After a quick stop to pet a wombat eating his breakfast (first picture below), we headed for the koala area where they brought Freddie out to munch on some eucalyptus while we got to know him (second and third pictures below). His fur was incredibly soft and he seemed very tame. From the koalas, we headed into the larger area where most of the kangaroos were, armed with food for them in ice cream cones and had a marvelous time feeding and meeting them all (large picture right and fourth picture below). We spent another hour seeing the rest of the park.

Feeding the 'Roos' at Featherdale Park

Leaving Featherdale, we drove west into the Blue Mountains, which begins about 60 miles from Sydney. The Blue Mountains really are blue when viewed from a distance. That's from the eucalyptus oil evaporating into the air. Our route was planned by Rob to avoid crowds and to see the best of the Blue Mountains. After passing through Richmond, we stopped at the craggy cliffs of Vail Lookout overlooking the Grose River and Valley (first picture below). Continuing on Bell's Line of Road on the northern side of the valley through Bilpin and Mount Tomah, we stopped at an unnamed lookout (Lookout 2 on the map - second picture below) for a short walk and view over Grose Valley. Turning left to Mt Victoria, we stopped for lunch at the circa 1878 Imperial Hotel pub. After lunch, we headed for Blackheath's Anvil Rock (third and fourth pictures below).

A short distance from Anvil Rock is Govett's Leap (first picture below showing Craig swatting the ubiquitous flies), and a steep 15 minute walk to Pulpit Rock (second picture below - that's me way down at the railing) which has a stunning 360° view (third picture below). Bridal Veil Falls (fourth picture below), named because of the way the wind blows the water outward from underneath, was at Narrowneck Lookout overlooking the Megalong and Jamison Valleys. We found our first crowds of the day at our next stop at Scenic World.

At Scenic World we took the cableway down and the railway back up from the Jamison Valley floor. The views of the "Three Sisters" (first picture below) were great. From the valley floor, we got a sweeping view of the terrain (second and third pictures below). Leaving Katoomba, we went to King's Tableland to see Wentworth Falls before stopping at one final deserted vista that our driver knew about. There he snapped two of the best pictures of the trip (fourth picture below and large picture top of page left). Truly an excellent day. We returned to Sydney via the Olympic Park and Parramatta ferry. We grabbed dinner at Camineto Italian restaurant in the Rocks before retiring for the night.