Elysee gazing over the vast Blue Mountains.
The Three Sisters, Blue Mountains NSW Aust.
Our first excursion from Sydney during a three month stay was a three day exploration of the nearby Blue Mountains. These mountains, about a 2 1/2 hour drive west of our summer home near Sydney, offer numerous panoramic vistas, an interesting history, and presented a marked contrast to modern day Sydney.
The Blue Mountains are part of a two-thousand mile chain that sweeps along the east coast of Australia called the Great Dividing Range. So named because it divided the early settlements on Australia's east coast from the vast interior.West of Sydney they rise to an elevation of 3,000 feet. They are very rugged, oftentimes having shear drops of 500 feet or more, and in the late 18th and early 19th century provided a formidable barrier to westward expansion.
Several expeditions had been formed, all failing to find a suitable route through these mountains, until 1813, twenty-five years after the arrival of the First Fleet, Australia first convict settlement. The three adventurers Blaxland, Lawson, and Wentworth reported their finding to Governor Macquarie and by 1815 a road had been blazed and westward expansion began. Beyond the Blue Mountains the land opens to a vast level plain, fertile fields and an outlet for future expansion and development.
Elysee and I left Coogee about 9am on a Tuesday and followed the same pathway as the three explorers, now called the Great Western Highway, heading for Leura/Katoomba, the location of the Three Sisters and our first overnight stop.
