I have found a real love of being in the open, particularly that moment when you look out at or from a mountain. The beauty, be it countryside, trees or even a cityscape just blows me away and I can’t believe I get to look at it.
For that reason we always take our visitors to Mount Coot Tha to show them Brisbane and me and the Aussie have even climbed that mountain!
When we were in Sydney it was my dads 70th birthday. We weren’t really sure what to do for the day and he didn’t really have anything in mind. My brother and Mum had both been recommended that’s trip to the Blue Mountains was well worth the travel.
We thought we might fancy the trip so set about trying to find the best way there and so we could see what was on offer. There are a number of organised trips but they were either very expensive or not practical mobility wise for us.
In the end I worked out the train timetable from Central Station and that if we bought Opal Cards the travel was relatively inexpensive. Once there we could use the hopper bus service and travel around the circuit including a trip to Scenic World.
So before 8am on the 10th July we set off for the train station, loaded up our brand new Opal cards and hopped on the train to Katoomba. The journey took about two hours as we zipped through Sydney and out into the countryside.
Upon arrival we popped into the conveniently located, just outside the train station, Blue Mountain Explorer Bus to buy tickets. I had previously messaged the company to ask about a wheelchair access bus and they assured me they would make sure the bus was running.
Whilst buying tickets I asked about disabled access and was told a bus had been put on to make sure we could travel easily. The lady in the office was fantastic and couldn’t help us more. I think we would all highly recommend the service.
Armbands for Scenic World safely secured and guide books for tickets in hand we hopped on the bus. The driver took time to ask which country we were each from and proceeded to welcome everyone in their own language.
As we took off from the stop he explained the best places to stop depending on what you wanted to see and explained how the bus system worked.
We stopped at Scenic World and with our armbands on walked straight past the queues. We initially stopped for breakfast and to enjoy the stunning views from the cafe area. It truly was magnificent.
Refuelled and ready for action we hopped on the cablecar and zipped across the gorge looking out at the 3 Sisters. From the other side there are two small walks, one down to a waterfall and one out to look at the gorge which we enjoyed.
Next up we caught the cable car back and got chatting to the lovely guys operating the cable car. They really took the time to listen and identified it was dads birthday. On our return journey he was treated to a rendition of happy birthday by the whole car!
It was then time to make a move and we hopped on the next bus, this time with a different driver. He stopped off on the way at a beautiful spot to tell us about the location and mountains. I commented he had the best job in the world and he agreed!
Our final destination was the train station and Sydney. When we got back we went out for dinner at a really nice pub/restaurant next to our hotel. The night was topped off with birthday cake and bed!
I think we all fell asleep easily that night!