August 13, 2024

Day 5 in Sydney Australia: Blue Mountain Tour

It’s been a month since my last travel blog post so let me continue my Sydney Australia series. We already finished our Sydney Big Bus Tours so we dedicated our fifth day to Blue Mountain. This is outside Sydney so some people spend a night here but since we had limited time, we can only do a day trip. 


As per my research, here is the train schedule from Central Station to Katoomba Station. 

6:23 AM 
6:53AM 
7:23AM 
8:18AM 

The travel time is almost two hours and the expected arrival time at Katoomba Station is 8:21AM. We wanted to ride the first train so we needed to be at the Central Station before 6:23AM so we left as early as 5:30AM. 


We just walked to Museum Train Station from Hyde Park Inn, rode the train, and got off at Central Station. Then we just looked for the train platform for the Katoomba Station. When we arrived at Platform 6, the train was already there. I was a little bit surprised when I saw the train because it looked old compared to the trains that we tried in Sydney. 




After two hours, we arrived at Katoomba Station and went straight to the Blue Mountains Explorer Bus office to claim our tickets. You won’t miss this because it is just outside the train station. I purchased Lyrebird Pass at Klook which includes the Hop On Hop Off Bus and Scenic World Tickets. I just presented my voucher and received my guidebook where my name was written and the number of persons. The guidebook is our bus ticket. 




When we left Sydney the temperature was 15C degrees while Katoomba was 6C degrees so we wore layered clothes but when we arrived at Katoomba, we still felt cold. Good thing there is CafeXpresso, where we purchased our hot drinks. The price of the drinks ranges from 3.50AUD to 6AUD. 


The first bus trip is at 9AM and the interval is every hour. There are 37 bus stops so just press the button if you want to get off the bus. We alighted at Bus Stop 11 where the Scenic World is. Our ticket includes unlimited rides to Scenic Skyway, Scenic Railway, Scenic Cableway, and Scenic Walkway but unfortunately, during our trip, Scenic Skyway was closed for scheduled maintenance so we were not able to experience it. Aside from that, Honeymoon Bridge, Bus Stop 8, Walk 9, Walk 13, Walk 14, and Walk 18 were also closed. 


We arrived at 9:20AM but the Scenic World opening hours are between 10AM to 4AM so we waited for more than 40 minutes. I am afraid of heights but I had to face my fear at sayang ang bayad. 

Scenic Skyway - the highest single-span cable car in the world 
Scenic Railway - the steepest incline passenger train in the world 
Scenic Cableway - largest and steepest cable car in the Southern Hemisphere 
Scenic Walkway - longest elevated boardwalk in Australia. 



Aside from these 4 attractions, you can also visit Katoomba Coal Mine and Dinosaur Valley



We spent most of our time at the Scenic World and only walked to some tourist spots. But when we got tired we rode the bus again to continue our bus tour. 






We hopped off at Leura Railway Station to eat our late lunch but changed our mind because we wanted to go back to the hotel already. Travel time is 2 hours so we wanted to be back in Sydney before the peak hours. We used the Opal Machine to top up our cards, the minimum top-up is 40AUD for adults and 20AUD for kids. 


Good thing that we brought bread, pastries, chocolates, and drinks during our Blue Mountain trip so we did not feel hungry. We arrived at Museum Station before 5PM and went straight to David’s Kitchen so we could eat heavy meals. Rice is life.

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