The Blue Mountains

Just west of Sydney, the Blue Mountains are so called because from Sydney, they actually look blue. They have vast forests of eucalyptus which discharge a fine mist of eucalyptus oil. The mist refracts the sunlight, making the haze look blue. Too much? Sorry. Just know that when you see these pics and you think we're horrible photographers, it's really not our fault. That's the way it looked to us as well!

There are several must-sees here. The first is kind of a gathering point for everybody - Echo Point. It's a Lookout and from there you can see Three Sisters. 

Now rather than just look at it from the Lookout, you can take a little hike there and walk down into those bad boys, er girls, I guess.

We went further then on the path, seeing some interesting things along the way.

Hard to see, but there are 2 brilliant red parrots in those trees.

And see how the bark is just stripping from these trees? Weird.

And then there's just the plain old awesome views! Can't forget that!

We walked out to Katoomba Cascades.

And this guy tried climbing to the top like he thought he was in Jamaica at Dunn's Falls or something.

Uh, he didn't make it............

We ended our day's adventures with pulling over to the side of the road in the neighborhood we're staying in to marvel over the fact that these little guys are everywhere here. At home, they cost $1000-3000!