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Popular Things To Do | Other Things To Do Tips | All Tips (44) A great climb in the beautiful mountains!!
The descent from the Golden Stairs carpark is fairly steep and technical- no grand staircase of anything like that which the name might suggest. It's a rocky, muddy descent with 2-3 sections of metal stairs. It keeps dropping and dropping.. Eventually you reach a T junction with a good, flat trail.
Theres a big sign right opposite, which points left to the Scenic Railway and right to Solitary and the Ruined Castle.
The climb up to the ruined castle is a steep one, but the views are stunning.
Make sure you pack lots of water and a tasty lunch to enjoy whilst looking over the scenic view of the mountains.
Need to be physically fit, as it is not an easy climb.
Stunning scenery!!! Leave a Comment Directions: Follow the signs to Scenic Railway, continue along Narrowneck and head down the dirt road until you reach the Golden Staircase carpark.
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At a height of nearly 1000 metres, The Three Sisters is a prominent and ancient geographical feature which is around 300 million years old, formed by the gradual erosion of the sandstone.
The Legend...
The Aboriginal dream-time legend has it that three sisters, 'Meehni', 'Wimlah' and Gunnedoo' lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe.
These beautiful young ladies had fallen in love with three brothers from the Nepean tribe, yet tribal law forbade them to marry.
The brothers were not happy to accept this law and so decided to use force to capture the three sisters causing a major tribal battle.
As the lives of the three sisters were seriously in danger, a witchdoctor from the Katoomba tribe took it upon himself to turn the three sisters into stone to protect them from any harm. While he had intended to reverse the spell when the battle was over, the witchdoctor himself was killed. As only he could reverse the spell to return the ladies to their former beauty, the sisters remain in their magnificent rock formation as a reminder of this battle for generations to come. Leave a Comment Address: Echo Point, Off Great Western Highway, KatoombaDirections: Follow signs from Great Western Highway at Katoomba. 1 hour drive from Sydney
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If you are one of the lucky few who visit Katoomba on the Saturday closest to the winter solstice (usually around June 22) you will be able to see or take part in the Winter Majic festival parade, and then walk up and down Katoomba Street buying handcrafted oddities from one of the streetside stalls while listening to music from one of the local bands. Leave a Comment Address: Katoomba StreetDirections: Get off the train Walk out the exit on the south side .
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Aboriginal legend says these were the daughters of an ancient Katoomba leader, who turned them to stone so that they would not be captured during a battle with a neighbouring tribe, unfortunately the leader was killed in the battle so his lovely daughters still stand here today
They are a stunning sight, they stand over 900metres tall and can be viewed from numerous places in the Blue Mountain National Park, but the closest place to see them is from the viewing platform at Echo Point Leave a Comment Address: Echo Point Road, KatoombaDirections: Echo Point is well signposted, turn off Gang Gang Street onto Lurline Street
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In 1884, Katoomba was a small little mining village, and its main mine was deep in the heart of the Blue Mountains. This mine was responsible for 20,000 tons of coal that year, and it came with some significant challenges. How to haul the coal up to the top of the valley was the key concern, so they added a "skip" to carry the coal up. As the mine began to produce less and less, this area was used to showcase some of the lower valley, and hikers would hike down to the bottom and complain about the hike back up, sometimes begging the miners to jump on the skip. As money started being exchanged for these rides... an idea popped up. Charging to use the skip on the off days for the mine.
Out of this came Scenic World! The railway is now considered the steepest incline railway in the world. For more information, check out the website! Leave a Comment
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Jenolan Caves offer guided tours into their well preserved caves. Guides are knowledgable and like most tour guides I have come across, they know too much about too much.
The caves were very impressive but I could not but help feel like a tourist as we were herded from cave to cave gripping safety rails treading patiently along the cement pathways through these limestone wonders. There is an Adventure Caving offer which appeals to me more so than the 'guided tour' I will go back to try this.
I purchased an Explorers Underworld ticket for AUD$29.50 which gave me access to 2 guided cave tours. The Lucas Cave and The Orient.
The Lucas Cave is 860m in length and takes 1.5 hours to complete. It contains the highest and the largest chambers at Jenolan.
The Orient was only 470m in length but also took 1.5 hours to explore. It's rich colours and the massive extent of it's formations were a lot prettier than The Lucas.
I strongly advise to book your tour and get on it early especially for those tours that cater for large amounts of people. The Lucas Cave can have up to 75 people per tour. THIS WOULD BE HELL. We had about 20 people and it was more than enough. If you book your tour for the morning you should be ok.
From Sydney, take the M4 Motorway travelling west through the Blue Mountains, Katoomba and Mt. Victoria on the Great Western Highway. Shortly after Victoria Pass, the Jenolan Caves turnoff is found just past the village of Hartley. Turning left, this road passes through Hampton and finally Jenolan Caves. Leave a Comment Address: Blue MountainsPhone: 02 6359 3911Directions: Sydney To Jenolan Caves Via M4 Motorway & Great Western Highway is 275km and under normal traffic conditions should take 2.5 hours to reachWebsite: http://www.jenolancaves.org.au
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more of a white knuckle ride than a trip down a mountain, the Scenic Railway is actually a fernicular. it travels at 4 metres per second and is the worlds steepest incline railway, its maximun grade is over 50 degrees, and it drops down 415 metres to the well signposted boardwalk in the Jameson valley
the train was originally built in the late 19th century to transport coal which was for many years mined in the valley
the train, which holds over 80 passengers travells up and down every ten minutes, you can choose to travel just by train or by a combination of train and the Sceniscender cable car Leave a Comment
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on the top floor of the Three Sisters Heritage Plaza is the World Heritage Exhibition, there is a lift available or you can take the stairs,
there is lots of information about this areas geology, fauna and flora, including several stuffed bird and animal exhibits
the exhibition is small but well laid out and interesting, and makes a great place to shelter from the rain on a very wet day ! the staff are very helpful too
admission costs 4AUD, children under 5 are free, and the exhibition is open every day except Christmas day Leave a Comment Address: 35 Echo Point Road, KatoombaDirections: top floor of the Three Sisters Plaza
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this is a great cable car, you get wonderful views all around as the windows are down to the floor
it goes down 220 metres into the valley and is suitable for wheelchair access, the journey down takes approximately three minutes, and it is Australias steepest passenger carrying cable car
you can walk along the boardwalk at the bottom to the Scenic Railway to return if you wish Leave a Comment
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With only an hour to check out Scenic World, Sarah and I had to make a mad dash throughout the Katoomba portion of the Blue Mountains National Park canyon. Once we took the railway down to the bottom, we had 35-40 minutes left, and did not really get to visit this as extensively as I would have liked. Turpentine trees, termite mounds, and tons of discarded mining equipment pieces are what welcome you to the bottom. It is however one of the most beautiful views of a "rainforest" I have been to so far. I think on our next trip, I would definitely plan for 2 hours to search this area! Leave a Comment
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on March 31, 2005
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