Benjamin and Tiffany spent two weeks touring Australia. Arriving in Sydney, our first days were spent visiting the sights and attractions around Circular Quay: the Sydney Opera House, Royal Botanic Garden, Customs House, and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Nearby in The Rocks neighborhood (the oldest area in the city) we had a wonderful German meal at Munich Brauhaus and enjoyed visiting all the shops and markets.
During our visit, the Royal Australian Navy was celebrating their 125th anniversary with a major International Fleet Review in Sydney Harbour featuring over 30 warships and 6,000 personnel from 19 nations. We were even fortunate to catch part of an air show while walking across the Harbour Bridge.
Taking a ferry from Circular Quay to Watsons Bay, we explored Sydney Harbour National Park by hiking the Gap Bluff Trail along the Pacific Ocean, and the South Head Heritage Trail to Hornby Lighthouse. The enjoyable hikes had some great views of the city skyline, the rocky cliffs along the ocean, Camp Cove Beach, and we even saw both Sulphur Crested Cockatoos and Rainbow Lorikeets.
We ended our time in Sydney with a sunset dinner cruise around the harbor on Captain Cook Cruises. Passing underneath the Harbour Bridge, seeing the city at twilight, and spending some time in Darling Harbour, this was a great final night for our time in Sydney.
After picking up a rental car, we headed west to spend two days in the Blue Mountains hiking, visiting overlooks, and exploring Blue Mountains National Park. The first day was filled with waterfall hikes. The Blue Mountains area has some incredible waterfalls, and the rainy weather made them even more spectacular. We enjoyed hiking to and seeing the 614-foot Wentworth Falls, but the highlight was the Valley of the Waters Trail, which is one of the best hikes we have ever done. This steep trail is filled with one stunning waterfall after another in a lush rainforest. Seeing Empress Falls, Sylvia Falls, Lodore Falls, and more with hardly anyone else around was a peaceful, rewarding, but difficult hike and we loved it.
Our evenings were spent at the Echoes Resort in Katoomba (which also had some incredible breakfasts). Our patio lookout attracted Kookaburra and several Australian Magpies. One evening we tried to do the Katoomba Falls Night-Lit Walk, but the path was in poor condition with most of the lights not working.
We began our second day in the Blue Mountains by visiting the attractions at Scenic World. The Scenic Railway (which they claim is the world's steepest railway) drops at a grade of 128% into the rainforest. At the bottom, we hiked the boardwalks of the Scenic Walkway for 1.5 miles before returning to the rim above on the Scenic Cableway. Finally, the Scenic Skyway is a cable car that passes 886 feet over the valley floor traversing the gorge above Katoomba Falls.
Since the weather was much better on our second day, we also visited several overlooks around the park including Evans Lookout, Govetts Leap, and Echo Point with its view of the world famous Three Sisters rock formation. On our various hikes throughout the Blue Mountains we saw many different types of mushrooms, Lyrebirds, a termite colony, and even a Gang-Gang Cockatoo.
After our time in the Blue Mountains, we headed south (driving over 350 miles through the southern parts of New South Wales) to continue our adventure in other areas of Australia.