westsider

Can anyone recommend a tour company for a day trip to the Blue Mountains from Sydney? If they stop at the Featherdale Animal Park on the way to the Blue Mtns would be a plus...Thanks!

LaurenKahn1

When I was in Sydney recently, I simply took the train to Katomba. The rail folks will cell you a ticket that includes the hop on/hop off bus that goes to most of the places when you get there. It takes a whole day to do the train (2 hours each way from Sydney to Katomba) and the sites right around there.

I did not go to the Featherdale Animal Park on the way. By the way, if you want your photo taken with a koala and are in Australia for any length of time, you will find that that is available all over.

As a last resort, why not ask your hotel to recommend a tour. I read about ones that include a "photo with koala" stop, but I never really looked into them.

Orlando_Vic

From a previous post of mine:
"Here's a suggestion for the Blue Mountains! You can gain even more flexibility and save money by going on your own without a tour.

Simply go to the CountryLink window <http://www.countrylink.info/home> at Circular Quay and buy a CityRail Blue Mountains ExplorerLink ticket. This ticket provides return train transportation from Central Station to Katoomba and an all day 'get-on-get-off’ Explorer Bus tour to 30 locations through the mountains. Stops include the Three Sisters at Echo Point, Leura village, the Scenic Railway plus many others.

You can leave when you want, see what you want, stay as long as you want and then return when it is convenient for you. Trust me, it is not complicated and very easy to do."

LaurenKahn1

Which is exactly what I did.

Saltuarius

If you want to get away from the crowds and learn about the natural wonders of the area I suggest you contact Carol Probets http://www.bmbirding.com.au

drms

Sorry to hijack this post, but I am planning to do a day trip to the Blue Mountains via the train in October and was wondering how I would go about stopping by Featherdale on the way? Thanks!

LaurenKahn1

I cannot answer your question, but there is a terrific zoo right in the heart of Sydney called the Taronga Zoo. They even have an opportunity to have your photo taken with a koala. There are plenty of Australian animals there.

To get to Taronga Zoo, take the ferry from Circular Quay.

margo_oz

To get to Featherdale, you need to get off the train at Doonside (just past Blacktown) or Blacktown itself, and get a cab.

There may be buses, certsainly from Blacktown, but I can't recall the details.

I usually take overseas visitors to Featherdale - you get up close to some animals.

jasonhill

I recently did a trip to the Blue Mountains, it was a great day. The trip included pick up the CBD and return transfers at the end of the day. The following link is where i booked the experince http://www.godo.com.au/activity/FJTR107

Toucan2

I can second touring with Carol Probets. Just take the train to Katoomba, and she'll take you from there. Certainly you can see things on your own, and take the hop on/hop off. That's a great option. But if you do want a personalized experience, with someone who is really knowledgeable and will tailor to your interests, and is really quite pleasant to spend time with, you might also want to look into contacting Carol. Saltuarius put her link above. The only regret we had was not spending MORE time with her

Vivid01

Activity Tours, they stop at featherdale, great tour, river ferry on the way back to sydney.

jersey1977

sydney toys r us. stop at featherdale, small groups (we had only 13 on a 18 seat bus). And reasonable price of $83/pp including hotel pick up on boat ride back to Circular Quay. Good experience and we really dislike group tours for the most part.

jersey1977

errr that was "sydney tours r us".