Although Sydney is an awesome city, sometimes it's nice to just get out of the concrete jungle and head to a real jungle. Two hours out of Sydney by train are the Blue Mountains, so named because of the plethora of Eucalyptus trees who's leaves, when heated, exude eucaluptus oil in the form of a vapour which, when hit by the sun, produces a blue hue. The vapour is also extremely volatile, which leads to the area being prone to bushfires. The interesting thing is that the flora has actually adapted to the frequent fires such that some seeds actually require fire or smoke to germinate (or so our trusty guide would have us believe!). The mountains are a World Heritage site and also home to about 20 000 people (I guess they have cottages).
We took a day trip out there and had an absolute blast. We got to ride a super steep railcar that used to be used by coalminers in the region, and walks into the jungle for a great bushwalk. There were cascades and waterfalls and amazing vistas across the so called "Great Dividing Range". It seemed to be a bit like a small Grand Canyon, only with a rainforest instead of desert.
(See the photos!)
