For those of you who have never heard of the Blue Mountains, they’re more or less the Grand Canyon of Australia. Personally I hadn’t heard of them until I started planning my trip to visit a good friend in Sydney, Australia.

Since I was staying with her and the family she was an au pair (live in nanny) I figured it would be too out of the way and expensive to visit. To my sweet surprise they were on the itinerary.

On Sundays, unknown to me, it’s cheaper to take the train two hours outside of Sydney to the mountains. For someone who’s visiting Australia for a little under a week, the train ride was a perfect way to enjoy a little extra scenery.

On the train ride over you slowly but surely start to notice the change from city to mountains outside of your window. The train ride was comfortable. I have to say the public transportation, at least from my experience, was very clean, quite and easy to navigate.

When we got out of Sydney and up to the mountains we set out on our hike. Let me tell you, I think my phone thought it was broken because of all the steps it was recording. Well worth it but wow.

Our first stop was the Three Sisters which is basically three huge rocks that sit on the edge of the canyon. Legend has it that this unique rock formation is actually three sisters that were turned to stone.

I can’t remember exactly what hike we did but if you want a list of some options click, here. I do however remember that I was sore for two days after and we ended up hiking about nine miles altogether.

The stairs you go down to get to the canyon part of the hike were without a doubt the most frightening part of the hike for me. One of the girls I was with did take a tumble down.

The coolest part of the trek for me was when we, most likely broke some rules, and climbed down to a waterfall area. If you’re feeling adventurous, find your waterfall. It was so cool to get up close and a little off the beaten path-plus the pictures ended up being my favorite (out of many).

Since we just made a day trip out of the Blue Mountains we didn’t go up in the gondolas that span over the canyons, but if I’m lucky enough to make it back I’ll be sure to put it on my list. The Scenic World Gondola suspends you over the valley of the canyon and offers incredible views. It takes forever and a day to hike around the mountains, so for those who have no interest in hiking or just want an incredible view this is unparalleled.

What a workout and what gorgeous views we got from this day trip.

If you want to see a highlight from my Blue Mountains adventure click here and click through my picture below!