1st Solo Trip to Blue Mountains

Date : 18-20/12/2012
Location : Blue Mountains, Katoomba & Leura

Some people might be thinking what you wanna do there for a 3-day trip down to Katoomba at Blue Mountains all alone.
Well, I am doing what I like to do and as long as this makes me happy then I will go for it even on my own.
It's the beautiful and awesome scenery views that attract me to explore and venture into it.
When I was there seeing those creation created by our Creator, it really amazes me of the beauty of it.

Day 1 (18/12/2012)
Departed from house at noon to the train station for about a 2 hour and 20 minute train ride to reach my destination.
Checked in at Metropole Katoomba, although it's not a 5 star hotel but it's more than enough for me as long as all the basics are there in my single bed room (bed, en-suite toilet, mini bar, kettle).

Some photos taken of the room and around the hotel...

Took a short walk in Katoomba town in the evening and took some photos around...

It was a relaxed first day as I just spent time studying the map on the route to be taken and planning on my schedule for the next 2 days.

An overall view map (taken from Blue Mountains Explorer Bus)

Day 2 (19/12/2012)
Started my adventure at 8am, took a 20-30 minute walk from Stop 1 to reach Stop 9 (map shown above).
Planned to walk there so that I will be able to catch the Scenic Skyway ride from Skyway Eastern Station (Stop 9) which starts operating at 9am to avoid queuing up in the crowds (if you are taking the Explorer Bus, the first bus trip will only starts at 9:45am).
Reached there early and took some photos from the Cliff View Lookout point before boarding the Scenic Skyway.

Please refer to the map shown below for my journey taken around Scenic World (taken from Scenic World Map).

Took a ride on Scenic Skyway (from Stop 9) which is at 270m high and 384m across to Scenic World Top Station (Stop 12).
Reached at Scenic World Top Station and waited for about 20 minutes to take the Scenic Railway ride (only starts operating at 10am) which is a must do ride amongst all with 310m descent and at a steepness of 52 degrees.
After reaching at the valley floor from the Scenic Railway ride, did the Scenic Walkway before took a ride on the Scenic Cableway (510m descent from the top station) to get back to the top at the station and to proceed for my bushwalk from Stop 12 to Stop 14 (Three Sisters at Echo Point).

A close up view of the map (Stop 12 to Stop 9 using Prince Henry Cliff Walk route) used as a guide throughout my bushwalking of the day (taken from Blue Mountains Bushwalking Map).

Snippet of photos taken from the lookout point with the map as reference.

Panoramic view taken from Vanimans Lookout point...

Next walking trail was from Stop 9 to Stop 14 through bushwalking (W3) to reach Echo Point and view the iconic sculpture of Blue Mountains --> Three Sisters
Snippet of the walk through with photos and map as reference as shown below.

The uniqueness of Blue Mountains is the blue haze which makes it to be in a different hue and deeper than anywhere of the world.
This is mainly caused by the oil vapour emitted by Eucalyptus trees into the atmosphere along with water vapour droplets which scatter blue light more than any other spectrum colour.

Panoromic view taken from Echo Point @ Queen Elizabeth Lookout...

After spending some time viewing the amazing creation by our Creator and wonderland of Blue Mountains, continued bushwalking towards Leura Cascades (final point of the day at Stop 17).

Journey of the day ended at about 4:30pm and I hopped onto the bus at 4:40pm to get back to the hotel for a rest.
Kinda tiring though walking throughout the day and adventure to be continued the next day to complete the other part of Leura.

Day 3 (20/12/2012)
Checked out from the hotel at 9:30am and hopped onto the first bus trip of the day which departed from Stop 1 at 9:45am.
Initially, my plan was to just stopped at Stop 18 for a view of Gordon Falls.
The bus driver on duty of that first trip was very kind and gave me a suggestion to kick off at Everglades Garden (Stop 24) and I could take a walking trail to get back to Gordon Falls Lookout point passing by Pool of Siloam.
Thanks to him (Jimmy), that was a really good suggestion where I get to view more on my last day of the trip down there instead of my original plan.
As shown below is the snippet of my last bushwalking journey of the day (from Stop 24 to Stop 19).

Panoramic view taken from Gordon Falls Lookout point...

Ended my walk at Stop 19 which is near the NSW Toy & Railway Museum and hopped onto the Explorer Bus to get to Bygone Beautys (Stop 21) a.k.a. Treasured Teapot Museum at Leura Village.
It is the world's largest private teapot collection with more than 3000 teapots are on display with 3600 in the collection.
For Explorer Bus pass holder, a half price set of 1 teapot Devonshire tea with 2 scones and homemade strawberry jam and whipped cream.

After finished having the scones and Devonshire tea, I walked to Leura station.
The end of my first solo trip and journey exploring Blue Mountains at 3:29pm on board the train going back home.

*For more photos, kindly visit https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151291545060772.490335.644670771&type=1&l=642581f7a8