Blue Mountains National Park

I journeyed up to Blue Mountains National Park a week ago Saturday. The park is roughly a two hour drive inland from Sydney, further into the heart of New South Wales.  They are called the "Blue Mountains" for a good reason...they stunningly sit in a haze of blue! The reason for this? Eucalyptus trees. The mountains are completely covered in them. The leaves of eucalyptus trees are incredible oily and this oil evaporates and combines with dust and water vapor in the air creating a gorgeous blue haze over this impressive mountain range.

I visited many of the popular tourists lookouts along with exploring some trails down the sides of the mountains into the dense sub-tropical rainforest made of up primarily eucalyptus trees. Flocks of cockatoos created quite noisy conditions at times and they called to each other from their perches high in the canopy.

The waterfalls in this park are absolutely stunning. I will reiterate for dramatic effect: the waterfalls in the Blue Mountains are INCREDIBLE. Some look so unreal that it is hard for your brain to comprehend that you are seeing actual nature as opposed to a fabricated scene from the movie "Avatar".

To top it all off I got to ride the world's steepest railroad...and yes, I almost pooped my pants out of fear. Okay, not really. But it was steep! Coal used to be mined out of the mountains and a track was built up the side of a near-vertical portion of the mountain to haul coal cars up. Later, after the coal mining industry left the area, a passenger car was added to allow hikers an easy ride back to the top of the mountain rather than having to hike all of the way back to the top after descending.