Blue Mountains

01 - 04 January 2023

Sunset from the dining room at the Hydro Majestic Hotel

New Years Day we drove to the Hydro Majestic Hotel in Medlow Bath. Even though Julie drove, Anthony enjoyed the roads. Julie regressed a little in the driving, windicating quite a bit.

View over the Megalong Valley from our Hotel Room

When we checked in, we found that our room was going to face the road in front. We asked if there were any rooms in the back, and there was!! Dinner at the Hydro Majestic, with an amazing sunset.

We don’t usually take pictures of food, but this dessert was just too pretty to not share.

On Monday, we hiked to Mini Ha Ha falls. The trail was not too bad, until we got to the end, then it got really steep. When we got to the bottom, Anthony insisted on having a swim. He said it was cold but not quite the Davidson River.

We had a reservation for high tea at 2:00 pm, and did not have a lot of time to get back. We booked it. It took us 45 minutes to get down, but only 38 minutes to climb back up. We were on time for the team (and yes, we both took showers).

We found out that high tea, or at least how the Majestic does it, is way too much food for two people.

Julie and Anthony with the view from the front of the hotel.

We were so full that we had to take a walk. So we decided to explore the hotel. It just kept going. It definitely had a “The Shining” vibe. We kept finding the drawers of the table in our room open. It could have been slanty floors but we are going to say our room was haunted.

When Anthony saw this he thought of Mark Welsh, but it was too big to sneak out.

That evening we went to Echo Point at Katoomba. There were a lot of people there. Julie loved the views, but became totally annoyed with all the people. Plus, it smelled like diapers.

Flora and Fauna (real and fake) in the Blue Mountains.

Sunset from the hotel room that evening.

On Monday, we had a five hour Rocks to Rainforest 4WD Eco Tour with our guide Tim. He told us a lot about the area, and took us to places that were off the beaten track. Julie really enjoyed the lack of people. Anthony really enjoyed all the geeky science things Tim shared with us.

After a drive down to the floor of the valley behind the hotel. Our first stop is a short hike through a tropical Rainforest.

Hydro Majestic Hotel from Hargraves Lookout

Next stop Hargraves Lookout

Anvil Rock look out

Lunch at the Wind Eroded Caves near Anvil Rock lookout.

Our tour ended around 2:00 pm, so we decided to go visit another waterfall. We hiked to Empress and Sylvia Falls. Once again, there were lots, Lots and Lots of stairs. Julie thinks Anthony is making sure she gets knee surgery this year.

Sylvia Falls

Steps, lots of them.

Before we headed back to Sydney we visited Scenic World. Scenic World has the brilliant business plan of getting people to the bottom of the valley in lots of fun ways, and then you are free to walk through the national forest on your own. There was the Skyway Cable that took us across the valley. We got incredible pictures of Katoomba falls from the cable car. We then took a ride on the steepest railroad in the world. We took a walk through a temperate rain forest, where we saw many dinosaurs. Finally, we took another cable car up to the top. Best thing about this? Very little stairs!!!!!

Steepest Railroad in the world, on the way up

Dinosaurs

Julie navigated and Anthony drove a more interesting way back to Sydney.

Sydney - Part Two

Sydney - New Years Eve