Craig

We are planning a trip for next September that will take us to Sydney for one week and then on to Bali for a few days to visit with friends. We arrive by air early on a Friday morning and depart by air late afternoon the following Thursday. I think I have a pretty good idea of what we want to see in Sydney but am wondering about the logistics of a trip to the Blue Mountains.

We don't want to do a tour, so it seems our best option is to rent a car and drive. While in the Blue Mountains, we would like to see the major sites (Wentworth Falls, etc.), do a couple of hours hiking, explore Katoomba and possibly visit the Jenolan Caves. A stop at the Featherdale Wildlife Park on the way to or on the way back would be a plus. I am thinking that with a 2-night stay, we could accomplish this and not give Sydney short shrift. I'd like to time it so that we depart from Sydney some time on Tuesday and return directly to the airport on Thursday (we would need to be there at about 3 PM for our international flight).

Can anyone recommend a logical itinerary for this? Note that rising at the crack of dawn to accomplish any of this is not an option (we are on vacation, after all...).

tripplanner001

Craig, your plans make a lot of sense. While you will not be able to see all of Sydney in 4-5 days, you will be able to get a good overview. I encourage you to get an all-day or even all-week public transport pass that will allow you to ride all the buses, trains, and most importantly ferries all over the city. Spend at least a full day getting on and off ferries around the harbor to see the city and surrounding areas from various vantage points. If you like hiking / walking and good scenery there are many trails you can do; I especially like the Spit to Manly walk.

Regarding the Blue Mountains, many see it on a day tour, including me on my last trip there a few weeks ago, but a couple of nights will allow you to unwind a bit and see things on a more relaxed pace. Good places to stay are Katoomba or Leura as they are centrally located and give you the most dining options; I like the Carrington Hotel, a turn-of-the-century property in Katoomba a short walk from the train station. With a car you can certainly visit Featherdale on your way to the Blue Mountains; you can have breakfast there and it won't be as crowded in the morning (unless you're there when one of the tour groups are there). The Jenolan Caves are further out so you would not to factor in the time to get there and back, but is doable with two nights in the area if you don't mind some driving. I also recommend a stop at Euroka Clearing in the late afternoon; you'll be able to see kangaroos in the while if you're lucky.

I'm putting together my trip report for my journey in Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand, which you can follow over on the Asia forum, so stay tuned for my observations on Sydney and the Blue Mountains in the coming days. In the meantime, please ask any questions that come to mind as you do your research. I absolutely love Australia, and am happy to help any way I can.

Hope some of this is helpful.

tripplanner001

One more thing: arriving at the airport around 3 means that you are really looking at leaving the Blue Mountains around noon, to give you plenty of time in case you run into heavy traffic. Depending on what time you leave Sydney on Tuesday, you're looking at one full day in the mountains and perhaps one or two half days.

Craig

Maybe this forum is just not that active, but topping anyway...

Toucan2

I'll add a few notes about logistics. We drove back to Sydney last Friday through the Blue Mountains (we had actually been a bit further out, in the Capertee Valley).

There was a LOT of roadwork from about Blackheath on. We had stopped at Evans Lookout, and from there it took us about an hour just to get to the Anzac bridge.

I would hope by September that the roadwork might be done or abated, but just check on conditions before you make your plans to return directly to the airport from the Blue Mountains. Roadwork means one lane each way on a very busy highway.

The Jenolan Caves were farther out than I had thought since people seem to say Blue Mountains and the Jenolan Caves in the same breath. So as tripplanner said, consider that distance into your plans.

Bokhara2

I'd go up via the Bells Line of Road, stop in at the Mt Tomah Botanic Gardens.

You can go to Featherdale that way too. Take the m2, then M7 & continue on Richmond Road to its continuation as Bells Line of Road near Kurrajong.

Come back to the airport via the M4 through the Blue Mountains towns.

Allow plenty of time for the return. It's listed as 90 minutes but I'd allow double and have a meal/ walk/ break around the airport or Brighton Le Sands if I were really early.

sartoric

Would really love to help you out Craig, as I have vicariously travelled on many of your trips. Sorry, last time I visited the Blue Mountains was 30 years ago.

Happy to help with areas about 1000 kms north of Sydney, only 1 hour by jet !

Greetings from the Gold Coast and the sluggish Australia Pacific forum.

margo_oz

I second the suggestion of going up via the Bells Line of Road, and stopping at Mt Tomah Botanic Gardens.

The restaurant there has been taken over by Sean Moran, of Sean's Panaroma, North Bondi. We had a great meal there last weekend.