When I started planning my Sydney activities, one trip I knew I had to make was a visit to the Blue Mountains. Every travel guide I read listed the Blue Mountains as worth the trip, and it certainly was.
 
I booked a full day tour with Oz Trails and our tour guide Les was fantastic. He was engaging the entire time and full of information about the Blue Mountains and Australia. Our group was small – 26 people – and I preferred that much more than being on a large bus with 50 people. We left the city just before 9 a.m. and we were on our way to the Blue Mountains!
 
Our first stop was at a little park by the Nepean River for some light refreshments and to finalize all our payments, and then we were really on our way. I managed to stay awake for the entire ride, which was about an hour and a half. The scenery was too fascinating for me to fall asleep; the landscape kept changing and before I knew it, the mountains were beginning to look a little blue. So why blue? This entry from the Sydney Visitors Bureau explains it well:
 
The Blue Mountains are so named because, from Sydney, they look blue. They are clad in vast forests of eucalypts (commonly called gum trees), which in the hot sun discharge a fine mist of eucalyptus oil from their leaves. The mist refracts light, which makes the haze look blue at a distance. 
 
Our first stop was at Flat Rock, and it was absolutely gorgeous.
 

 

Next stop: Scenic World

 
Our next stop was Scenic World to experience the Scenic Skyway, Cableway, Walkway and Railway. Awesome fact about the Scenic Railway – at a 52 degree incline, the Scenic Railway is the steepest passenger railway in the world.
 

 
After Scenic World we stopped for lunch in Leura and then went searching for waterfalls in the Jamison Valley.

Unfortunately for us, it was too hot for the kangaroos so they stayed in the shade and didn’t come out to play.
 
The tour ended with a quick stop at the Olympic Park and a river cruise down the Parramata River back to the city.