G'day mates! Sydney is such a massive metropolitan city that can be overwhelming when you consider all that there is to explore. That's where the Sydney Blue Mountain Tour is really your best insider guide to some of the major sights and attractions in the city. The tour takes you around the land down under all the way to the land up over at the spectacular blue mountains. As far as travel logistics, the tour really makes things as smooth and easy as possible. They picked up our party of four at the corner of our hotel. After a couple of other pick-ups we were on our way to Featherdale Wildlife Park was our personal favorite of the tour. Everything about visiting the park is magical including the once-in-a-lifetime experience to get up close and personal in a photo with an adorable koala bear! They even let you pet the koala which is something of a rarity in Sydney due to strict animal handling guidelines. The tour does an excellent job streamlining providing tickets and wristbands to the park so that you can make the most out of the time there. Once you step into the park it is really sensory overload because there are so many free-roaming wallabies, active wombats, and singing birds to greet you. However, the tour strongly advises you make a straight path to the koalas and that really is the right move. Our tour got us to the park early and before the other tours arrived so take advantage of this priority access. The best part of all was the koala photo opportunity was included in the ticket! According to our guide Steve, the park will charge for the koala experience starting next year. Crikey! In any event, you'll get a little over an hour at the park but there is far too much to see including a crocodile, kangaroos, and so much more. I recommend getting the animal feed because it is so worth it and makes interacting with the animals really fun. It costs 2AUD to get a ice cream cone filled with feed to give to the wallabies, kangaroos, and wombats. Our tour passed out small souvenir koalas when we got back on the van! On our way to the next top, we were introduced to the boomerang and it's history in Australia. Eventually we made a quick pit stop for a volunteer in our group to try throwing the boomerangs. After that Steve explained how boomerangs were used by aboriginal tribes and all in all it was a cool demonstration. Steve also offered a variety of intricately crafted aboriginal boomerangs for sale for 25AUD which, compared to the pricey but cheap quality boomerangs on sale at the airport, these were a true value buy. We also made a stop at Lincoln's Rock which features a breathtaking view of of the mountains and tree supporting the Blue Mountains range. You really feel an exhilarating rush of the crisp air when you're at this elevated portion with a cliff's edge overlooking the mountain range. This is a great opportunity for group photos and our guide Steve was certainly up to the task. Prior to lunch we made a stop at Elysian Rock which is off the beaten path and not somewhere a lot of other tours know about - in other words, this was a special stop based on Steve's familiarity with the area. This gave us a nice view of the luscious green valleys. It reminded me of a green Grand Canyon. Lunch was held in the town of Leura. There were plenty of options but I would go to the initial cafe which has a 10% discount if you mention the Sydney Blue Mountain Tour. They feature various delicious pastries including a ricotta pie that was fantastic. Another restaurant option is the Leura Gourmet Cafe & Deli which has good sandwiches. Make sure you give yourself enough time at these vendors because service is slower in this affluent town where people really do know how to enjoy life. We eventually got to the Blue Mountains. For 39AUD you can purchase a wristband which gives you access to the three popular rides at Scenic World. While we ended up purchasing the rides, I have to say that only one of the three were unique and that was the railcar that travels on a 52 degree incline. Honestly, I don't think they are worth it. The biggest issue is the long, long queues to get on the rides especially for the tram that takes you back to the exit. From Scenic World we stopped by get an up-close look at the famous Three Sisters rock formations. They really do look like three womanly shapes perched upon the ledge. I personally enjoyed Steve's explanation of the aboriginal story behind the Three Sisters. On our way back to make our cruise we made a brief stop at Olympic Park to take a quick glance at some of the stadiums built during the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Finally, we were dropped off at the dock which harbored the Fantasy River Cruise. The cruise has two drop off points at Circular Quay and Darling Harbour but we got off at Circular Quay to Darling Harbour. Overall the tour is definitely worth it to experience Sydney appropriately. Steve is also a fantastic tour guide. Recommended for sure! read more

See all

Day trip to the Blue Mountains? Ok! Rather than heading up there on my own, I booked myself a tour online through Activity Tours. They met me at Circular Quay and we headed off! I enjoyed the size of this tour... a family of 6 adults, 4 lively ladies from the US, a girl from the UK and myself on the bus for the day with our driver/tour guide, Steve. We stopped for a view of the Three Sisters, visited Scenic World (home of the steepest rail train EVER!), went on a short bush walk, had a yummy lunch break in Leura, visited Featherdale Wildlife Park, took photos at the Olympic stadium back in Sydney and ended with a ferry ride back to Circular Quay. Note: The "river cruise" described on the website is the ferry ride back. Your ticket price is included for the ferry. It's not a private boat, however, which you might think just reading the description. They also had boomerangs for sale on the bus handcrafted by a local. They were more expensive than the $6 ones you get from Paddy's Market, costing about $25, but handmade from a local vs. made overseas for cheap? There's really no competition there. They also advertise a wine tour to through Hunter Valley and chartered Sydney sightseeing tours. It's a small company with only 6 employees (at least as of February, 2014, that's the figure Steve told us!). They give a good tour! Tip: If Steve's your tour guide, ask him to do his kookaburra call for you when he points out a gum tree. read more

My goal during our trip to Sydney was to see koalas and see nature. I can happily check that off my list with Activity Tours, Blue Mountain Wildlife Tour day trip! Steve was our excellent driver/tour guide who entertained us with interesting facts, stories, and demonstrations with the boomerang during the tour! We got picked up promptly right at our hotel and were on our way to Featherdale Wildlife Park, about 1 hour outside of Sydney. I initially tried to look up getting to the Wildlife Park on our own but the transportation in itself was a headache - going with Activity Tours is so convenient! Right when we arrived, we were one of the first few to arrive to the park so no crowds! We were immediately greeted with wallabies, wombats, birds and most importantly...THE KOALAS! What makes this visit worth it is that Featherdale Wildlife park is one of the very few places near Sydney where you can take a picture with a koala. The line was very short and we got to take pictures with our own cameras as well. We passed by a ton of other animals, I wish we had more time to explore but we were off to our next stop: Lincoln's Rock. A beautiful view of the whole valley, it really reminded me of Grand Canyon Views. So much greenery, trees, and depth of views. We made a quick stop at Elysian Rock where it's not as touristy, and gave a great different view of that deep green valley. We went straight to lunch in a cute little town called Leura where there are little shops, cafes, sandwich shops, restaurants. Make sure to find out which restaurants provide an additional discount if you mention Activity Tours! Next, we were off to Scenic World to see the Three Sisters at Blue Mountain. They provide an option of 39AUD to get access to the 3 rides at Scenic World. We opted in since we were already there, but personally would not recommend it. The only fun ride was the 52 degree incline steep ride that was very short. The other 2 had long, slow queues and I preferred to have walked around and soak in the views. There was plenty of spots to view the Three Sisters rock formation at Katoomba. Afterwards, we made a nice quick stop at the Olympic Park where the held the Olympics in 2000 and we were on our way to our relaxing Fantasy river cruise. Everything was very organized and we were handed our river passes to board, just in time for the beautiful sunset! Beware it can get a little chilly if you sit outside, but worth the views. You can get dropped off Circular Quay or Darling Harbour. We got off Circular Quay and got to see amazing views of The Opera House lit up. Such a beauty. Overall, a really great value for this tour + the tour guide Steve made it worth it! See my full review up on the blog: http://camchowda.com/syndeybluemountaintour/ read more

See all