National Parks

My Grandma left today and I am going to miss her like crazy but while she was here we go to go to some really great places including the Blue Mountains. Australia has some of the prettiest national parks in the world. The Blue Mountains are like the Grand Canyon of Australia and is only a train ride away.

The Blue Mountains 

I have been there twice, once with my amazing friends and once with my Grandma this past weekend. The first time I went. Shanley, Lizzie and I headed to the cute mountain town of Katoomba.

Shanley, Lizzie and I

We got up super early and took the train there. When we got there, we hiked along the rim, saw and played in amazing waterfalls, and even climbed down this huge staircase to go and actually be on one of the three sisters (the three massive rock formations).

The Three Sisters

It was a great time with my two best friends here in Australia. And we even got to see some things that I will never forget, like lyrebirds and a crazy amount of tourists.

Lizzie and I at the Waterfall

The second time I went to see the Blue Mountains was this past weekend with my Grandma. I have loved spending the past couple of weeks with my Grandma.

Grandma in Katoomba 

She is one of my favorite people in the whole world and to show her one of my favorite places in Sydney was fun. I love the white mountains because it reminds me of my home is Flagstaff. The weather is colder and there are more trees and the houses look like they came right out of Flagstaff. When we were there I took her to Echo’s point (where the three sisters are located).

Cable Car

Then we took the cable car over the ravine and got to see the waterfall from a different point of view.

The Waterfall from above 

As part of our cable car, we got to take a “scenic train” which turned out to be a roller coaster through a tunnel to the bottom of the Blue Mountains. My grandma doesn’t like roller coasters or tunnels but she did it for me.

The Roller Coaster

At the bottom, we got to go for a short scenic walk through the rainforest. It was really pretty to see the vines and the rainforest.

The Rainforest

It had been a coal mine back before it was a tourist trap so it was cool to see the roots of the Blue mountains. At the end of our walk, we took a cable car back up to the top and then we headed home.

The other park I was going to talk about is the Royal National Park. I went there last week as part of a field trip. It was beautiful. The river going through the park goes into a lake next to a beach that is next to the ocean.

Royal National Park

Words can’t do this park justice. We were there to do research and I spent a lot of time writing notes but I also spent a lot of time just absorbing the beauty.

Royal National Park

I loved seeing the jungle (which was very different than the blue mountains) and the beach and the river side.

Royal National park

I got to see a ton of animals there. Including a kookaburra about a foot away and some crabs eating some algae.

Kookaburra

It was so pretty there but I probably liked the Blue mountains more because it felt a lot more like home. Homesickness has been hard and being at the Blue Mountains makes me feel a little closer to home. Having my grandma be here made me feel a little closer to home.