Blue Mountains National Park in Australia– one of the most picturesque and therefore unforgettable places in the world!
Blue mountains are called because an unusual optical phenomenon is observed there: due to the refraction of light, numerous drops of eucalyptus oil from the huge eucalyptus trees that cover the mountains in abundance give them a delicate blue color, a kind of haze that makes the mountain range look like some kind of fantastic mirage .
Part of the famous Great Dividing Range, the Blue Mountains are just an hour's drive west of Sydney and are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Myself Blue Mountains National Park was founded in 1958. The area of the park is 97 thousand hectares.
Blue Mountains National Park
The uniqueness of the Blue Mountains lies, first of all, in their composition of rocks, which is atypical for the Great Dividing Range. Added to this was the abundance of rain and the activity of surface waters, common for such steep and rather high mountains. Short, stormy rivers running down to the Tasman Sea have carved out narrow, deep gorges in them. The highest point in the Blue Mountains is Mount Victoria (1111 metres).
The park's flora includes characteristic tree species of the Australian rainforest: blue eucalyptus, tree ferns, acacia, mint tree. The fauna includes: gray kangaroo, mountain kangaroo (wallaroo), swamp wallaby, brush-tailed and ring-tailed possums and other marsupials. There are many exotic birds here (red fantail, Wong's pigeon, Crimson's prosella, yellow flycatcher, cave warbler, which lives only in the Blue Mountains, and others)
Blue Mountains National Park Three Sisters
For tourists in Blue Mountains National Park All conditions have been created! There are several observation platforms in the park, from where you can enjoy breathtaking views of the valleys below and the famous rocks The Three Sisters(giant rock formations from Aboriginal legends) and Echo Gorge.
In the village of Katoomba you can ride along the world's steepest railway or over the cliffs in a cable car. Here you can see Australia's tallest waterfall. Nearby you can go down to the Jenolan Caves. These are the most famous limestone grottoes in Australia. One of the nine caves contains an abundance of magically illuminated limestone stalactites and stalagmites. Activities also include mountain biking, long and short hikes, horseback riding or jeep rides. There are cafes and kiosks along the tourist routes.
Blue Mountains National Park open from 8 am to 6-7 pm 365 days a year. A ticket for an adult costs an average of $11, children are admitted free.
Blue Mountains National Park website http://www.visitbluemountains.com.au/
Visit Blue Mountains National Park It’s very simple - book a tour to Australia with the Australian Vacations company. An excursion to the national park is included in the tour program for the May holidays.
One of Australia's untouched natural wonders is the Blue Mountains National Park. This is part of the country's vast mountain system, which stretches along the entire eastern and southeastern coasts and covers an area of 97 thousand hectares.
What are the Blue Mountains famous for?
The area got its name due to the huge number of eucalyptus forests growing on a mountain range formed millions of years ago. Eucalyptus trees, many of which are already has passed two thousand years, release billions of oil droplets into the air - sunlight is refracted in them and forms bluish haze, mysteriously hovering over the mountain range.
The Blue Mountains are not mountains in the conventional sense of the word. There are more beautiful plateaus and cliffs, and the highest point is Mount Victoria, rising 1300 m above sea level. Most of the park is occupied by deep green valleys with many lakes and rivers, where amazing and exotic animals live and rare plant species grow.
More than one million hectares of sandy plateaus, dissected in all directions by gorges, ledges, deep canyons and interspersed with many crystal clear streams and waterfalls - both menacingly growling and peacefully gurgling. All this together creates a majestic and breathtaking landscape that you can enjoy for hours.
The vegetation of the National Park is mainly represented by eucalyptus trees (there are more of them here) 90 species!), mint trees, tree ferns, acacia.
Many of these plants have been growing here since the time of dinosaurs, which is why the landscape of the Blue Mountains seems so primitive and even fabulous.
In the National Park you can see representatives of more than 400 species of rare animals, including the yellow-tailed flying squirrel, tiger koala, long-nosed kangaroo mouse and, found only here, the water lizard. In addition, there are many exotic birds that are practically not afraid of humans: Wong's pigeon, red fantail, yellow flycatcher, cave slav and many others.
What can you see?
Despite the seeming primitiveness and wildness of the place, the Blue Mountains are a completely habitable place in which there is a lot of restaurants, cafes, there are sanatoriums and interesting excursions are conducted in various directions of the national reserve.
Particularly interesting are the excursions that are conducted at night: at sunset the mountains begin to glow with some kind of fantastic inner light, nature calms down, and only some primitive sounds and rustles become audible - all this creates a feeling of unreality and enchantment of what is happening.
The first routes along which tourists now travel in all directions were laid by the pioneers of Sydney, who stormed the peaks of the Blue Mountains to pave their way into the continent.
To fully enjoy the delights of the Blue Mountains, a tourist must:
Of course, the best way to travel through the Blue Mountains is on foot in order to fully experience the color and unforgettable atmosphere of pristine nature, deeply breathe in the clean mountain air filled with the vapors of eucalyptus trees, and see the amazing inhabitants of the Australian fauna.
But walking can be replaced by traveling by car, all-terrain vehicle, horses and bicycles, which are available for rent here. The roads of the Blue Mountains National Park are fully adapted for various types of transport and do not pose a danger to tourists.
Exotic and extreme entertainment is offered here rock climbing— experienced instructors conduct a rock climbing master class and take you to places that are inaccessible to an ordinary tourist. Extreme seekers are also offered a hike with the Bushmen with lessons in survival in the wild and a trip to wild caves of Kanangra.
At the end of the excursion day, you can relax in one of the cafes or restaurants, where you can watch kangaroos jumping out to graze in the clearings, lazy koalas climbing up trees to sleep, colorful cockatoos flying from branch to branch, and other representatives of the local fauna.
Note to tourists
A ticket to the Blue Mountains National Park costs approx. 11 dollars for adults (children – free). Opening hours: 365 days a year, seven days a week.
The average temperature in the park in winter (June, July, August) is about 4-7 degrees in the highlands and 16 degrees in the lower areas. In summer (December, January, February) - about 16-18 degrees in the highlands and up to 29 degrees in the lowlands.
On Saturdays in the Blue Mountains you can go to Markets- a day of sales, when you can buy antiques and handicrafts for a very inexpensive price.
The Blue Mountains are the most favorite place to visit not only for tourists from all over the world, but also for local residents who never tire of admiring this natural wonder again and again, discovering something new each time.
After staying a couple of days in Sydney and seeing its main attractions, on the third day we decided to go on a pre-planned excursion to the Blue Mountains National Park.
Of course, I really liked the city. It's pleasant and comfortable. But, unfortunately, we were not able to visit a single museum. And there are several of them and quite famous ones - Marine, Australian, Science, Justice and Police, Mint. There are several other small, but no less significant historical monuments. Australians love the word “Museum” and create them even in places where only an old cart or stagecoach from the 19th century can be exhibited. After all, there were no special rarities and works of art there 100-150 years ago. There were only kangaroos and naked aborigines around.
There is also a huge aquarium in Sydney. In addition, there are many interesting suburbs located along the rugged coastline. And, of course, there are many beaches where you can spend a lot of time fooling around - after all, we arrived in the summer “from December”. So two days in Sydney didn’t seem enough for us! But - we have a strict plan with booked air tickets, hotels and a travel schedule that began just a few days ago.
Excursion to the Blue Mountains
The tour started at 07:20 am from the Oz Experience Office, 804 George Street. Therefore, get up early again and take a taxi to the city center. Besides us, there were about 12 other tourists on the bus - various young people from Europe. Mostly, for some reason, girls.
The tourist brochure and guide informed us along the way that the Blue Mountains Park was established in 1959 and its area is now approximately 2481 km². It has several rivers - Wollangambe, Grose, Cox, Wollondilly and Nepean. If we are lucky, we will be able to see the animals that live in the park - kangaroos, koalas, dingoes, emus, foxes, stray cats and even horses. And from the picturesque places we will see the Three Sisters Rocks, Wentworth Falls and the Forest of Blue Eucalyptus. Super!
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Blue Mountains of Australia. From the Internet
After a couple of hours of driving deep into the mainland, we arrived at the outskirts of some village. The mountains are nowhere to be seen - all around is just plain. Leaving our bus on the outskirts of the village, the driver, who is also a guide, took us to the trail, and we began to go down!
We begin our descent into the Blue Mountains
What kind of mountains are these, I thought? Why the hell are we going down? But, after a couple of kilometers along the path going down, we came to a small two-cascade waterfall, Wentworth Falls, about three meters high. True, the upper cascade is a little dry. General rejoicing, photos like “me and the waterfall.” When, having descended another 100 meters, we reached the observation deck, we saw another “shore” of the mountains far ahead.
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Dali Blue Mountains
It became clear that the village, on the outskirts of which we left our bus, was located on a plateau. And everything fell into place. The mountains are a huge ravine or, if convenient, a canyon, with its hills, hills and lowlands, washed out in ancient times by streams of water.
In a geological sense, the Blue Mountains are a huge sandstone mountain plateau, rising higher and higher (due to sinking!) over the past three million years, in which deep and narrow gorges and valleys, steep cliffs, waterfalls and turbulent mountain rivers have formed . The elevation difference ranges from 1215 meters (Mount Werong) to 20 meters (Nepean River) above sea level.
The distances are hidden in a blue haze, which Australians believe is the evaporation of essential oils from eucalyptus trees. But where then did our expression come from: “and he rushed away from me into the blue distance”? We don't have eucalyptus forests. Most likely, this is just an ordinary physical atmospheric phenomenon in clear weather in the mountains, skillfully adopted by enterprising Australians. However, today we know these mountains under the name Blue Mountains.
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On the way back we follow a trail through a recently (last year?) burnt eucalyptus forest. Small bushes are damaged, the branches are black and practically without leaves, on large trees there is a lot of foliage, the grass cover is developed normally. There are still a lot of dry branches and leaves lying on the ground - there is still food for the fire.
Eucalyptus has shed its clothes
We approach our bus and move to the lunch place - a beautiful green lawn with tables and benches placed in different places.
It was Sunday and, of course, they were all busy. On some of them, tourists even lay down and rested.
Picnic and lunch spot in the Blue Mountains
They didn’t look for a new place and settled down right on the grass.
Lunch - meat, sausages, vegetable salads, bread, fruit, hot tea-coffee and water - was brought by our guide and laid out on folding tables taken out from the bus. Everyone stood in line, like in a restaurant, and took as much as they wanted. There was even an additive. After lunch we went to see another section of the Blue Mountains.
We descend again into the valley along the mountain path. It leads us to the high waterfall Katoomba Falls, falling from an almost hundred-meter height. The waterfall is thin - probably in the spring - in September, it is more spectacular. Then we approach a cliff, behind which the “blue” distances of the opposite “shore” of the mountains are again visible.
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Waterfalls in December are not very deep
On the left you can see interesting rock formations - the Three Sisters. There is a legend about them: one leader of the aborigines of the Katoomba tribe, who had three daughters, did not want to give them in marriage to representatives of another tribe, and the latter went to war against him. At a critical moment in the battle, seeing that it was heading towards their capture, he turned his daughters into three rocks, hoping to do the opposite after defeating the enemy. But, alas, he died, and the sisters Michni, Wimla and Gunnedu remained in the form of rock sculptures. Yes, whatever you say, it’s a beautiful legend. And these three rocks themselves are quite unusual in shape and greatly enliven the landscape.
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The famous Three Sisters rocks
Back up to the town of Katoomba we return on a unique lift - the steepest railway in the world, listed for this reason in the Guinness Book of Records. Its inclination is 52°! The coal that was mined here was once transported along it by trolleys. Now it consists of three low (130 centimeters) open carriages with seats that are lowered and raised by cables along rails. There was a lot of excitement, especially when we entered the dark and narrow tunnel.
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Escalator train to Catomba town
Basically, having written about the Blue Mountains and looked at the photographs taken, you begin to understand that there is nothing special to publish - everyone who has been here has the same photographs, taken from the same points - viewing platforms - these are “Three Sisters”, “ blue distances" and pathetic strings of waterfalls. Perhaps the previously unpublished “We and the Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains”
Yet I seem to have found something interesting, never published, but which thousands of people pass by in Katoomba - a curious monument to three sisters and, probably, their father.
This article will introduce readers to one of the most wonderful and beautiful national parks of exotic Australia, which have very important global significance. The new one is a magnificent landmark created by nature. Located on the border of the city limits of Sydney (Australia).
Blue Mountains: general information
The magnificent hills covered with forest offer unimaginably beautiful and exotic, breathtaking views of the cliffs and valleys. Here, any traveler can take an easy walk through the forest, capturing the amazing landscapes of the surrounding nature, or arrange a real adventure for themselves.
This national park is located in a state called New South Wales, located 100 kilometers from Sydney to the west. The height of some rocks is 1190 meters, and the gorges have depths of up to 760 meters.
Every year more than 3 million people visit this park. The most popular rock is called Three Sisters. Many romantic and intrepid travelers come here to enjoy horseback riding through the stunning sweeping valleys, mountain climbing, bush survival treks and caves in Kanangra Park. And all this is offered by the amazing Blue Mountains.
The Great Dividing Range houses this most wonderful corner of Australia.
Location and description of the mountains
This vast mountainous area of approximately 1400 sq. km located from Sydney, one and a half to two hours by car.
Many people associate the concept of “mountains” with snowy giant peaks, but the Blue Mountains are relatively low and are hills. Victoria (the highest mountain) rises at an altitude of 1000 m above sea level, and snow lies on it only for about 5 months a year.
And yet, like all of Australia, the Blue Mountains have their own unique charm and attract the attention of a huge number of tourists from many countries. And Sydney residents spend almost all their weekends in these wonderful places.
Blue Mountains National Park (Australia) covers an area of more than 1 million hectares. These are impassable canyons and many kilometers of rocky ridges, crossed by valleys and streams with amazing crystal clear water.
Origin of the name
The mountains got their name from the characteristic blue haze that hangs in the air almost all the time. It is because of it that the eucalyptus hills visible in the distance appear bright ultramarine.
The eucalyptus tree is the most common (almost the only) tree-like vegetation in Australia. Previously, such forest covered almost the entire territory of this continent, until farmers began to cut it down in order to free up land for economic activity.
The mountains (inconvenient areas for cultivation) have preserved eucalyptus forests. All the air here is saturated with particles of oil from this vegetation, which, in combination with dust and steam, scatter mostly blue rays (short-wavelength).
This is how these mountains became blue due to the presence of a correspondingly colored haze above them. Since eucalyptus forests are found everywhere in Australia, other peaks could well have had this name. And yet these are the only Blue Mountains on earth (Australia).
How to get there?
This unique place can be reached by car. In 1.5 hours from the Central Railway Station, trains will deliver you to the place itself. Thus, you can even take a 1-day walk and return the same way to Sydney.
Climate
A temperate climate reigns over almost the entire continent of Australia. The Blue Mountains are no exception. The temperature in the winter (June to August) in the highlands is approximately 5 degrees, and in the summer (December to February) it is about 18 degrees. A little lower, the air warms up to 16 and 29 degrees, respectively, in the winter and summer seasons.
Throughout Australia it rains with approximately the same frequency. Snow falls only in the highlands, although it is not uncommon to see frost in the lowlands in the mornings.
The climate here is quite comfortable for relaxation and living.
A little bit of history
Due to the inaccessibility of the terrain, the Blue Mountains presented an impassable barrier for researchers. It all started in 1770. At that time, for the first time in history, Captain Cook landed on the coast of a new unexplored continent, but going deeper into the forests turned out to be impossible.
It was only in 1813 that a small expedition led by Gregory Blaxland, William Charles Wentworth and Lieutenant Lawson was first able to cross the inaccessible mountain range, now called the Great Dividing Range. 7 people (researchers, servants), 4 horses and 5 dogs set off on a difficult journey in May 1813.
It was a very difficult journey due to insufficient equipment and a small supply of provisions. They were haunted by diseases and attacks by the aborigines. Having overcome the entire rigors of the hike, after 18 days the research scientists finally crossed the mountains and reached the valley.
The notches on the tree (west of Katoomba) made by the pioneering heroes are still preserved. Their names are immortalized in the names of peaks and some settlements.
Further development of the territory
After the successful completion of the expedition, widespread development of the territory began.
Engineer William Cox began building roads through the Blue Mountains in 1814. The builders were 30 prisoners, guarded by 8 employees. In just six months, a 100-mile road was built, allowing Governor Macquarie to make his first trip along it in April 1815. He founded several military posts in these places to protect against all kinds of attacks by the aborigines.
In the 1850s, Australia experienced a real gold rush. The Blue Mountains have lost their usual peace. With the discovery of gold veins, streams of adventurers poured into these territories. During this period there was an increase in Chinese emigration. Due to the increase in the number of buyers, they began to come to trade.
In 1867 the first railway was built from Sydney to Wentworth Falls.
The economic development of Australia was also facilitated by the discovery of a coal deposit in 1879 in Katoomba (from the name of the Aboriginal tribe that lived here in ancient times). A small town arose immediately, and today it is the main tourist attraction of the Blue Mountains. The famous Three Sisters peak is also located here.
Legend
The Blue Mountains (Australia) attract a huge number of tourists. An excursion to the Three Sisters rock plays a special role when visiting all the sights. Quite connected with her
In former times, there lived in the Katoomba tribe 3 sisters - three amazingly beautiful Aboriginal girls. Their names were Michni, Wimla and Gunnedoo. They had a father who was a sorcerer. It turned out that they all fell in love with 3 brothers from the nearby Nepean tribe. At that time, there were laws prohibiting marriage to young men from other tribes.
And so the brothers decided to gather their compatriots and declare war on the Katoomba tribe in order to capture the girls by force. A fierce battle took place between the troops of the two tribes, and luck was on the side of the Nepean army. The brothers were almost rejoicing in anticipation of their victory, but fate turned out completely differently.
Just before the battle, the father of three sisters, wanting to save his daughters from the consequences of war, brought them to the very top of the mountain and turned them into 3 rocks. He hoped to return them to their former appearance after the end of the war, but the sorcerer died on the battlefield.
Since then, no one has been able to disenchant the three sisters. These 3 rocks (with the names Michni, Wimla and Gunnedoo) still stand, waiting for their savior to turn into charming aborigines again.
In conclusion
Everything is fabulously beautiful, like the Blue Mountains, Australia. Reviews from travelers who have visited these unimaginably beautiful places are only positive and enthusiastic. Both nature and the flora and fauna amaze tourists with their unprecedented fabulousness and beauty.
It should be noted that the Blue Mountains region is included in the UNESCO list. The site includes 8 protected areas, the main value of which is that they personally demonstrate the development and wide diversity of Australia's eucalyptus forests.
Black Mountain - Kalkajaka, as the Australian Aborigines call it, is perhaps the most mysterious and frightening place in North Queensland. From the outside, the collection of huge blocks resembles a pile of coal that reaches the sky. Geologists believe that this massif is approximately 250 million years old. The mountain - the hardened magma was eroded, the granite blocks gradually collapsed, crumbling along the edges until they reached the size of the current blocks.
Historian Hans Looser from Cooktown is a real fan of the mysteries of Kalkajaki, although he would never be dragged into its underground galleries. All his life he collected Aboriginal myths and stories about Black Mountain, as well as the memories of eyewitnesses. One of the local legends, says Looser, says that the mountain is of man-made origin, and inside it is hidden an underground empire, ruled by reptilians - aliens from another planet, who are served by fish people...
Disappeared without a trace
The first disappearance of people in the mountain area was recorded in 1877, almost immediately after the establishment of a settlement of white people here. Postman Greiner, on horseback, was looking for a calf that had strayed from the herd. And the man, the horse, and the calf disappeared without a trace... A few years later, inside the mountain, fleeing from their pursuers, the escaped convict Jack Sugar Leg and his two friends hid. Nobody saw them again... 13 years after this, Constable Ryan from the Cooktown station chased the criminal, reached the foot of the mountain - and there he was...
In the 20s of the 20th century, two young European speleologists tried to explore the mountain. They did not return from the caves, nor did the two policemen who went in search of them... What happened to all these people? This mystery excited the Czech explorer Ivan Makerle, who organized an expedition to the outskirts of the Black Mountain.
Cave labyrinths
Mackerle and his comrades set up camp near the mountain. At the same time, part of the research group remained at the hotel and maintained contact with them in case of unforeseen circumstances. The Czechs moved along the bed of a dry river, which led them to a gloomy, scary place. The shadow of the gnarled trees covered the sky, there were dusty bushes and withered flowers all around, and black shiny blocks towered menacingly overhead... By evening it quickly got dark, as is usually the case in the tropics. Suddenly a strong wind arose, and the people took refuge in the tent... They were awakened by strange sounds. At first they heard a stone rolling from the cliff right above them... Then it was as if something began to slowly slide towards them from the mountain... The researchers thought it was some kind of animal, but soon it seemed to them that they heard the sounds of the footsteps of a man heading towards tent... The beam of a flashlight snatched from the darkness a shapeless dark mass that swayed in front of a gloomy wall of black bushes and trees... However, it soon dissipated. There was silence. It was not possible to find any traces of the night guest, and the people returned to the tent...
The next morning they began to look for the entrance to the bowels of Kalkajaki. This was easily accomplished: the entire mountain was riddled with failures. Some passages stretched only a few meters deep, others were lost in the darkness...
Mackerle and his companions threw a rope and began to descend through one of the holes. They found themselves in a spacious room, from which corridors branched off in all directions. We decided to start with the widest one, running diagonally. After walking about a dozen meters, the researchers found themselves in another dark room, from which four corridors led. The first two turned out to be dead ends. In the third, we first had to crawl, and then a rather high, human-sized tunnel opened up...
To be able to find their way back, people marked the path with a climbing rope. The tunnel led straight and was easy to follow. Then there was a sharp turn, and the vault above their heads dropped. Suddenly a huge bat darted towards the walkers. There were quite a lot of these creatures hanging on the ledge and swaying monotonously. Unfortunately, it turned out to be impossible to move on.
A huge block that had once fallen from the ceiling was blocking the passage. As Mackerle squeezed through the crack underneath, a large flat stone swayed treacherously under his feet. He almost slipped down, but miraculously avoided falling into the abyss... Over the next few days, the researchers returned to the caves more than once, but soon realized that it would take a lot of time to examine the complex underground system of passages.
A Czech group has explained the mysterious disappearances of people in Kalkajak. In the labyrinth of countless underground corridors, it is easy to get lost, get injured, get caught in a landslide... The mysterious sounds that sometimes come from the mountain range can be produced by falling stones, wind, or even rock ruptures caused by sudden temperature changes. However, Ivan Makerle could not explain one mystery. Who appeared near the researchers' tent at night? Maybe it really was an alien?
Rainbow Serpent
There is other evidence of anomalous phenomena in the Black Mountain region. Pilots flying over it reported the occurrence of unexplained turbulence, and problems with navigation instruments were also observed. People heard strange noises, some groans and roars.
Australian ufologists believe that under the mountain there is a portal leading to the underground world, where monsters resembling lizards live. The Aborigines did not call them aliens, they called them demons or ghosts. The tale of the rainbow serpent holds a special place in Australian folklore. As a rule, he punished those who committed a bad act. Sometimes he simply swallowed people, sometimes he wreaked havoc in the area. The aborigines consider him an ancestor and benefactor, and the huge Kalkajaka Mountain is his home, his permanent home. In order to ward off evil forces from the mountain, the aborigines hold a special sacred ceremony. They believe that the rainbow snake, smelling the smoke, understands that friends have come to visit it.
Proponents of paleocontacts have their own point of view: the rainbow snake is a biological creature. Locals observed the flights of an alien spaceship, from which deadly radiation emanated, because many died after seeing it. Another of the alleged reasons for the disappearance of people in the Black Mountain area may be due to the fact that a gold deposit was found nearby. It was discovered on the Palmole River by explorer William Ham in 1872. Obviously, the situation around the mine was not the safest.
