Hello from Scenic World in Katoomba. The three small peaks above Beverly’s head are called “The Three Sisters,” one of the top landmarks in the Blue Mountains.

    A big attraction at Scenic World is its cable car and incline railway, which take visitors from the top down to the bottom of the valley. We took the incline railway down and the cable car up … twice.

    This picture is of the incline train leaving the lower rail station.

    Two things to note. One, note that even the loading platform is slanted. Look at the stairs. And two, note how steep the track curves upward as the train leaves the station.

    At its steepest, the track is at 52°. Scenic World claims this is one of the steepest inclined railways in the world.

    On our second trip down, we got seats in the third row of the front car. We had a great view down our 52° slope as we went down.

    I shot a 1.5-minute video of our trip down. Let me know if you want to see it.

    Above, did you notice the nice rail cars we rode in as we went down?

    If you came here as a tourist in 1933 and took the incline railway, this is the car you would have ridden in!! Don’t believe it? They had pictures. Men in their suits and women in their fancy dresses, riding in that little thing.

    The railway was initially built in the late 1800s to carry coal carts up from the mine at the bottom.

    There are extensive trails and paths throughout the canyon floor.

    Going between the rail and cable car stations, they built an excellent elevated walkway.

    We considered one of the trails, but the stairs and elevations on it were too much.

    Going up, we took the cable car, giving us a smooth ride from the bottom up top again.

    Unlike riding the rails in the trees, in the gondola, we were well above, and the views were spectacular.

    In this picture, we are nearing the station at the top, and you can follow the cable down to see the tiny station at the bottom.

    Yesterday we visited the lovely Hydro Majestic Hotel. Today we visited another similar hotel in Katoomba called The Carrington. Both opened in the 1880s (we believe) and have probably been strong competitors since day 1.

    One thing we loved about both hotels was the effort they went through to retain the look and feel of the early 1900s everywhere you went.

    We had lunch at The Carrington in Champaign Charlie’s, Katoomba’s oldest cocktail bar.

    Day 2, Tuesday, the weather turned on us. Frequent rain showers plus high winds. We wanted to go out and see how bad it was, so we went to the next town, Leura. After walking through a bunch of cute shops in their historic downtown, we called it quits. After getting some groceries, we headed back to the B&B. The high winds, drizzle, and 12 degrees were too much. We didn’t bring enough clothing for that!

    Just before dark, the sky started to clear up, and we saw Mr. Sun for a little bit. Combine sun with rain showers, and you sometimes get beautiful rainbows.

    Day 3, Wednesday, the rain reduced to occasional showers, but the wind was worse: 30 gusting to 70. We headed out to the town of Blackheath and an area called Govetts Leap.

    Left, is a lovely waterfall coming down the cliff face. With the wind, there was a lot of mist flowing from it.

    Below, the view from the lookout was incredible.

    We were considering a walk on one of the many trails here, but just as we started, the skies opened up, resulting in a quick dash to the car.

    With the crazy wind, an indoor activity was needed. After lunch, we had arranged a tour of an old, classic luxury hotel, the Hydro Majestic. It opened in 1904, when fads among the rich included things like spas, and in the case of this hotel, treatments like hydrotherapy, hence the hotel’s name.

    The original owner was quick to embrace new technology, so the hotel had electricity before the city of Sydney, cars to drive guests long before they were commonplace, telephones, etc.

    Fortunately, some of the crazy hydrotherapy treatments ended, and it remained simply a luxury hotel. During World War II, the armed forces took over the hotel as a hospital, where many of the injured from the South Pacific battles were treated, including a Navy man named John F. Kennedy.

The Billiard Room. In the early days, this was the lobby, but over time,
it became the place men would gather after dinner.

The Hotel Lobby. A bit distorted by the wide-angle lens, but it was spectacular.

This hallway was where the ladies gathered when the men were in the Billiard Room

This is the view from the rear of the hotel. The open fields below and in the middle were owned by the hotel. They grew much of their food there and transported it up to the hotel via a very small cable car.

And we end the visit to the Hydro Majestic with a “snack”, sitting with this phenomenal view!

    Last Thursday, our daughter, Krista, needed to go to Sydney for a work-related meeting. With her mobility challenges, there was no way she could do it on her own. John went with her as her “wheelchair chauffeur”. After leaving her at her meeting downtown at 10:00 am, the question for John was, what to do until the meeting finishes at 3:30? No problem. Downtown in a major city, there are lots of things to do.

London has a Hyde Park, so does Sydney

A history museum featured models of ships used to transport prisoners. This one, Lady Penrhyn, traveled to Australia in 1788 with 102 female convicts.

A statue from a random office building

It was a drizzly day, and John wanted a quiet spot to read his book.
He found one. This is the reading room in the State Library.

    Today is Monday, June 1st (Can you believe it, June already!!), and we headed off on a mini-vacation, just the two of us, to the Blue Mountains. They are called the “Blue” mountains because they are covered with eucalyptus trees, which locals call gum trees. (Hence the old song: “Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree”.) The trees drops a type of oil, which combines with dust and water vapor, creating blue haze that hovers over the mountain.

    Much like our BC Lower Mainland, the area around Sydney and a bit inland is basically flat. Then, boom, the mountains. The picture below was taken just as we entered the mountains. If you look just to the right of center, you might see some tall buildings … that’s downtown Sydney.

<— We checked into a B&B in Wentworth Falls and are going to use it as our home base during this trip.

Sit on that bed, look out the sliding door to the deck … that’s our view!!!

    You need a better look at the view. This is taken from our B&B patio.

    Come back to hear more about our trip to the mountains. Have a great day!!