a 'quiet coach' and the couple beside us was making too much of noise, the lady in front couldn't take it and politely warned them. So, a friendly reminder, please check to see if you're in a quiet coach or not. It was the coaches somewhere in the middle if I'm not mistaken.

The trip cost me only $14 to and from Katoomba while it was much lower than what Veyana had paid. I think it's because of the trip reduction thing that Opal card offers. I asked my uncle about it and if he's not mistaken it's around 8 trips and you get the rest of the week free without having to pay for the train tickets. I'll research more on that card and will update sooner or later.

We walked to the nearest tourist information centre and bought ourselves the UNLIMITED DISCOVERY PASS for $39. This pass allows us to take all the rides available for the entire day as many times as you want. I've got a lot of pictures taken in those rides but none of it is a solo picture hence I couldn't share it. The tourist information centre is a shop next to the station, I remember there's a huge teddy bear sitting outside. 

After 30 good minutes of walking the other direction and getting lost thanks to our lack of research and both of us refusing to pay extra for the tourist bus, we walked back to the station, analyzed the map and started walking towards the nearest bus station. There, we stumbled upon a Subway outlet, went in, bought ourselves food and walked further until we reached the bus stop in front of Carrington Hotel (the hotel is so fancy and the garden is beautiful omg). 

So there we were, sitting at the bus stop, chatting with a few locals about Blue Mountains and how to get there, while eating our Subway. There's Coles if you walk further in front, in case you need a toilet break (or happened to get lost from walking too much further, just remember if you walk pass Coles, walk back. You're going too far.)

What Veyana and I did was that we got down at Scenic World, took the Railway (It's the steepest railway in Australia! I was super nervous when we were queuing up for the railway because I've always been afraid of roller coasters though I know it's not a roller coaster and Veyana was laughing at me the whole time, but when we both got onto the railway, our roles swapped hahaha. She was super nervous and I was like 'Oh cool! We can adjust our seats!' But the ride down was quite scary especially at the beginning.), then walked the Walkway passing through the miner's hut towards the Cableway station, rode the cableway back to where we started, then took the Skyway to walk the cliff walk. I have to tell you something though, STAND IN THE MIDDLE ON BOTH THE SKYWAY AND CABLEWAY IF YOU CAN! YOU CAN SEE EVERYTHING DOWN BELOW! 

Sorry about the caps, I get excited every time I tell this story to people.

We both didn't knew we'd end up walking this much. It's funny how we both wore jeans with the thought of "the aircond in the train will be so cold" and not the weather outside. This was taken after we got down from the Skyway and walked to the Prince Henry Cliff Walk.

Beginning of the cliff walk.

Halfway there!

I cannot hide how happy I was to finally be at the Echo Point!

The view was just extraordinary, everything was so worth it. Like the Chinese proverb said, 'after bitter comes sweet'. Those long walks and getting lost was so worth it when I saw the view. 

Bought a cup of lime smoothie after the long walk.

That day in Blue Mountains is a day I can never forget. We both got very lost and Katoomba with no one we know there, us learning to figure things out (the bloody useless map), the stupid decision to wear a pair of jeans, the 45 minutes walk turned into an 1 hour 15 minutes walk because we stopped almost every 2-3 minutes just to take pictures, being so dehydrated... But the sense of achievement from seeing the Three Sisters far far away from the Cableway to seeing it closer and closer every time until we walked to the Echo Point was just amazing. Blue Mountains has always been a place I wanted to visit since I was very young looking at the pictures my grandfather took while he was there. I can proudly tick off another achievement from my bucket list! 

"Where there is a will, there is a way. If there is a chance in a million that you can do something, anything, do it." -Pauline Kael