Last weekend we escaped from the big city for a mini-break to the Blue Mountains. We have been wanting to go there since we arrived in Sydney, but have been pre-occupied with finding jobs and doing other city sightseeing stuff that it got put on the back burner. But after 3 months living in Sydney without leaving, we finally did it and it was fantastic. The Blue Mountains are only a 1.5 hour drive from Sydney, so it's easily accessible for a day or weekend trip. We stayed at Katoomba, in the youth hostel, which was a lovely old building which had a cosy old mountain retreat feel to it. There was a mixture of young/old guests, some with young families, and it had a really nice homely feel. As soon as we arrived we noticed something strange....the lack of traffic noise and general city hustle and bustle. It was so nice to be in a quiet peaceful place with fresh air for a change!

After a quiet nights sleep we headed out to Echo Point, just down the road from the hostel, to see the Three Sisters, a rock formation at the edge of the Jamison Valley. We got there before the coach loads of tourists arrived and spent about 20 minutes there admiring the lovely view of the mountains and surrounding area. We then did a 30 minute cliff top walk to Scenic World, where you can take various modes of transport around the area to the valley floor, stopping off at Katoomba Falls along the way. We took a cable car across the valley to the other side where had a nice cup of tea and admired the view. We then took the railway down to the valley floor. It is the steepest railway in the world, and it was definitely a freaky experience! All the way down we kept thinking we would fall forwards, it was that steep. Recommend it though! We did a 1-hour bush walk when we arrived at the bottom, stopping to have lunch halfway along.

We took the cable car back up to the valley top, and went back to the Three Sisters to do a short walk down some steps to the first 'sister' where you can admire the view of the valley from next to the rocks themselves. It was a very steep and rickety staircase, called The Giant Staircase, and it actually leads all the way down to the valley floor, (but we didn't go that far...our legs couldn't take it!). We then set off in our car to see some vista points that came recommended in our guidebooks (Evans Lookout, and Sublime Point). Definitely worth seeing if you have a car and can drive the 20 minutes or so to get there. That evening we arrived back at the hostel feeling very tired, and in need of a cup of tea and some decent grub. We went out for an indian! We came home satisfied and ready for bed, at 9pm....party animals or what....!

Unfortunately we had to leave the next day to go back to Sydney but we visited Leura Cascades, Gordon Falls Lookout and Wentworth Falls on the way home (despite the rain). For lunch we ate at the Common Ground Cafe in Katoomba, a really sweet cafe with gorgeous wood carvings and a warm cosy atmosphere (a must-visit place to eat! Have the Harvesters Breakfast or the blueberry pancakes, absolutely delicious). We didn't really want to leave the Blue Mountains, we really enjoyed our weekend and the idea of going back to a big city didn't seem that appealing. It felt good to be on the road again!