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A walk in the Blue Mountains
While Sydney offers the city life, the Blue Mountains, only a two-hour drive from the city, provide a totally different ambiance
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While Sydney offers the city life, the Blue Mountains, only a two-hour drive from the city, provide a totally different ambiance.
The Blue Mountains for Sydneysiders may be just like Puncak for Jakartans. Its cool air, green scenery and slower rhythm of life make it a perfect place for a getaway.
'It is a canyon actually, not a mountain. The convicts made a passage way to the Blue Mountains to grow food for the first time in 1803,' Margot Cuthill, our New South Wales Destination tour guide, said as we headed to Echo Point, a popular site for viewing the vast green canyon.
The comparison to visiting Puncak in my mind faded away when I saw the endless vast green canyon as well as the iconic Three Sisters rock formation on my left.
Visitors have the opportunity to view the canyon in three ways ' railway, skyway and cable car, hanging 200 meters above the valley floor.
'The Blue Mountains is as old as the earth itself. It formed millions of years ago,' Cuthill said, adding that the area had been listed as a world heritage site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The Blue Mountains is already an established tourism site, equipped with numerous hotels and restaurants. The place can also be reached by train from Sydney.
Those who prefer chic vacations could stroll around Leura, known as the 'garden village'. Leura's main road is lined with antiques and book shops, fashion boutiques, art galleries, restaurants and cafes.
A one-hour drive from the Blue Mountains, tourists can also enjoy eco-tourism around the Hawkesbury trail and experience picking fruits, tasting honey or riding tractors.
Peaches, apples, plums and various berries are the most common fruits on those farms. In order to know which farms harvest which fruits, visitors can look at an app called The Farm Gate.
Besides playing at Australian farms, I also got a chance to see a touch of an Australian outback experience at the Tobruk Sheep Station near Wiseman Ferry.
Although it felt touristic, Tobruk was still worth a visit to get a summary of outback life. Arriving at the station, I tasted billy tea in a tin cup and damper, or soda bread, with golden syrup. 'It's an iconic menu for stockmen and drovers,' Cuthill told me.
We also watched a series of shows that included whip cracking, boomerang throwing, sheep mustering and sheep shearing before we enjoyed an Australian barbecue lunch.
The most exciting part was watching and learning about how dogs play an important role in sheep mustering. 'The most expensive dog costs up to A$14,000 (US$10,490),' said the performer while demonstrating how well-trained dogs can do many jobs including shepherding.
