In the Blue Mountains National Park...
Way back in 2005 I journeyed to Australia for a 10 day holiday to Sydney and Canberra in New South Wales. I went for a couple of walks in the hinterland of Sydney while I was there. They were in and around Katoomba which is about 100 kilometers to the west of Sydney in the Blue Mountains National Park
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| Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
One of the walks I did there was the famous Three Sisters Walk just outside of Katoomba.
Visiting Katoomba in the early 2000's:
Back in the early 2000's Katoomba was a relatively sleepy holiday destination...the drawcard for the town was how close it is to several National Parks and other nature reserves. The area has mountains, rain forest, bush, rock formations and waterfalls to enjoy and has always been a well loved holiday spot for people from Sydney.
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| Sydney is visible from places in the Blue Mountains... |
At the time it had a arty feel much like a cross between Hanmer and Takaka here in New Zealand. The town has a lot of lovely Art Deco and historic buildings and while it was starting to develop it was still a relative backwater. I remember thinking it would be a nice place to live if you wanted to be free of the big city to the east.
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| The older part of the town of Katoomba |
It is not like that anymore...Katoomba is now a moderate sized tourist town which is a part of a vast conurbation which runs from Sydney all the way to the edge of the Blue Mountains NP. It is a real tourist mecca much like Queenstown/Te Anau/Rotorua with hotels, motels, holiday homes, B n B's, restaurants, cafes and designer shops.
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| Katoomba is now a moderately sized town... |
Katoomba sits right on the edge of several National Parks the largest of which is Blue Mountains National Park. It is an interesting area of sandstone uplands and deep rift valleys with huge cliffs, rock spires and thick dense bush. From the top of the escarpments you can see far into the surrounding area and down into the Jamison Valley nearly a kilometer below you...
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| One of the viewing outlooks around Katoomba |
Before Covid this was a major tourism spot with a comparable number of visitors to Milford Sound who all came here to experience the wild Australian backcountry. There are a multitude of walks, tracks and lookouts in the area and one of the best is the Famous Three Sisters walk.
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| View of the Three sisters from Echo Point |
Lets take a closer look at what the Three Sisters Walk is all about...
Visiting the Three Sisters...
The Three Sisters are a series of rock towers just to the south of Katoomba and they can be accessed from the Echo Point Visitor Center for Blue Mountains NP. This whole area is the result of volcanic and tectonic uplift...the soaring sandstone cliffs were once ocean sediments thrust up over millions of years. This was eroded down over the millennia by massive rivers which once dominated a much greener and wetter Australia.
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| View out into Blue Mountains NP from Echo Point |
This makes Katoomba similar to the area around Punakaiki on the West Coast of the South Island.
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| Punakaiki features similar tectonic uplift topography.... |
The towers are sacred to the local Aboriginal people and have long been a tourist attraction as they have spectacular views out over the Jamison Valley a large rift valley system around them.
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| Map: Echo Point and the start of the Three Sisters Walk |
From the car park at Echo Point you walk for about 250 meters to the entrance to the Three Sisters Walk itself. It is an easy track to start...paved and with only a moderate incline. It would be suitable for just about anyone with an especially easy walk to the spectacular Echo Point lookout.
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| Blue Mountains NP Visitor Center at Echo Point |
Katoomba sits atop a massive escarpment with deeply incised valleys surrounding it on three sides. The Three Sisters are surrounded by Jamison Valley which would easily be one kilometer from valley floor to the top of the escarpment. Because of this you can see for perhaps 40 kilometers out over the National Park.
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| On the walkway from Echo Point to the Three Sisters Walk |
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| You can walk to the start of the Three Sisters Walk from Echo Point |
There is a historic stone entrance way just at the start of the walk with directions and information panels. There is a lookout located here with the first of several awesome views out into the Jamison Valley.
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| Entrance to Three Sisters Track, Blue Mountains NP |
The Three Sisters are a sacred Aboriginal site but when we visited in the early 2000's there was not a lot of information explaining why. I would hope that now we are in the 21st Century they would have rectified this omission...
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| Sign at the entrance to the Three Sisters Track |
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| Start of the stairs down to Honeymoon Bridge, Three Sisters Walk |
There are multiple sets of steps down to the Honeymoon Bridge and this part of the track must be walked slowly and carefully as the stairs are quite steep. As you descend you can see the air bridge and small platform around the first of the Three Sisters..it will usually be full of other sightseers. You need only walk as far as you are comfortable with....
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| Stairs leading down to the Honeymoon Bridge, Three Sisters Walk |
Honeymoon Bridge leads to a small viewing platform attached to the side of the first of the rock towers...you are high above Jamison Valley here and you can look to both the west and east of the rock pillars. The bottom of the valley looks a long way down even from this point...the massive Eucalypt trees below look like miniatures even though they will 40-50 meters tall!
This is probably not a great place for those who do not like heights...
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| Honeymoon Bridge, Three Sisters Walk, Blue Mountains NP |
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| ...view from the Honeymoon Bridge at the Three Sisters Walk... |
The photo below gives you a good idea of just how steep the stairs are along the Three Sisters Walk. It will be fine for the majority of people but some fitness is necessary. Some of the stairs are like this while others are boardwalk or wide concrete steps which are much easier to navigate. From here you can continue down the Giant Staircase to the valley floor or turn about and make your way back to the top...
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| Set of stairs on the Three Sisters Track |
There are a multitude of other tracks around the Three Sisters Walk which is why so many people visit the area. These include the Prince Henry Cliff Walk, Dardanelles Walk, Federal Pass Track and Lyrebird Dell Walking Track.
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| Prince Henry Cliff Walk passes close to the Three Sisters Walk |
There is now a railway and cable car to the bottom of the Jamison Valley to make it easier for people to visit the area. This leaves from a terminus up on the top of the escarpment close to Echo Point. Alternately you can descend the 998 steps of the Giant Staircase to the valley floor. This passes by Honeymoon Bridge on its way down to the valley and the Federal Pass Track around to Scenic World and the cable car terminus.
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| The Katoomba Cable Car descends to the Jamison Valley |
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| There is also a historic incline railway at Katoomba... |
On the opposite side of the Jamison Valley you can see Mt Solitary which perfectly shows off the nature of the escarpments in the park.
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| Looking out to the Jamison Valley....Mt Solitary (950 asl) in distance |
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| Looking back through the entrance to the Three Sisters Track |
Once you finish walking down to the Three Sisters make sure you go and have a look at them from the Echo Point Lookout. This is off to the right and to the rear of the Three Sisters and you get a much better idea of their size and shape from here. This is probably the best viewpoint for the whole Jamison Valley as well...
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| View of the Three Sisters from Echo Point...Jamison Valley to rear |
If you ever find yourself in Sydney with a spare day I can thoroughly recommend the Katoomba area to you. There is plenty to do locally especially if you are an outdoors person...get out and see what an Australian bush walk is like. It will probably be one of the highlights of your trip...
Access: Katoomba is approximately 100 kilometers (1.5-2 hours drive) west of Sydney on the Great Western Highway. When you arrive in Katoomba turn off the Great Western Highway and follow the signs to Three Sisters and Echo Point. There is a large carpark next to the Visitors Center.
Track Times: Three Sisters Walk is 1 kilometer or 30-45 minutes return depending on how far along the track you walk.
Miscellaneous: There are public transport options to get to Katoomba including light rail, buses and shuttle services. It is an easy drive once you get out of the center of Sydney. The track is easy to start but has many stairs to reach the Honeymoon Bridge. The weather in the Blue Mountains can be cooler, wetter and more changeable than the coast. Blue Mountains NP is often subject to bush fires over summer.
