To get this out of the way first: I think Jay is the only one who visited the same Blue Mountains I visited back in late December 2019. Everyone else must have been somewhere else. Where is the fog/smoke on your pictures, Clyde, Ian, Els?! ...

When I planned my big trip to Australia and New Zealand, the bad news kept rushing in. New Zealand had plenty of rainfall and mudslides with roads breaking down. Australia on the other hand endured a catastrophic dry spell with large parts of the country being eaten up by wildfires as a consequence. Doing only a short stop over of three nights in Sydney, my time was limited and I did not want to miss the opportunity to tick the site off.

With the visit approaching, I installed a wildfire app on my phone, contacted our resident Aussies (Shandos and Joel) for advice, and read the local weather and fire forecast on a daily basis. Eventually, it was confirmed that you could go to the most touristy spot, the Three Sisters, but hiking deeper into the Blue Mountains was dangerous.

On my arrival day, the weather in Sydney had already been weird. There was a large temperature drop in the evening with strong winds. But the fires were still at a distance.

The next day as we made our way to the suburbs of Sydney, the fires kept coming closer and you could see many trees along the road scared by fires. It was when we got off the bus in Katoomba, that we were in the fire. The sky was covered by smoke and the whole place smelt like standing too close to a barbecue grill for hours. Walking outside my skin and my eyes were quickly covered by ash (or so it felt), so much so that the first thing I did back at the hotel was to take a shower.

The smoke being dense and endless, we did not get to see the panorama. We managed to get glimpses of the smoke covered Three Sisters and took a small walk in the valley through the smoke covered forests. In the end, we may not have got to experience the OUV of the site in full. But our visit was what travelling is all about. We experienced first hand the scope of the ecological catastrophe taking place in Australia. Something I could not relate to based on the pictures in the TV.

Getting There

Easiest connection from Sydney is to take the train to Katoomba. On our visit, the last bit was by bus due to repairs, but normally you can go by train. In Katoomba, you can take a shuttle bus with hop on and hop off spots all along the ridge. We ended up walking which was fine as we needed to pick up some provisions and a coffee anyhow. Essentially, it's a long straight road to the main view point.

Along the ridge are walkways which should give you a view of the valley. The valley itself also has trails and you can descend using several stair cases. The one at the Three Sisters is quite steep.

While You Are There

If you take the train to Katoomba you will actually pass via Parramatta City. Located in Parramatta is the Governor's House, part of the Australian Convict Sites. And obviously, you should swing by Sydney with the Opera House and two more Convict Sites.