What to do in Katoomba.
The Three Sisters and the Jamison Valley
I had made my first trip to the Blue Mountains last year, I did it as a day trip from Sydney. It made me realise that I needed to plan a trip where I would stay in Katoomba and I wanted to experience Scenic World.
Scenic World is a major attraction just outside the town of Katoomba. (I spied a multi-storey carpark when arriving at Scenic World and it was instant notification as to how popular an attraction it was!) I caught the local bus, it left from the main street of Katoomba outside the Carrington Hotel. The Sydney transport Opal card can be used on local buses in Katoomba as well, so it was a very cheap way to get to Scenic World. To save some time during busy times, it's possible to buy the entry ticket before you get there, either online or as I did from the hotel that I stayed it. I walked straight in, without having to line up at the ticket office.
Scenic World, especially during busy times needs to be approached strategically, a plan of attack for the day has to be agreed on. I wanted to go over the valley, down into the valley with the train and then up and out on the cable car. I made a mistake straight up as I lined up for what I thought was the skyway and ended up on the cable car going down into the valley! Had to back track, to try again. A helpful hint, the skyway is on the third level!
The skyway that goes across a gorge in the Jamison Valley.
The owner of Scenic World came up with the idea of the skyway back in the 1950s and the original one was opened in 1958, and it operated until 2004, you can still see it when coming into Scenic World. This latest one was launched in 2017, there are stations either side of the gorge, you can get embark or disembark either side of the gorge.
The carriage is large and the crossing takes about 10 minutes, if there is a line up of people, the line does move fairly quickly. The centre of the carriage has a viewing floor area so you can look right down into the valley.
Top of the Katoomba Falls, going from the Visitor's Centre, stay on the lefthandside of the carriage to see the falls. The source of the falls is a freshwater spring and so they have never dried up in recorded history.
Once on the other side of the gorge it's possible to walk down to the Katoomba Cascades. It's only a 10 minute walk, you do leave the Scenic World park and go into the National Park, there are no fences, just signs.
The Katoomba Cascades
The cascades flow into a stream that then flows into the waterfall.
Scenic Railway
The Scenic railway is the origin of the tourist operation that is now Scenic World. The rail-line was originally used to haul coal and oil shale out of the Jamison Valley, but the rail operators used to take paying passengers down on the rail-line on the weekend to supplement their income. The mine closed after World War II and the lease was taken up by a local brother and sister, Isobel Fahey and Harry Hammon. Harry had the idea of opening the area to tourism, he had worked at the mine hauling up coal on the rail-line. One weekday a bunch of Americans arrived from Sydney and were disappointed that they couldn't ride the steep train as it wasn't the weekend. He realised that it would be possible to run trips down the rail-line for visitors and he began the tourist venture which is now Scenic World. The Hammon family still own and operate it and the third generation is currently running it.
'Jessie' one of the open carriages used to carry visitors down the rail-line, from the 1930s.
The rail-line claims to be the steepest in the world and I can attest it's quite the slope!
When the train takes off the Star Wars theme song is played! The train goes through a tunnel and then down into the valley. It was a great ride and if the lines to ride it again hadn't been horrifically long I would have gone back up and rode it down again!
Once down at the valley floor there's a boardwalk for people to take different walks. It's all well sign posted and people can choose to do shorter walks of a few minutes or longer 30 minutes or so. There are no toilets on the valley floor and there are lots of signs to warn you before you make your way down, either with the train or the cable car.
Currently there's a sculpture exhibition on the valley floor and that made the walk even more interesting. There are exhibits on the mining that occurred in the area.
Replica of a coal waggon
The mine entrance
There's an old miner's hut.
The chimney isn't for an open fire, there's a cast iron stove inside the hut. It must weigh a ton and would have been quite the challenge to bring it to the valley floor and into the hut.
A boardwalk winding its way around the forest. Two sculptures can be seen.
The path around the forest floor is a boardwalk so there is minimal interference with nature. There are signs asking visitors not to touch.
This was my favourite of the sculptures, Red Riding Hood walking through the forest.
I really enjoyed Scenic World, in hindsight possibly visiting during the school holidays wasn't the best time to go! I arrived fairly early in the morning and it wasn't horrifically crowded but it became quite crowded mid afternoon, around the time I decided to leave!
I had made my first trip to the Blue Mountains last year, I did it as a day trip from Sydney. It made me realise that I needed to plan a trip where I would stay in Katoomba and I wanted to experience Scenic World.
Scenic World is a major attraction just outside the town of Katoomba. (I spied a multi-storey carpark when arriving at Scenic World and it was instant notification as to how popular an attraction it was!) I caught the local bus, it left from the main street of Katoomba outside the Carrington Hotel. The Sydney transport Opal card can be used on local buses in Katoomba as well, so it was a very cheap way to get to Scenic World. To save some time during busy times, it's possible to buy the entry ticket before you get there, either online or as I did from the hotel that I stayed it. I walked straight in, without having to line up at the ticket office.
Scenic World, especially during busy times needs to be approached strategically, a plan of attack for the day has to be agreed on. I wanted to go over the valley, down into the valley with the train and then up and out on the cable car. I made a mistake straight up as I lined up for what I thought was the skyway and ended up on the cable car going down into the valley! Had to back track, to try again. A helpful hint, the skyway is on the third level!
The owner of Scenic World came up with the idea of the skyway back in the 1950s and the original one was opened in 1958, and it operated until 2004, you can still see it when coming into Scenic World. This latest one was launched in 2017, there are stations either side of the gorge, you can get embark or disembark either side of the gorge.
The carriage is large and the crossing takes about 10 minutes, if there is a line up of people, the line does move fairly quickly. The centre of the carriage has a viewing floor area so you can look right down into the valley.
Top of the Katoomba Falls, going from the Visitor's Centre, stay on the lefthandside of the carriage to see the falls. The source of the falls is a freshwater spring and so they have never dried up in recorded history.
Once on the other side of the gorge it's possible to walk down to the Katoomba Cascades. It's only a 10 minute walk, you do leave the Scenic World park and go into the National Park, there are no fences, just signs.
The Scenic railway is the origin of the tourist operation that is now Scenic World. The rail-line was originally used to haul coal and oil shale out of the Jamison Valley, but the rail operators used to take paying passengers down on the rail-line on the weekend to supplement their income. The mine closed after World War II and the lease was taken up by a local brother and sister, Isobel Fahey and Harry Hammon. Harry had the idea of opening the area to tourism, he had worked at the mine hauling up coal on the rail-line. One weekday a bunch of Americans arrived from Sydney and were disappointed that they couldn't ride the steep train as it wasn't the weekend. He realised that it would be possible to run trips down the rail-line for visitors and he began the tourist venture which is now Scenic World. The Hammon family still own and operate it and the third generation is currently running it.
The rail-line claims to be the steepest in the world and I can attest it's quite the slope!
When the train takes off the Star Wars theme song is played! The train goes through a tunnel and then down into the valley. It was a great ride and if the lines to ride it again hadn't been horrifically long I would have gone back up and rode it down again!
Once down at the valley floor there's a boardwalk for people to take different walks. It's all well sign posted and people can choose to do shorter walks of a few minutes or longer 30 minutes or so. There are no toilets on the valley floor and there are lots of signs to warn you before you make your way down, either with the train or the cable car.
Currently there's a sculpture exhibition on the valley floor and that made the walk even more interesting. There are exhibits on the mining that occurred in the area.
There's an old miner's hut.
The path around the forest floor is a boardwalk so there is minimal interference with nature. There are signs asking visitors not to touch.
I really enjoyed Scenic World, in hindsight possibly visiting during the school holidays wasn't the best time to go! I arrived fairly early in the morning and it wasn't horrifically crowded but it became quite crowded mid afternoon, around the time I decided to leave!
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