Best Blue Mountain Tour
Best tour! We took this tour on the second day of our visit to Sydney. We were visiting Sydney to celebrate my husband's birthday and this tour was the highlight of our trip!
This is a small family run business. Price is comparable to other big companies, but here you get a very personable experience. We visited during the wild fires and while the tour includes breakfast with kangaroos in the wild, things had to be adjusted because of the fire. As promised we did find kangaroos thanks to our amazing tour guide, Hayden. We were able to get up as close as about 50 feet. We actually got off the bus and walked in the bush. It was amazing! In fact I think finding the kangaroos in the bush was even better than actually eating with kangaroos as I may have just run out of time to eat breakfast being distracted by all the kangaroos around us. Who wants to eat breakfast and miss the opportunity to get up and close with kangaroos, right? How often does one get to experience that.
The day continued perfectly on schedule. The next stop was a short drive to a park for breakfast. Breakfast was simple but very welcomed considering most guess probably didn't eat before meeting the bus between 6:15am- 6:50 am. The best part about breakfast was that it was prepared with heart. Graham, the owner and his son were waiting for us at the picnic area with hot coffee, tea, ham and biscuits, and fresh fruit. They personally served us, conversed with us to get to know us. How many business owners take time to cook the guest breakfast and personally serve it just for an opportunity to meet the guests. And they run this tour everyday. Amazing! It was a pleasure to finally meet Graham in person after conversing via email over several months leading up to our tour.
Considering the wild fires, the day was pretty clear and we had a great view of the Three Sisters up in the Blue Mountains. Hayden escorted us through scenic world and gave personal commentary of the birds in the area, native plants and moved us through the park within a reasonable pace keeping with schedule.
The heartfelt compassion to continue to be supportive of the community and small businesses during this time of hardship for many because of the wild fires is also another reason to choose this tour. Lunch is included in this tour package and usually with a local small business. Because of the wild fires, it was uncertain if we could have lunch at this place or not. While a back up plan was available, Hayden communicated with the restaurant along the way making sure the area was safe and open for business. He told us he was trying to keep with the plan to have lunch at this place because the food is good and it's always nice to continue to support the local small businesses. Lucky for us, the restaurant was open. The area was a bit smokier, and Hayden kept us on schedule as to not stay in the area too long for health reasons. While here we saw about 20 firefighters having lunch and you could sense the community support. Lunch offered a variety of choices that we pre-selected on the bus prior to arriving. I ordered the grilled barramundi. Of our entire trip , this place had the best tasting grilled barramundi!
As the tour was coming to an end, Featherdale was our last stop before boarding the ferry back to Sydney. Another surprise treat! While the stop was short, about 45 minutes. I recommend at least 2 hours here as there is a lot of opportunity for interacting with the animals here. The highlight was feeding the wallabies. The wallabies were all around the park. The next best part of this park was getting up close to the koalas. In the koala area you are able to get face to face with a koala and take some amazing pictures. For a nominal fee of $25 for up to 4 people, you get to pat a koala and take a picture. They even offer to use your phone to help you take a picture too. As we got back on the bus, Hayden greeted us with a Featherdale shopping bag filled with a small stuffed koala and a clip koala. This was a very nice thoughtful gesture of a souvenir and a nice surprise as no where did I read we'd also receive a souvenir. It's not about the monetary value of it, and read this and think you're getting something big for free. It's about the gesture and having a souvenir that Graham as a business owner wanted to include in the tour.
The ferry ride back to Sydney was nice. You are able to get nice views of the Harbour, Sydney Opera House, and Harbour bridge.
I highly recommend anyone wanting to tour the Blue Mountains to do your own research as I did, but come back and book this tour. You're going to get a personable, amazing, memorable experience in a smaller group setting. Something that isn't offered with many of the larger tour companies. And the best part, this is the only tour that offers breakfast with kangaroos. Seeing the kangaroos in the wild is a must! read more