Travel: BLUE MOUNTAINS & HUNTER VALLEY, AUSTRALIA

*Check out my adventures in Sydney here first!*

Sydney is the gateway to plenty of interesting places just beyond the city, and whilst in this area of New South Wales, I thought I'd do my best to see some of them. First up was the Blue Mountains, so I awoke early in my Sydney hostel,  rolled out of bed and onto George Street to be picked up by Sam and his Colourful Tour which would take me into the Blue Mountains for the day. 

We drove out of the city to our first stop, Featherdale Wildlife Park, where we had an hour to explore the largest collection of Australian animals in the world. These included a vast array of pademelons, koalas, kangaroos, crocodiles, emus, dingoes, a plethora of birds including my favourite, the Gouldian Finch; penguins, and the cutest animal in the kingdom, the quokka. Lucky for me, there was even a baby quokka to hand, so I spent my hour very well sitting on the floor and watching the tiny thing hop around. 

From Featherdale we made our way higher into the mountains which got increasingly foggy as we climbed. We stopped at Sublime Point for a view of, quite frankly, not much thanks to the fog, and then to Echo Point. Here too there was supposed to be a view, this time of the famed Three Sisters rocks, but again, we could see very little. 

This made things rather eerie as we walked onto one of the Three Sisters, with the fog making the drop off the rock seem deceptively far. It was a shame not to be able to see much, but alas these things happen, and at least I'll be able to say that I've visited the Blue Mountains. 

We stopped for a picnic lunch in Katoomba. Normally this would be held outside but due to the inclement weather we opted to eat in the nearby YHA. Lunch was the Aussie go-to of a classic salad roll or meat pie followed by a yummy apple pie from a local bakery. 

Then we began the long walk of the afternoon to Katoomba Falls. The hour and three quarters walk took us through rainforest-like trees down to the aforementioned waterfall. The waterfall was little more than a trickle, but even this was more than had been previously due to the drought that had plagued the country in recent months. The fog flowing over the cliff edge gave very Game of Thrones vibes, so even though we hadn't had the best views for the day, it was an interesting experience nonetheless and one that most visitors to the Blue Mountains would not get. 

It was pretty much a straight route home with a minor detour back to Echo Point to see if the fog had cleared (it had not). The Blue Mountains were beautiful for sure, but I can only imagine they become even more so in good weather!

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Another must-see area around Sydney is the Hunter Valley, famed for its beautiful wines. Whilst far from a wine connoisseur, I knew that this was a must-do when in the Sydney region. 

Collected by a tour bus, we drove out through the rainy weather for a few hours before arriving at our first winery, De Uiliuus. This young winery served us a whopping seven wines, including the three most famous varieties of the region - Semillon, Chardonnay, and Shiraz. We also had a score sheet to decide whether we thought the wines were okay, we liked them, or loved them. 

The drive had taken us such a long time that it was almost time for lunch at the Hunter Valley Resort, but first, a few more wines to try. I particularly liked this tasting because it included cheese tasting, of which I was a big fan. We tried labna, feta and cheddar cheeses before heading into the lunch room. I had chosen the only vegetarian option of the day - a pumpkin salad (since when was a salad classed as a meal) which was nice enough, and by this point the group had become comfortable enough to chat throughout lunch which was particularly nice for the solo travellers like myself. 

After lunch we headed to Leogate for another seven tastings, including the Shiraz that has been served in Qantas Business Class for the past five years (the more you know). The sommelier poured what looked to be a spare glass on our table, which of course was soon snapped up, only for us to realise it had been meant for someone in the bathroom... I don't think the sommelier was particularly impressed with us asking for a refill (I'm sure people try that all the time) so didn't spend too much time talking us through the wines. Alas...

We had two more stops for the day, the first being the Hunter Valley Distillery. This stop was not for wines, but liquor, and we had the opportunity to taste 8 different vodkas and liqueurs, including apple, caramel, and the interesting blue-coloured and pineapple-flavoured butterfly pea.

The best for me was saved until last - the chocolate factory. Sadly we had nothing planned here as we had at our other stops, but got four small tastings of chocolates and were then given free rein to buy whatever we wished - I chose a blueberry creme filled echidna. 

After a long and busy day we drove on home and I packed my bags to head to the next city on my itinerary - Canberra!

Thanks for reading about my Sydney day trips! I have so much more travel around Australia that I can't wait to see - what areas would you recommend, or where would you be keen to go? Drop me a message in the comments below, and check me out on Twitter @CiarasCountry for even more travel content like this!