Away From Four Marks
Monday 19 February 2024
17th - 19th - Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Saturday 17 February 2024
16th February - The Blue Mountains, News South Wales, Australia
Despite the antics of the evening before we were up early to meet the coach pick up at the Four Seasons. We made our way through the Sydney morning traffic and headed west out of the Sydney on the M4 and through the impressive Rozelle Tunnel. The weather had not be good on the previous day and today it was still overcast, but dry. There had been mist the day before and the mountains were not visible, so as we headed west it was fingers crossed.
Our first stop though was the Featherdale Wildlife Sanctuary, near Blacktown on the outskirts of Sydney. Similar to the sanctuary we visited in Hobart, this was more a zoo, specialising in Australian wildlife with over three hundred species on show, although the majority of these were birds.
The sanctuary was surrounded by a housing estate, which has probably grown up around the zoo. In the trees surrounding the car park were Eastern Cattle Egret.
Ii don't usually like photographing the animals in zoo conditions, but as was the case in Hobart there was the chance to capture animals that you would not see in captivity back home.
A Kangaroo with a young Joey.
Our fellow passengers had their chance to have their photo taken with the Koalas and to spend money in the gift shop before we continued on west towards the Blue Mountains, somewhere else I visited back in 2003, but failed to see anything due to the smoke coming from the bush fires.
We were heading to the Katoomba region, the easiest accessible part of the park for a day trip from Sydney. Our first stop was Lincoln's Rock. It was quite busy, but the valley was full of mist and we could not see a thing.
While lots of Korean and Japanese people took selfies with the mist behind them I was attracted to calls coming from the bush. The calls came close and revealed themself as a Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo.
With the mist not looking like it was going to clear any day soon we returned to the coach. Walking back I noticed something red in a bush and on closer inspection it turned out to be a Crimson Rosella.
The Blue Mountains is best known for its soaring sandstone ridges blanketed in native bushland. Nestled within the wilderness lie charming mountain towns, one of those was our next stop, the picturesque town of Leura, where we had an early lunch and a wander around the small shopping area. From Leura we headed to an estate where were took a short walk to view the Bridal Falls in the Jamison Valley.
Next we were off to try and see the main landmark of the Katoomba region, the Three Sisters, hopeful the mist would stay away. We made our way to Eagle Rock, where there is an overview across the valley to the sisters.
The Three Sisters is essentially an unusual rock formation representing three sisters who according to Aboriginal legend were turned to stone.
These beautiful young ladies had fallen in love with three
brothers from the Nepean tribe, yet tribal law forbade them to marry.
The brothers were not happy to accept this law and so
decided to use force to capture the three sisters causing a major tribal
battle.
As the lives of the three sisters were seriously in danger,
a witchdoctor from the Katoomba tribe took it upon himself to turn the three
sisters into stone to protect them from any harm. While he had intended to
reverse the spell when the battle was over, the witchdoctor himself was killed.
As only he could reverse the spell to return the ladies to their former beauty,
the sisters remain in their magnificent rock formation as a reminder of this
battle for generations to come.