Although we could have used a bus to head into Blue Mountains National Park, we rented a car, so we weren’t constrained to a specific timetable. And I’m glad we did! We got to see some parts that would have been hard to see while getting bussed around the different towns in the park.

As we only had coffee that morning, I found a cafe right off the highway to try, and it turned out to be a great stop! They tested the AJs Bae sandwich while I grabbed an açaí bowl. Their sandwich was a fried egg, bacon, and cheese on a bagel with BBQ sauce. As we realized in Cairns, they like to put BBQ or ketchup on their breakfast sandwiches here in Australia.

After our food pit stop, we headed into the national park. I hadn’t realized many of the stops within the park were part of small towns scattered within the park. Most of the big hikes or scenic lookouts were near the town center. We first stopped in Katoomba to see the Three Sisters and Echo Point Lookout. We headed down the Giant Stairway but decided to turn around about 1/3 of the way down. The stairway supposedly had almost 1,000 steps leading down into the forest, and most were pretty narrow rocks. It was probably a good decision, as we all felt the burn in our quads on the way back up.

We had heard about Scenic World in Katoomba and decided to check it out. It has a tram leading down into the forest for a forest walk and a gondola ride across the gorge. We took a trail along the ridge to the entrance and saw Katoomba cascades and falls. The nature in this part of the country is stunning. They reminded me of the Appalachian mountains. Once we reached the visitors center to purchase tickets for the tramway, we decided the time waiting in line wasn’t worth it and would instead proceed to see more parts of the Blue Mountains.

Our next stop was Evans Lookout, located near the highest point of the Blue Mountains. We were impressed at how manicured the walking trail looked, and we later learned that they had recently renovated the area in 2022 to allow wheelchair access. After grabbing our panoramic pictures, we hiked down the trail about 3/4 mile to see what the ridge line held. We decided to turn around early since we hadn’t brought our packs to do a longer hike, and it would get dark by the time we finished the entire distance of the trail. On our way back, we caught various birds along the trail! From the Australian king parrot to cockatoos and a quail-like bird (not sure of the name of it).

We tried to head to the Givers Lookout, but it was closed due to renovations (the same ones they did to Evans). So we headed inside the visitors center for a quick bathroom break and to ask the rangers where the best place in the Blue Mountains was to find wild kangaroos. It was crazy to some people we talked to in Australia that were surprised we had yet to see one. So they mentioned some kangaroos liked to hang out in the gardens of houses in Mount Victoria but reminded us they only like to come out at dusk and dawn. Thankfully it was getting to that time, so we were hopeful we could see them.

We headed towards Mount Victoria and found a small hike to do as we waited for the sun to go down even further. I randomly picked a spot off the map, and it was a great surprise. We had the whole cliff area to ourselves for about 45 minutes before others showed up to enjoy the view and watch the sunset. Brittany was not a fan of Grant getting close to any of the ledges, especially when he sat on the edge of one.

Getting cold and determined to find a wild kangaroo, we headed into the town center of Mount Victoria to drive around. Eyes peeled on the sides of the roads into the hills; we looked until it got too dark to see past the trees. With an almost two-hour drive back to Sydney, we drove through the windy mountain roads, only stopping for a quick bite of Thai food. We planned on heading up to enjoy some relaxation in the jacuzzi, but unfortunately, we were too late, and the area was closed for the night.